Present, in August 2023, were: The Ant, Aunty Ant, Lioness, Parker

This game was so much fun! From the brief I had expected a more conventional police procedural, but Fakenham are good at the unexpected and this was a real treat. We had thoroughly enjoyed our previous visit to play Disaster Strikes and it was lovely to catch back up with our host, we could have probably stayed and chatted for hours. But we had evidence to retrieve, and 60 minutes on the clock.

I do like a good detective-type game, but they seem to be quite difficult to get right. They can be a little dry and a bit too much like homework, when compared with temple or heist games. House of Evidence has taken a slightly different approach and has managed to produce an experience that is both very entertaining and actually has a satisfying solution. Too many in the detective genre start off with a central mystery and then lose it halfway through, to just become another “escape the room”. House of Evidence not only requires you to find said evidence, but also to use it, a smart move that pulls the game together.

The set is a standard house type, which might lack the whistles and bells of more flashy sets but suits the theme very well and is capable of some neat tricks. There is some really clever engineering going on behind the scenes here – a mix of whizzy tech, standard padlocks and some good old-fashioned, spring-loaded joy.

This is an almost completely non-linear game and ideal for our team of four to split up and explore. There is a large amount of content here, and some time-consuming tasks (not in a bad way), so divide and conquer is definitely the way to go. Apparently, a significant percentage of teams get an extension to complete, so we were proud with our time of eight minutes left.

It isn’t the easiest either, we definitely had a good mental workout. The range of puzzles means there is plenty for the whole team to get their teeth into. We needed one hefty clue with a tricky puzzle, but it did make sense – we’d understood all the elements to it, just hadn’t tied it all together. I really loved the ending, which is an atypical one for an Escape Room, so it might possibly be a Marmite feature for some purists (but they are wrong; it is funny, clever and on theme).

Fakenham Escape Rooms doesn’t get anywhere near the credit they deserve for their unique, smart, entertaining and lovingly produced games. We are very sad we have now played both their offerings, so haven’t a return visit to look forward to. Although, we did discuss plenty of ideas for a bowling alley-themed splatterfest horror room, so maybe there is hope for a new game in the future? 🙂 In the meantime, if you are in the Norfolk area, go and show them some love.

• Storyline: Find and piece together all the evidence before the police arrives. Nice tie-up at the end.
• Theming and Set: Not a wow, but plenty of ooh, clever.
• Searching: There is quite a lot but our incompetence at it didn’t hold up the game, which is good.
• Puzzles: Not actually sure what all of them were, as we split up, but a good range of brain teasers and practical puzzles.
• Physicality: None, exactly, but a bit of hand/eye, including possibly my favourite bit.
• Scare factor: Very mild arachnophobia alert.
• Company Age Guidance: “While there is no restriction on age, the puzzles may be too demanding for those under 12, so they may not fully enjoy the game. Children under 16 must be accompanied by an adult.”.
• Age suitability: Tweens in a mixed age team would be fine in here, and probably better at a couple of the tasks than adults, but overall it would suit slightly older kids.

Fakenham Escape Rooms website

Also at this venue: Disaster Strikes