We did the Dark Ages room with two grown ups and two eight year olds. It was absolutely fine for the eight year olds, even though the website suggests it's for slightly older children - they had no problem at all solving the tasks (well, no more than the two grown ups did, anyway).
All of us had a fantastic time - it was really good fun!! And the people we interacted with were fabulous. We called at 3.30 to ask to play at 4.30 and the person we spoke to sorted it out for us within 30 minutes, which is a pretty fantastic service. Then we had the loveliest person, called Lukas, running the room for us - he was very pleasant, helpful and enthusiastic. We paid over the phone when we booked.
For anyone who doesn't really get the concept: you either get locked in a room, or -as is the case with the dark ages room- locked out of a room, and have to solve puzzle games to get out or find the treasure. There's no real sense of peril or threat. After your allotted hour, if you've not completed the puzzles and found the grail / escaped, then they'd just release you into the world, cap in hand, embarrassed and wondering if you've got dementia and no-one has mentioned it. Or they have and you've forgotten. I think Lukas would be kind about it but if your friends are numpties who'd laugh at your incompetence and follow your around with a bell, then that might cause some consternation, I guess.
I'd highly recommend this particular Escape Room venue. I've done an Escape Room in Newcastle as well and I've decided they're probably all quite similar, based on a huge sample size of two (ahem) but I'd definitely say this was what we thought It would be and we weren't disappointed - there were plenty of puzzles and quite a few different types of puzzle so it kept us interested. It was a nice environment. Nothing to fault.
The only thing I would say is that it involved lots of moving around the room, picking things up from low down places and reaching high up to get to things and you had to go down some fairly steep steps to get to the Dark Ages room, so it probably wouldn't be a good room for a wheelchair user or for people who are quite mobility impaired - I'd suggest you try one of the other rooms instead, which I think are on the ground floor (this needs fact-checking) and I don't know if reaching things would still be an issue?
It took us about 52 minutes to complete (shaaaaaame...) but I suspect with a few more adults and not holding back for the children (*clears throat suspiciously) we'd have done it a little bit quicker. That said, if the adults were fairly drunk then I imagine they'd be more hindrance than help. If you're thinking of this for a stag or hen party then do this early on so that the one fairly sober person in the group doesn't end up murdering everyone.
It cost £88 for the four of us (you pay per person), which was about the same as going bowling in Altrincham. When did things get so blooming expensive?? I remember when you could buy a house for £88. (That's not true but my point still stands - everything is very expensive nowadays, bah!!) But it didn't feel like a rip off - you are paying for someone to watch you suffering and send you hints when they can see you all standing around like a bunch of poptarts looking clueless. And the cost of business rates in Alty are ridiculous so fairs fair in my humble one. The eight year olds said they much preferred the Escape Room to bowling (having now done both).
There's no parking specifically for the venue but if you park in the Homebase carpark or the Kentucky Fried Chicken/TK Maxx carpark you're pretty much on the doorstep. There are no barricades for the KFC car park so you won't get locked in if you're in there until late - can't remember if there are barriers on the Homebase one, don't think there are. Or it's a twenty minute walk from the Navigation Road tram stop.
If you decide to go for it - hope you enjoy it!!