Present, in January 2025, were: The Ant, Aunty Ant

I adore time-travelling games – such a fun concept with so much potential. We’ve been planning a trip to Reading to play this game literally for four years and – oh the irony – haven’t found the time. But, with Deadlocked’s great reputation, we hoped that our long-delayed double-header day trip would be worth the wait.

We did have to wait a little longer, as our lovely GM Kai had a morning hiccup and couldn’t make our start time. The measure of a venue is always how it copes with unavoidable calamities and Deadlocked were exemplary, mobilising the troops and keeping us informed every step of the way, getting us back on schedule impressively quickly. Special extra note for Kai, who stunned us at least twice with some incredibly astute, almost superhuman, game management.

Superhuman is very on-theme because The Time Machine is an adoring homage to the sci-fi genre. Fans of a particular long-running time-travel series will especially enjoy spotting the many, many neat nods to canon, but there are also plenty of references to just about everything else space-y. Even as a fan I probably missed a large chunk of them, while Aunty Aunt, bless her, was completely oblivious and uncomprehending of my squeals of recognition. It didn’t mar her enjoyment though so non-sci-fi nerds should not be put off. This is, after all, time-travel, so not everything is futuristic.

In an ingenious twist, teams only have a theoretical sixty seconds to solve this room. But, obviously because of time-travel, this is possible, which makes for a lot of fun and, brilliantly, a breathlessly urgent finish no matter how quickly you complete the rest of the game. This allows for a 90 minute game to be a challenge, whatever your team. Such a smart plot device and beautifully executed.

The set is a little snug in places (cue: “I thought it would be bigger on the inside” jokes) and does feel made with love rather than with a huge budget, and a couple of elements were showing some age. But it is a super-clever use of space with a fabulous magic twist that I loved to see. Please, please, can someone give James and Charlie a massive, flexible space and a pile of cash to make a two or three hour version with extra destinations? (Dinosaurs! Pompeii! The moon landings! Ruined futuristic alien civilisation!)

As well as creativity and story-telling, puzzles are a great strength here. Nothing felt like filler or busy work and they were a decent brainstretcher. Aunty Ant was a little frustrated with a couple of bits of kit (or maybe more with my bad explanations of what we were doing with them!) but this is a game that can’t fail to leave you smiling and with a sense of achievement.

I absolutely loved this experience and am just sad that our Avenger missed the chance to play, as this is totally in their geek-zone. When I first started playing Escape Rooms, The Time Machine is very much the kind of adventure I wanted to see and I’m so glad it really exists.

• Storyline: Fix the rifts in time and your temperamental ship. Makes perfect sense and has nice in-character intros and outros.
• Theming and Set: Homemade and not spacious (a team of 4 would definitely be the max), but really cleverly done, some very special touches.
• Searching: All about the puzzles here.
• Puzzles: Perfectly on-theme in each zone and a good range.
• Physicality: One of the team has to crawl, and one element requires a bit of heaving. 
• Scare factor: Definitely not hide-behind-the-sofa time, much more warm and fuzzy.
• Company Age Guidance: “Anyone over the age of 8 although under 16 year olds do need to be accompanied by an adult.”
• Age suitability: One adult + one child teams might struggle slightly with a semi-split section. A fantastic game for smart genre fans of any age.

Deadlocked website