Ever tried an escape room? If you haven’t then you should. If you have then get yourself to Amsterdam to try Questomatica’s rooms.
My eldest recently turned thirteen. To celebrate becoming the parents of a teenager we wanted to do something a little different. And the boys have been saying for a fair few months that they’d like to go to Amsterdam.
A few weeks earlier Questomatica had sent me an email offering me 50% off the price of one of their two Escape Rooms in Amsterdam.
Coincidence? I think not.
Booking
So we booked the Wake Up! escape room for the Saturday afternoon.
The booking process was straight forward. We picked a day and a time. One child (under 12) is admitted for free so you need to book for one person less and leave a note in the comments.
Arrival
Questomatica is located centrally in Amsterdam, just across the road from the NEMO Science Museum.
We were buzzed in and greeted by a friendly staff member, who gave us a locker for all of our belongings. You may not take phones or cameras into the escape rooms. No Google to help you – just your hands and your own brains!
She then pointed us towards seating, drinks and cookies. And began to explain the rules and what we were going to do in the Wake Up! room.
She explained, importantly as we had an 8 year old with us, that we would not actually be locked in the room. Anytime one of the kids wanted out we could just open the door.
Wake Up! Escape Room
I have to be honest here, none of us really knew what to expect. We have done one escape room before but that was many years ago in Cornwall. The boys were so young that two of them don’t remember it and one thinks he may vaguely know what we are talking about.
So we went with the flow.
The story is that Matilda has fallen asleep and is unable to wake up. She is lost in her dreams. Which is where we enter – in the middle of her dreams – and our mission was to solve the riddles, undertake tasks and work out the puzzles in order to wake her up.
More than that I can’t really tell you. The first rule of escape room is no spoiling it for others. So I won’t.
Our Experience
It was a fantastic hour. There were surprises. There were laughs and moments of ‘ooooooh’ and ‘aaaahhhhh’ and ‘no way!’.
We woke Matilda with three minutes to spare. And with hints from the staff member who was with us behind the scenes all the way. There are cameras and microphones, so she knew exactly when to reveal a hint to help get us moving along.
You don’t need any particular language to solve the puzzles in the escape room but you can choose one of nine languages to get hints in to help you.
My kids loved it! They are 8, 9 and 13. They all played a role. They could all help with puzzles and answers in some way. And when they could help solve something their excitement was off the chart.
All three had so much fun! As did the two big kids who accompanied them……..
We’ll Be Back!
There’s a second escape game called Arcade Invasion. We’ve promised the boys we’ll be back to do that one at some point too.
Post Comment