Trapt’s ‘SPACE’ room teleports us into a futuristic space station far, far away from Earth. After signing a waiver to submit ourselves to inter-galactic travels, the five of us were ushered into this spacious, futuristic room with an array of electronic displays in front of us. It was like entering the USS Enterprise, except there’s no trusty Captain James T. Kirk around to help us. We had 50 minutes to escape from this suspicious space station, before it self-destructed and annihilated planet Earth.
The staff said this was Trapt’s most challenging escape room, having technically two “escapes” combined into one. You reach a point in the escape where you have the chance to finish and exit through your exit door, or you can choose to continue to a second, more difficult challenge in a separate room. It’s suggested you only start the second part if you have time to spare – those who have done many escape rooms will likely want to challenge themselves with both parts.
The room had an intricate mix of numerical and interactive symbol-based puzzles sprawled over the first two areas, which we managed to unlock with great effort. We punched in a lot of numerical combinations, yelled at each other across rooms about codes that barely even makes sense, and even accidentally forced open a cabinet just because we were that enthusiastic in finding clues.
Although some of the props were a bit flimsy (and there were a few red herrings – beware!), it was still an exciting experience overall.
Also at Trapt, the biggest incentive for beating the clock is getting to the cocktails in the adjoining bar. The low-lit basement bar is a speakeasy-style den; all exposed brick walls, dark wooden columns and leather couches. Cocktails are sorted by each escape room theme, which is cool. Take your time when deciding what to order; the menu offers page after page of classic cocktails, as well as an impressive selection of whiskies and a mostly local range of craft beer and wine. Sticking around for a meal? While Trapt doesn’t do food, they’ll let you order a Crust pizza from upstairs to eat in the bar.
Outcome: Success (we finished the first escape room, but didn't have time for the second, more challenging part).
Atmosphere: 3/5
Creativity of puzzles: 4/5
Difficulty: 4/5
Fun: 4/5
Best quote: "Is this lady saying ‘Omina’ or ‘Omega’? Her accent’s really weird!”
Our tip: Don’t use it to cheat, but we suggest bringing your phone or good torch in – the one they’ve provided isn’t strong enough and you will definitely need it to see in darkened corners of the room.