Trapped Up North Escape Room Review
On Wednesday 9th December a group of 6 reviewers from What’s Good To Do were invited to Trapped Up North to try out their Jigsaw escape room.
Below are the groups individual reviews.
Louise Totton – It isn’t easy to explain exactly what Trapped up North is. It’s even harder to explain it without giving the game away or spoiling the experience, but I’ll give it a go. In a nutshell, the Trapped up North concept is an immersive, intense and intellectual puzzle, with a super spooky story to hang the challenges on. It is advertised for groups of 3-6, and we went as a group of six.
Trapped is currently based at the Great Northern Leisure Complex on Deansgate in Central Manchester. We’d booked our experience for 7.45, and were asked to arrive 15 minutes early. We were able to park directly outside the complex for £2.90, which we thought was really reasonable.
We found Trapped easily, knocked on the door and we were in, greeted by the very friendly, but oddly sinister, Richard. He ran through the game rules (there aren’t many!) and introduced the concept of our game. As it’s on their website, I don’t believe I’m spoiling anything by saying that the challenge is based around a mad, on the loose, murderer and the aim of the game is to escape the complex by solving a series of puzzles.
Where this experience differs from a lot of the room escape attractions is the thoroughly immersive nature of it. The storyline and theme are strongly prevalent throughout, and we always felt we were escaping from a specific ‘thing’ or threat, which really added to the experience. We were always aware that the threat wasn’t far away from us, and the suspense that this created was impressive.
Throughout the hour, there were screams, some swearing and a fair bit of running away. We all had an absolutely fantastic time, and could not fault this experience at all. I would suggest turning up prepared to get a little dusty, to muck in, think outside the box and most of all, be bloody scared.
We managed to escape the room, with three minutes to spare. The hour felt really full and throughout, we were constantly doing something.
The puzzle types were quite varied, and differed a bit in level, which means that everyone has something to contribute. We were told at the end that only about a third of people escape the room, which I can well believe.
There are also other two challenge rooms at Trapped up North, Cabin Fever and Quarantine. All of us would relish the opportunity to go back to such a fantastic attraction and try one of the other rooms.
It’d make a great, and different, venue for a more unusual night out, and with prices starting at £13pp, I think it represents great value.
A fantastic evening.
Rating: 5/5
Louisa Nashir – Trapped Up North is located in the Great Northern Warehouse in Manchester and was pretty simple to find.
There are lots of parking bays close by which are fairly priced for city centre parking. The outside of the venue is decorated with signs so it’s easy to see.
Our team of 6 arrived and were greeted by our game host was Richard who was an excellent addition to the game and really had us in suspense before we even entered the game.
Each of the rooms at Trapped Up North has a different theme and they sound fantastic and fun!
The story we were told by our game host before we entered the room really set the tone and we found ourselves on edge throughout and desperate to find the clues to escape.
Jigsaw consisted of 3 rooms, each seemed to become more challenging as the game went on and our game host was on hand to have us all doing things we wouldn’t usually do.
The game itself will spook you, challenge you and more importantly get you working as a team in order to escape.
I am not going to spoil it for you but your heart will certainly race throughout the 60 minutes you are here and you will lose your bearings! Also your nerves will be extremely frazzled!
Great game which challenged our minds and bodies.
Trapped Up North Manchester is open until 23rd December 2015 and is well worth a visit.
Rating: 5/5
Sarah Bowyer – I and 5 other ladies have just spent a fabulous hour locked away trying to solve clues and find keys to escape.
When I arrived at the Great Northern and saw Trapped Up North I thought it looked a little theatrical and was worried that it might be a little bit too fake once we were inside, but I was wrong.
We knocked on the door and were greeted by a lovely gentleman, Richard who welcomed us in and promptly locked the door behind us.
We were in a small waiting room and were told to leave our personal belongings here, coats, bags etc.
Straightaway the tension began to rise and the story of the room began. We were told that we were going to be doing the room ‘Jigsaw’ and that if we didn’t manage to escape on time there would be consequences.
There are three other rooms: Quarantine, Cabin Fever and Bad Santa.
We were then ordered in to another room where the fun really began.
I’m not going to go in to too much detail about what happened as it would give the game away, but there was an array of props including handcuffs, mobile phones, locked safes and rattling doors.
It was dark and scary and there were several different rooms that you had to travel between.
There was a couple of times we got a bit stuck finding a clue and had to get help from Richard, but it was always done in character which helped with the spooky atmosphere.
Be prepared to get a bit grubby and seriously spooked out!!!
There were 6 of us who did the room and I think it might have been too much. Maybe 4 would be a good number of people to do it as occasionally there wasn’t enough for all of us to do.
The Great Northern is in Central Manchester and there is plenty of parking. I parked almost directly outside and it only cost a few pounds, however it was later in the evening and on a week night.
We managed to escape the room with 3 minutes to spare.
I had a really good time.
The hour that we had absolutely flew by.
There was a lot of swearing and screaming. A little bit of singing and dancing (don’t ask) but I thought it was brilliant.
It had everything, noises, smells, props etc. really the 4D experience they have advertised.
I am definitely going to try and get back and do one of the different rooms they have. I had a really good time so I would give Trapped Up North 5 out of 5 – it was brilliant.
Rating: 5/5
Emma Baker – I was asked to join a group of 5 other friends in the exciting venture that is Trapped Up North.
After visiting a similar attraction a few months back I had an idea of what to expect but that was blown out of the water from the moment we stepped through the door.
We were greeted by our host Richard who got us into game mode from the start telling us about the game and the rules and which of us we had to sacrifice first should we not make it out!
The room we were allocated was called Jigsaw…
We were nervous right from the start.
Not wanting to give any of the fun away all I can say is set yourself up for mind twisting games and riddles and lots of screams of both fright and laughter.
We needed the odd nudge in the right direction and the interaction from the host was amazing and done in the best possible way.
We managed to escape with our lives and about 3 mins to spare.
Definitely a place to return to and try another room.
It is only open for a further 2 weeks but this is just until it finds a new venue to make more choice in rooms.
A great team exercise and a great excuse for a get together with friends.
Rating: 5/5
Lucy Gwilliam – Well what can I say about Trapped Up North? Other than it was absolutely brilliant!
I wasn’t expecting such an interactive and frightening experience but it totally surprised me.
I have done a similar escape room before but this totally knocks spots off that one, in the sense that we were totally engaged and there seemed to be much more interaction with the host.
The room we played was called Jigsaw, I’m a huge Saw fan so was excited to see what was inside the room.
We were not disappointed and we all had an amazing time, I had doubt in my mind that we wouldn’t make it out ‘alive’ however we managed to escape with 3 minutes to spare.
I personally loved this challenge and can’t wait to return to see what the other rooms have to offer.
Rating: 5/5
Sophie Knight – Trapped Up North was a thrilling experience, which required a group of 3-6 people to break out of 1 of 3 rooms filled with puzzles.
Today we took part in the Jigsaw room.
I really enjoyed everything that we had to go through and accomplish such as finding clues to progress further into the game.
On arrival we were greeted by Richard, who led us into a room and locked us in.
We then had 60 minutes to escape or die!
Overall I would love to go again and try out another room, as the atmosphere was amazing.
Rating: 5/5
Overall the venue is an amazing addition to Manchester and well worth visiting!
We would love to come back when the new venue is set up and try a different room!
Thank you Trapped Up North for an unforgettable evening!
Overall Rating: 5/5
Tickets cost from £13 to £16 per person depending on the number of players (transaction fee may apply).
Trapped Up North is open until 23 December 2015. For more information or to make a booking visit www.houseofthedead.com/trapped-up-north or call 0843 208 0500.
Trapped Up North, The Great Northern, Deansgate, Manchester, M3 4EN
