BackLounge Review | Clue Hunt, Mumbai
Step into the shoes of Miss Scarlett or Hercule Poirot at Mr. Spylock's Chamber in Mumbai
Premium
After popularizing recreational oddities like cat cafés (where a fixed cover charge allows you to pet and hang out with a variety of cats) and maid cafés and host bars (where patrons pay to chat with dolled-up strangers), the Japanese have a new kooky pastime that’s turned into a worldwide craze—the real escape game. Sort of like a real-life equivalent of the escape-the-room subgenre of video games, the real room escape game is exactly what you think it is: A group of people are locked in a themed room with only a set of random clues as a means to break out in 60 minutes or less.
Since the concept was launched in Mumbai on 1 December with a murder-mystery themed room, Mr. Spylock’s Chamber, I saw it as an opportunity to finally live out my “Miss Scarlet-in the library-with the candlestick" Cluedo fantasy.
The good stuff
The walls of the matchbox-sized room were crammed with framed photographs, vintage maps of the city and grooves holding assorted props, including a smoking pipe, a chess set and vintage books. There was a giant chalk outline straight out of a crime scene on the floor and the study desk, the only piece of furniture, was chock-a-block with a retro typewriter with a half-written note and an electronic safe. A dozen other keyholes and padlocks meant we were going to have to search and decode more puzzles than we had anticipated.
Without a backstory or a step-by-step checklist, there was no way to tell real clues from false leads or match riddle solutions to the padlocks. We spent nearly 25 minutes circling the room like a pair of headless chickens before the game master bombarded us with obvious hints. Thankfully, the puzzles we attempted were of the wordplay and mathematical variety and didn’t require knowledge of trivia or actual crime-solving. More about the puzzle would be to give away the mystery, but it challenged and befuddled us.
The not-so-good
We’re not sure if it was intentional but the set-up in the inaugural theme room resembled CID more than CSI. The good news is that another room, Kaboom!, with a bomb-disposal end-goal, will be launched in the coming week and the themes for both rooms will be updated routinely or switched completely. Internationally, the themes are based on TV shows and movies like Prison Break, Catch Me If You Can and The Da Vinci Code and often feature motion-sensor lasers and other high-tech gadgetry.
Talk plastic
An hour-long game slot is priced at ₹ 700-1,000 per person, depending on the size of the group (a team of two-five only) on weekdays and at ₹ 800-1,100 per person on weekends and public holidays.
Clue Hunt, 101, Roha Orion, 16th Road, near Mini Punjab restaurant, Bandra (West), Mumbai. Clcik here for details, visit or call 26005225. Click here for an online booking.
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