Virtual Escape Room: 221B Baker Street
As a prospective assistant of Mr. Sherlock Holmes, you’ve travelled from your home in Bristol to London in order to showcase your suitability for the role. You arrive at 221B Baker Street ready to prostrate yourself before him and demand he choose you for the position.
But as you make your way up the dusty stairs to what you presume is Mr. Holmes’ study, there’s a stillness in the air.
Stepping into the cluttered rooms, you open your mouth to call his name, but, before you can speak, the door creaks ominously and swings shut behind you, totally of its own accord…
The game is on! You have one hour to pick your way through Mr. Holmes’ jumbled belongings and deduce any useful information he may have left behind in his scrawled notes and cryptic phone message.
As you look around you notice an ornate fireplace that seems a perfect spot to hide a clue – or several. Taking note for later, you continue your observations. A crowded bookcase, Mr. Holmes’ beloved instruments, and information on various plants and fauna are scattered around the room.
On the wall, a noticeboard tells you that Mr. Holmes may have been making travel plans on the Orient Express; perhaps that’s where he is, instead of here, meeting you.
With clues from old cases confusing the scene, you need to understand Mr. Holmes’ mindset (or mind palace) to solve each puzzle and escape from 221B Baker Street, and unlike traditional escape rooms, you can keep playing until you finally get out, or set a time limit for a more challenging game.
From the comfort of their own home, players get a glimpse into what it would truly mean to live like Sherlock Holmes.
Puzzles in the Escape Room vary in difficulty, with a simple puzzle to ease you in, and steadily more complex conundrums to tickle you and your teammates brains.
Sherlock Holmes is all about logical conclusions, which is why 221B’s puzzles can all be figured out if your team takes their time and thinks through each step. With little easter eggs referencing popular novels in the series and some red herrings to throw you off the case, this virtual activity will incite lots of discussion and requires positive cooperation to complete successfully.
Everyone thinks and processes difficulty, you may have one member of your team better suited to strict logic puzzles or riddles, whilst another is a more out-of-the-box thinker and will do better with the more creative challenges that require you to think less laterally.
Having varied thinkers and problem-solvers on a team is a great asset, and if your team can fight their way out of 221B Baker Street and overcome puzzles set by the brilliant Sherlock Holmes, then they can figure out how to work together to solve almost anything.
