Family Adventure Review: Breakout Chester*

[Ad-gifted] If you are wondering what to do on a rainy day over the weekend then look no further than our first ever Escape Room experience at Breakout Chester in Cheshire.

We were invited to review the game Wanted towards the end of the summer holidays and having never been to an Escape room before, we really didn’t know what to expect. We drove to the beautiful City of Chester and found a great and cheap place to park near to the centre called Little Roodee. We then approached the cobbled streets and old Tudor buildings that fill the City and found our way up to Breakout Chester, where we had to press a button to gain entry – a bit like a secret doorway which added to the whole experience. Find out how we did and what we thought in our latest family adventure review.

What we thought of Breakout Chester

Firstly, I would like to say that before going to Breakout Chester, I did do a little bit of reading on their page to find out if there were any age restrictions. As we had our youngest who is only 10 years old, which is the minimum age to take part in the Escape Room experience, I wanted to ensure we would all have a chance at completing the tasks. The great news is that on Breakout Chester’s website, they have good descriptions of all their rooms with ratings on the difficulty which meant that we chose Wanted – a cowboy-themed room – where you have to find your gun and gold so you don’t end up in jail!

There are currently 11 rooms, however, Natalie our host/game operator (who I will tell you about later), informed us that they have plans to move into the building next door and create several more rooms in addition to the ones they already have.

So, getting to our arrival – as I mentioned we had to buzz into the building by pressing a button and speaking to our host before being allowed in! This added to the mystery of the experience, getting you prepped for what was to come. Once in the building, we were created by Natalie our host who was unbelievably pleasant and super informative, giving us the rules and instructions on how best to complete the task of escaping.

Once we had our rules we were told to enter the room. Once inside your 60-minute countdown – which appears on a screen begins. We were daunted at first not really knowing what we were allowed to touch and move in the room but once we got going we started to find clues dotted around the room – some more obvious than others and some that were clearly there to trick you! What was great was if we seemed as though we were going off course, Natalie (who was in the next room listening) was ready and waiting to give you an extra clue – which would pop up on the timer screen if you started to get stuck – this was a great way to help without simply giving you the answer of what you needed to do – we were thankful for a few extra clues along the way, which meant that we managed to escape with 2 minutes 37 seconds to spare!

The room is perfectly themed with a saloon-style bar and lots of things you might have found during the era of cowboys including some props that you could put on to get into character. This was fun – I suspect you could even go all out and go to your escape room experience in full fancy dress and truly immerse yourself in the event.

Overall we had a great time at Breakout Chester and think that although it works out as a pricey adventure – it would be a great gift to ask for at Birthdays or Christmas as it’s a fab way to make memories as a family or bunch of friends and won’t clutter the house with useless rubbish! Plus if you have an October Birthday, they also do a few live-action things in some of the rooms over Halloween, so, be sure to check those out too. We are very tempted by this, especially as a filler for half-term!

Where can you book Breakout Chester?

You can book a place on their website here. They have a straightforward system, where you select the room you want to play in and then select the preferred date and time slot.

How much does it cost to book the session at Breakout Chester?

It costs between £22 – £17 per person – the more people per room the cheaper it is – you can choose between 2 – 5 people to play per room which worked out perfectly for our family of five!

About Breakout Chester

Breakout Chester is a series of themed Escape Rooms situated in the City Centre in one of the many fabulous historical buildings that line the cobbled streets.

There are 11 rooms in total (more on the way) with themes including Wanted – a Western-themed room, Dead End – zombie-themed (one I will be avoiding!), Dark Magic – a wizarding-themed room, and Forgotten Tomb – an Egyptian theme amongst just some. All the rooms are decorated and filled with clues/puzzles and riddles to solve to unlock your way out of your 60-minute experience.

Breakout Chester is a place of fun for older children and adults and has a great team of Game Operators/hosts to guide you along the way and make the experience even more memorable.

Review by: Lex Ward

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* We were provided with tickets to the session in exchange for a review. All opinions are our own. Some images have been provided to us.