Escape Yellow Sub

Escape Yellow Sub

151 Slater Street Studios

9 Slater Street

Liverpool, L1

It has been missing for over fifty years, thought to have been destroyed by the Blue Meanies. It's damaged, old, rusty but there's no mistaking the Yellow Submarine! The Blue Meanies are back and they have set the countdown to missile launch. Pepperland is under siege. Only you can stop them!

Eh, what’s that love?

Escape Yellow Sub is described as an escape game for Beatles fans and anyone looking for something different.

If you’re new to escape rooms (as we all were) it’s worth providing some explanation.

An escape room (sometimes called an ‘escape game’) is a physical adventure game in which players solve a series of puzzles and riddles using clues, hints, and strategy to complete the objectives at hand.  The escape room might consist of a large, single room or span across multiple rooms, players unlocking clues in the first room to gain access to the second, and so on.

The catch of course is that players are given a set time limit to complete the challenges allowing them to escape the room, and therefore ‘win’.

The games are set in a variety of fictional locations such as prison cells, dungeons, space stations etc and the various puzzles follow the theme of the room. No prizes for guessing the theme of our escape room! Sometimes the backstory of the room is told by the Game Host or alternatively on a pre-game video.

This format of a room or area containing puzzles and strategies which have to be solved by teams of contestants has featured in several TV game shows such as the Crystal Maze, The Adventure Game, Fort Boyard and Knightmare.   There are also versions available for games consoles.

And so we found ourselves on a pavement in Slater Street,  outside a doorway over which a bright yellow cube was suspended displaying the number nine, number nine, number nine, number nine... .

The first problem we had was we couldn’t figure out how to gain access to the building. This didn’t bode well for our problem solving abilities. Was this the first test?! 

Solving the first puzzle simply by pressing the intercom we were welcomed by Alex our Game Host who invited us into a small darkened annexe room with suitably psychedelic lighting.

Alex took us through some health and safety procedures before setting the scene with some flair and humour, and plenty of Beatles’ puns.

After inviting us to don some suitable Submariner’s headgear he warned us that there was nothing in the room that required great physical strength although there were plenty of buttons to be pressed and levers to be pulled.

Great, I thought, we're all Lever-pullers born and bred, this will be easy!

The plot, such as it is, involves the Blue Meanies seizing control of the Yellow Submarine and launching six missiles. Our job was to solve the puzzles and find the six keys which would enable us to abort the launch.  If we failed the Earth as we knew it would cease to exist.

It was time to save the world. No pressure then!

We climbed through the yellow painted hatch into the submarine control room. The hatch door locked behind us and we could suddenly hear Alex on the intercom. Almost immediately a red count-down clock began started counting down.  We had 50 minutes.

Looking like this, how could we fail?

The challenge itself takes place in one submarine themed room. There are nods to the Beatles in parts such as the vinyl albums (a clue maybe?) and the names of some of the nautical vessels on various documents.

Did being Beatles’ fans help?  We thought we would definitely be able to “work it out” but time moves quickly in Pepperland and we found the puzzles were only loosely based on the Beatles, so we had no real advantage over anyone else attempting the challenge.

The Blue Meanies had hidden the keys pretty well and their puzzles were varied and required some logical thinking. There were tasks involving morse code, mirrors, magnifying glasses and one which required simple dexterity (something which I appeared to have lost). Team work was essential.

We only managed to find 4 out of the 6 keys by the time the countdown reached the 50 minute mark and the lights went off. However, to our surprise Alex informed us we had been more successful than most groups.

Mind your heads on that periscope! 

Whilst we were annoyed with ourselves for not completing the task (perhaps we would have managed with an extra 10 minutes) we agreed this had not spoilt the experience. It was great fun and as we were all new to escape rooms we agreed we would like to try more, either the Yellow Sub again or a different themed game.

Great fun for 2 to 5 players. Highly recommended and a great way to spend an hour.

After that, there was only one way to go out.

Singing!

Escape Yellow Sub is at 151 Slater Street Studios, 9 Slater Street, Liverpool 1, not far from the Jacaranda.

If you fancy ago you can book on line at: Escapeyellowsub.com

Telephone: 0151-305-213.