Key Info
- Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England, UK
- 60 Minute Game
- 2 - 6 Players
- Escape Rate not Stated
- £15-20 Per Player
- Free Parking
- 2/10 Difficulty
We Escaped In
23 Minutes
- Pete, Nate, Meg, Pete S
- July 2021
Room Brief
Roll up, roll up! Enter the mind meddling spectacle that is Madame Curio’s Cirque Delirium! A delightful fun-filled evening where our guests pile in, hoping to glimpse the cirque carnival famed attractions and maybe win a prize or two. Don’t believe us? Come and see for yourself! There’s so much fun to be had in our big top phenomenon!
The poster seems intriguing but you get this niggling suspicion that all is not exactly what it seems. Since this carnival came to town people have started disappearing. Guests supposedly enter the circus, but very few come out and people seem to whisper of a ‘ghostly aura’ surrounding the circus itself. Still, your attention has been caught and curiosity is getting the better of you. You decide to go along and see what it’s all about… besides, you’ve never been particularly superstitious…
After entering, it’s all fun and games until you start to notice the abnormal silence among the workers. They seem to labour along in a zombie-like state, almost like mind slaves. They don’t blink or speak to anyone – not even each other. It isn’t until you recognise a stamp on one of their hands for Madame Curio’s fortune tent that you notice they all have the same distinguishing stamp. A quick glance towards the sage’s tent tells you that passers-by are being reluctantly coerced into entering… and they never seem to emerge. Something rather sinister is happening and you realise that you could be next. The circus closes in 60 minutes and you can’t see an exit anywhere. Maybe they blocked it off? You need to find another way out of this circus nightmare before Madame Curio steals your mind and you remain Trapp’d forever!
Immersion
Pete
Nate
If there’s something Trapp’d are very good at, its setting the scene with a thought through scenario. We read the brief online and thought this sounds like a room we should have a go at. The circus theme is not one that we’ve experienced all that often so far, in fact we have only ever played one similarly themed room in Greece!
Trapp’d sites all have the same feel when you walk into the lobby, but don’t let the grey unassuming entrance fool you. When you get to the game room, they often deliver a highly immersive room that is on the larger size, making the most of the large units they occupy. We saw this with 46 Below, and so we were excited to see what Cirque Delirium had to offer. After the games master ran through the safety we eagerly made our way to the circus to see what awaited us!
Cirque Delirium doesn’t quite have the same wow factor as 46 below, however it unmistakably delivers a carnival like circus environment. The floor is kitted out with fake grass, there’s bunting, carnival lights and the familiar red and yellow stripes we all associate with the circus. Cleverly incorporated into the room are carnival games and a ticket booth to redeem prizes. In fact, every wall in the room houses some sort of nod to the theme be it the basketball challenge or the hook-a-duck. There is even a real dodgem tucked away in one corner (which may or may not be useful as your progress). It’s also nice that the room isnt a big square, the windy corners really add to the fairground vibe.
As we progressed through the game we stumbled across additional areas which drifted slightly away from the theme at points, a little more could be done to make these areas more consistent with the main room. Having said that, the transitions between rooms are genius and the last room was a lot of fun.
Puzzles & Challenges
Pete
Nate
With a time of 23 minutes, it may not come as a surprise that we found the puzzles to be a little on the simpler side. That doesn’t mean they are bad puzzles by any means, but they are definitely geared towards a younger or more novice escaper. Trapp’d actually rate this room quite highly in terms of difficulty whereas we feel this is one of the easier rooms we have completed.
The room has plenty going on, and the non-linear nature of the puzzles in the first room means that there is plenty for everyone in the room to be cracking on with. At any one time two of us were focusing on one task, leaving the others to start work on something else. This might be why we got through the room a little quicker as had we worked together it would have taken a bit longer to solve everything.
Despite racing through the game, there was enough variety in the puzzles we had to solve and pleasingly, most of these felt totally in keeping with the overall theme of the room (although we have to acknowledge that most were padlock and key focused). The carnival games which successfully transported us to the fairground feature within the gameplay and there is clever use of a ticketing system as you “win” games. Theres also an optional math based puzzle you can choose to complete if you want to for kudos rather than achieving anything extra in the game. We did choose to take part and, although we got the answer wrong, spent a good chunk of our 23 minutes trying to solve this. We probably would have escaped a little quicker if we had ignored it.
Games Master
Pete
Nate
Our game master at Peterborough was a young guy who made us feel really welcome and set the scene of the escape game. He provided clues only when prompted and did his best to outline some of the additional features of the game such as the extra puzzle and the ticket system. After the game he offered to take a picture and then waved us off. This was probably the first room we’ve ever done where the games master was not super enthusiastic about the game, but then we chose the last slot on a week night so we can’t blame him for wanting to get home! During the game, he was there when we needed him and not overly forthcoming with unwanted clues which is our main consideration.
Value for Money
Pete
Nate
We visited this room as four adults, who have played a number of games and blasted through the room really quickly. It took us about an hour to get to Peterborough and we ended up spending only 23 minutes in the room. For us, this wasn’t the cheapest room but then it was our choice to make the journey! If however, we were locals with kids this room would be an entertaining hour that offered pretty decent value for money with free parking. For five of us to play we spent around £80.
Enjoyment
Pete
Nate
Cirque Delirium is one of the more lighthearted rooms we have completed, and although we didn’t use the full hour we did have a fun 20 mins running around the fair and playing carny games. Kids and families will love this room.
