Alphabet Dating | H is for… Hostage

It's crazy to think that my last Alphabet Dating post was pre-lockdown. We played indoor golf at Mr Mulligan’s, after brunch at Nonna’s and then three days later, we were in lockdown one – aka the OG lockdown. After several ‘home’ dates over the past however many months, we finally managed to fulfil the ‘H’ date properly.

Read more: The Last Brunch at Nonna’s, Woburn Sands

Ash booked us a slot at Blackout Rooms, which is just up the road in Bletchley, on the Barton Road Industrial Estate. (Not so) funny story – we were booked in for Tuesday afternoon on our week off but had to reschedule for the Wednesday as Alfie was off nursery with a cough on the Tuesday. Blackout house four rooms in total: Candy Shop (which sounds right up my street), Cabin in the Woods, Nightmare and the one that we did (well attempted), Hostage.

Little did I know, it was the hardest room with a 10/10 difficulty rating and just a 30% success rate. While it's not advertised as “scary”, it was definitely tense and there was a section we were immersed into darkness with only a couple of small flashlights to guide us. The scariest bit for me was at the beginning. We were both handcuffed – thankfully not together – at different ends of the room, and our first job was to find the keys to unlock the shackles. That took a bit of time, and we eventually had it, after we were given a clue.

Much like the previous escape room we did together, we started off slow but soon got into it and there were a couple of clues in quick succession that I managed to solve. Thankfully, this one didn't involve lifting or moving furniture, and there weren't too many items that would act as red herrings or get in the way. Basically, everything we came across, we would need to use at some point... Not that we knew when or why!

Read more: Alphabet Dating | E is for… Escape Room

The challenge ventured into two rooms, too. When it became dark, we crawled through a small tunnel where the latter stages of the room took place. Needless to say, we were unable to escape, and our host has said we would have needed 10-15 more minutes as we had three or four more clues to solve. When she explained where we went wrong, it seemed so obvious, particularly the clues at the start. All I will say is “magnets” and “Alexa”. As she explained what we needed to do to escape, it all sounded like so much fun and potentially, they saved the best ‘til last. I said to Ash, we would have to do it again. Although, I’d imagine we would still struggle!

Candy Shop has to be the next one we attempt – our host said it was one of the most fun rooms they had, and I was sold by the prize of sweets for escaping! I was 100% eyeing up the American sweet cones at the entrance – thinking we could buy them.

Blackout Rooms are priced at £30 per person for two players and £20 per person for up to six players. have you visited before? If so, which was your favourite room?

Love, Lucy xx