Blog | Breakout Manchester

A Review Of The First Edition Of Breakout Unboxed!

08/02/2021 | By Breakout Manchester | Category News

With the next edition of Breakout Unboxed about to launch, we thought we’d share with you a review of our first game, written by one of our Game Operators - Tom from Liverpool! - When I first opened our Unboxed game ‘Locked up in Lapland’, I had absolutely no idea what to expect. Would it capture the excitement of a real life escape game? Would the puzzles be too hard? Would it definitely get me in the Christmas spirit?! I had many questions that I’m sure anyone who’s considering playing the game will have too, so here I will review…

Zombie Lab is here - Halloween is coming... And so are the Zombies!

27/10/2020 | By Breakout Manchester | Category News

Halloween is around the corner, and we have the perfect activity for you! Looking for a Trick-or-Treat for your family this Halloween? Come down to Breakout to play our new room - Zombie Lab! The world is in grave danger... Zombies are roaming the streets; no one is safe anymore.Your only hope is a group of Scientists that have gathered to find the cure, however, there are rumours spreading that the scientists have fallen prey to the flesh eating monsters.Luckily, the scientists have kept the cure safely guarded. The fate of the world is now in your hands, you've gained access to the…

Detective Agency is here... Can you catch the Killer?

22/09/2020 | By Breakout Manchester | Category News

We are back and better than ever! Breakout is pleased to announce that The Detective Agency will be opening on 23rd September, so book quickly before you miss your opportunity! If you're looking to unleash your inner detective and solve your first mystery, this is the room for you. Will you be able to find out who the murderer is? Come and find out... The world's greatest detective, and your best friend - Harry Dene, has driven himself mad trying to solve the biggest case of his career. After attempting to talk him off the case, you realise things are worse…

Out...then back in again: why escape rooms are the perfect post-lockdown down activity!

28/07/2020 | By Breakout Manchester | Category News

What a bizarre year so far... The world as we know it seems completed changed after coming to a standstill for months. Nobody could have seen this coming, but as restrictions are lifted and we can finally begin to experience something like normality again, it’s a chance to do all the things you missed most.Believe it or not, the perfect antidote for months of lockdown life could be…escape rooms! It might seem strange, to voluntarily lock yourself in a room just as we’re finally allowed to leave our homes, but escape rooms are actually perfect for slowly getting back into…

What to expect from our Play at Home game!

11/06/2020 | By Breakout Manchester | Category News

Escape Room Online Review! Since the beginning of lockdown we’ve been looking for ways to entertain ourselves, and we’ve been missing the extremely addictive puzzles that you’d find in our escape rooms. So you can imagine how pleased we were to find out that Breakout has partnered with Escape Room Online to present to us a brand new online escape room to play with on up to 6 other devices! During lockdown we have been learning how to use various video chat platforms, sometimes to play quizzes or just to have a catch up - but now the stakes were…

An interview with the creator and owner of Breakout

09/04/2020 | By Breakout Manchester | Category News

1. First things first, what inspired you to start Breakout? The reason I started Breakout is that I have always had an affinity for puzzle. My favourite TV program growing up was the crystal maze and I have always loved the puzzle element of computer games such as the dungeons in Zelda. I walked past the first escape room that opened in the UK, London in 2013 and before I'd even played it I'd already come up with a plan on how I was going to bring the concept to Manchester. From a personal side, prior to opening Breakout I worked in the night-time…

Kickstart 2020 at 51 Church Street!

12/01/2020 | By Breakout Manchester | Category News

Breakout Manchester has been joined at our Northern Quarter location by our sister company, Virtual Hideout. As a result, you can now experience two of Manchester's best activity experiences under the same roof, right at the heart of Manchester's NQ - what more could you want? To celebrate this, we're offering you the chance to have a go at both activities together and SAVE this January. Make a saving of up to £5 per player when you book to play both an escape room and a virtual reality session on the same day! Just give us a call on 0161 839 8012 and a…

The Christmas Countdown begins...

02/12/2019 | By Breakout Manchester | Category News

Stuck on a gift to buy for your nearest and dearest? The shops are all out of Lynx Africa and Yankee candles. don't know what to get for your secret Santa at work? Have no fear, Karen in Accounts, Christmas is saved. Breakout has Gift vouchers on sale right now! Did you know that you can have your Christmas party at Breakout Manchester? With sixteen rooms in total across our two sites, we can accommodate up to 80 people at a time! So whether you're getting the family together, reuniting with old friends, or looking for something a bit different…

The Emporium of Magic is open for business!

25/10/2019 | By Breakout Manchester | Category News

A brand new escape room with all brand new puzzles! The Emporium of Magic is home to the weird and wonderful - full of rare spells, potions and magical artefacts. There are rumours that the alchemist who owns it has been brewing a potion which will give the user unlimited magical powers and the ability to see the unseen. You have entered The Emporium after hours to seek out the recipe and the ingredients. As you break in, you trigger a spell which traps you inside. With the potion brewed, escape will be within your grasp. Without it, you will be…

Take me to 51 CHURCH STREET

07/07/2019 | By Breakout Manchester | Category News

That's right folks, when one door closes, another one opens (just around the corner) After an emotional farewell to our Town Hall location at the end of April, Breakout are back in business with a BRAND NEW SITE!!! Our new Northern Quarter location is at 51 Church street, around about a 51 second walk from our site at High Street branch. The site has opened with 3 games straight off the bat! Including the scarily good Cursed Carnival. The game, where players enter a carnival workshop tasked with solving a mystery to break an ancient curse, is brand new to…

The Countdown continues...

01/04/2019 | By Breakout Manchester | Category News

The countdown continues as we approach the impending closure of our Town Hall site, the place where the Breakout journey began all the way back in 2014. Back then all we had was a directional pad lock and a dream (Getting paid to lock up the fine people of Manchester). As you can imagine, we have some pretty fantastical stories to tell, way too many to fit in this post! Infiltrate alone has entertained ex prisoners, proposals and office parkour. Never the less, our teams have always been ready to rise to the challenge! Even some of the current England…

Bring your Christmas party to Breakout!

19/09/2018 | By Breakout Manchester | Category News

So it’s nearing the end of the year, the days are getting shorter and the nights are getting darker. Entering Autumn only means that we’re one step closer to Christmas. Christmas means many different things for many different people, but one thing that’s certain is the Christmas do with work. This year, you might be bored of the office party or the sit-down meal – so why not try something different at Breakout Manchester! We offer a unique experience, with groups being locked inside a room for sixty minutes and having to solve a series of puzzles, riddles and clues…

Virtual Hideout - A New Gaming Experience

03/09/2018 | By Breakout Manchester | Category News

If you're a fan of our escape rooms here at Breakout, then you're going to love what our partners over at Virtual Hideout have to offer. Virtual reality has always been a concept that consumers and gamers alike have craved even as far back as the 80s. Over the years we have seen many iterations of this medium, some a step in the right direction and others somewhat lack luster. Now though, virtual reality has seen a renaissance and has made many leaps forward for good, and through use of state of the art gaming PC's in tandem with the…

Sick of getting Dad socks for Fathers day?

15/06/2018 | By Breakout Manchester | Category News

Sick of getting the generic socks present for your Dad? We have the solution! Why not treat him this Father’s Day by buying a Breakout gift voucher and locking him up in a room, instead? We’re aware that one of the greatest difficulties is booking a room in for a specific time (especially one in which suits everyone!). The good news is, if your lives are as busy as ours are, you can now purchase a gift voucher for your dad, so that he can reclaim the room whenever his schedule permits. Gift vouchers can be easily purchased on…

MCM London Comic Con!

25/05/2018 | By Breakout Manchester | Category News

Amongst the Orange is the New Black cast, Lucifer stars and The Walking Dead crew, if you're lucky enough, you might spot our very own Breakout staff at this week's MCM London Comic Con! Congregating from Cardiff, Liverpool and Manchester, our Breakout managers from these sites will be manning our very own stall at the Comic Con event. Following our subsequent success at Birmingham Comic Con, we will be utilising three 'pop-up' games, all of which will last 30 minutes (differing slightly from our standard 1-hour escape room games). A brief overview of the games can be displayed below: Vigilante Story: Your friend has been acting…

Ever wonder how escape rooms started?

16/04/2018 | By Breakout Manchester | Category News

Ever wonder how escape rooms started? Well we have created a short summary telling you all aboutit! In 2004 a video game of escape rooms was created called ‘Crimson room’, Takoa Kato who isfounder of the Japanese company SCARP created a live version created in Kyoto in 2007 after beinginspired by a girl playing an online escape room. It became a popular tourist attraction andsuggested to be the start of them spreading throughout Japan and into Southeast Asia.Parapark in Budapest, Hungary was the first city in Europe to create a live escape game by the ownerof the Hungarian company Attila…

A day in the life of a Game Operator

26/02/2018 | By Breakout Manchester | Category News

As you can probably imagine, our Game Operators see a lot of weird and wonderful things happen when running games for our lovely customers (some stories a lot weirder than others!). This blog will feature stories across our Breakout Cardiff, Breakout Liverpool, Breakout Manchester and Breakout Chestersites, and will provide you with some insider information as to what really goes on in our rooms behind closed doors. We will start with the most 2017 that happened to us: “The year of Facebook Live” story. As Game Operator Shannon was congratulating her group on escaping, one of the customers pulled out her iPhone and went live…

A Disturbing Halloween at Breakout

23/10/2017 | By Breakout Manchester | Category News

The first orange leaves have fallen from the trees, which means Halloween is just around the corner. Get your pumpkins carved and your faces painted, because Breakout are celebrating in style this year! With the opening of our newest room Disturbed, it's the perfect time to book in to play a scary room in time for fright night. If trick-or-treating isn't your thing, or if you prefer to stay indoors on a cold October evening then Breakout is perfect for you! Our Manchester High Street site has four spooky games to choose from; Vacancy, the murderous motel Crimson Lake sees…

Escape The Room Is Emerging In VR

27/09/2017 | By Breakout Manchester | Category News

It’s widely acknowledged at this point that “Escape The Room” attractions are becoming a big deal. And it’s not just true in Manchester. These real life games are taking off in cities all over the world, and seem to be attracting more visitors with each passing month. One interesting article looking into some of the stats and demographics behind the movement last summer labeled Escape The Room games as a world-wide phenomenon. And it’s hard to disagree. What you may not realize, however, is that just as real life Escape The Room attractions are becoming more popular, the same…

Family Day Out in Manchester!

24/08/2017 | By Breakout Manchester | Category News

The summer holidays are close to the end and we’ve come up with some places where the kids can be entertained especially with the last few weeks approaching and idea’s running low. If you are looking for a low budget great day out you should try the Manchester Museum, with free entry and different activities being held here you have a lot to choose from. Each Saturday they hold their big themed Saturdays where you can join in on activities, performances and talks. Or if they are more of a football lover then the National Football museum where you can…

Can your family Breakout?

28/06/2017 | By Breakout Manchester | Category News

The summer holidays are fast approaching and we all know it can be quite difficult to get the kids out of the house and doing something different that is fun… especially with the changeable British weather. As Breakout is an indoor activity, it is perfect for the days where it doesn’t look great, because you can pop down and see what game, out of our 13 rooms, fits your fancy! At both of our Manchester locations we do have rooms that are especially suitable for children and a range of themes the family can get excited about. If you…

See you in 10 minutes

28/04/2017 | By Breakout Manchester | Category News

“See you in 10 minutes” The famous last words any game operator wants to hear before closing the door and locking you in a room, these words get us thinking. Here at Breakout everyone knows we have 12 different rooms with different difficulties which range from 2 star to 5 star. Most people like a challenge and goes for our 4 star rooms if they have never played before, this could be just because they like the sound of the room, it was the only time they could do or they just didn’t know. Town Hall Infiltrate One of…

Breakout's next Charity Day is Thursday 30th March 2017

15/03/2017 | By Breakout Manchester | Category News

It’s that time of year again where Breakout try to pay back to the community. The two charity days we hold each year are really important to Breakout and who we are, because we’re aware we wouldn’t be here without the people of the cities we’re based in. We held our first charity day in April 2015 at our flagship Manchester branch and each time we’ve done one since it’s got bigger and bigger, and now involves the sales of all of our rooms becoming charitable donations and a way of getting local charities actively involved in what we do.…

Things to do for the perfect day in Manchester...

06/03/2017 | By Breakout Manchester | Category News

Everyone loves discovering new places to find and explore in Manchester, right?! We asked around at the Breakout HQ to gather intel, and together have compiled a list of recommended new places to visit. Follow our guide to guarantee that you’ll have the perfect day out in the UK’s best city (in our opinion, anyway!). Why not kick-start your day by enjoying one of Moose Coffee’s American-Diner influenced breakfasts? Or, if you’re a late starter, be sure to try their brunch experience, which includes their very own Moose blend espresso coffee. After you’ve devoured your American-influenced breakfast, head down to…

Red Bull at Breakout!

13/12/2016 | By Breakout Manchester | Category News

Every year the giants that are Red Bull create hundreds of fantastic competitive events. These span a plethora of activities, such as surfing, skating, the Flugtag and, a personal favourite, the Soap Box Race, to name a few. There are thousands of competitive events around the world, but Red Bull manage to bring something extra to theirs and create an infectious atmosphere that audiences are drawn into even if they're watching on a screen thousands of miles away. This year Red Bull created the M1NDG4M3RS event 'Mission Enoch', which involved releasing some brain games / mental strategy puzzles online and…

Why not lock up someone you love this Christmas?

07/12/2016 | By Breakout Manchester | Category News

Stuck for Christmas present ideas? Why not try Breakout! Christmas is fast approaching, and everyone knows at least one person who is difficult to buy gifts for. Whether you're sick of buying soap, candles and socks, a game at Breakout can be a great alternative present. Our games are the perfect gift for that fussy friend or family member - we lock them in a room for an hour and test their brain power with our puzzles, riddles and clues to see if they can escape. It's much more exciting than yet another rainy-day boardgame, with the bonus of our…

Keep fresh & carry on

04/11/2016 | By Breakout Manchester | Category News

As you may have noticed, October was a busy month for all 3 of our Breakout sites. We opened a new room in each city we are based in. We opened The Heist in Liverpool, Manchester opened Captured and Cardiff opened Disturbed. In Captured, It's time to play a game. Some people are so ungrateful to be alive. If you survive this room you won't be. One minute you are leading a normal life, going about your daily business, the next you are captured. You wake up in an abandoned basement with no idea how you got there. A video begins to play and the clock starts to count down. You have…

Reclassified is here!

10/08/2016 | By Breakout Manchester | Category News

Breakout Manchester has launched two brand new rooms Reclassified Blue and Reclassified Green at our high street location. As you can probably guess from the names they are identical rooms apart from the colours, Reclassified Blue and Green are out new spy rooms which put you too the ultimate final test and it is like nothing Breakout Manchester have done before. It is a four star difficulty room so we haven't made it too easy for you, with a mixture between puzzles, riddles and all sorts of new exciting things. With this being the ultimate final test we have made…

Time to Detect

31/05/2016 | By Breakout Manchester | Category News

For those of you that have been with Breakout since our beginning in May 2014, you may remember that we only opened our centre with two rooms: John Monroe’s Detective Office and Virus. For those of you that have only found us more recently, that was genuinely where we began. What people may not know is that John Monroe was a franchised room, as we wanted to make sure we started the company with a game that worked and we couldn’t mess up. After two years, we realised that while John Monroe is so important to our story, we needed…

Charitable Connections

19/04/2016 | By Breakout Manchester | Category News

Hello, On Thursday 21st April 2016, Breakout Manchester and Liverpool are hosting a charity day which we would love you to be part of. In 2015, Breakout contacted some local charities and gave them our rooms for a day. This altered nothing from our end of the as these rooms would be running anyway, we took them off the booking system, told the charities our prices and let them book the slots themselves and take the money we would have received as a direct donation. In both Manchester and Liverpool we have worked with charities such as The Christie,…

Most Wanted has landed!

14/03/2016 | By Breakout Manchester | Category News

Breakout Manchester has a brand new room; it has everything you’d expect from an escape room – tonnes of puzzles, tonnes of padlocks and the usual panic inducing challenges. However, this time there is a TWIST. A true test of nerve and skill that is already breaking newbie’s and professional exit game player’s hearts! If you haven’t heard about Most Wanted… where have you been? The new addition to our collection of games resides at Breakout High Street; our centre that sits opposite the Arndale Food Market and across from the Co-op. We are right on the edge of…

Breakout High Street

07/01/2016 | By Breakout Manchester | Category News

Breakout Manchester now has a second site over on High Street! This is located at the back of the Arndale. This site has the potential for 7 new escape rooms and it has opened with 3 rooms already. Two of these rooms are brand new to Breakout and one is a copy of an original game. The three rooms are: Monroe’s Detective Office- This game is an identical copy of John Monroe’s Detective Office which is also at our main site, located on Brazennose Street by the town hall. Detective Monroe has been murdered under very suspicious circumstances and YOU…

Charity Day #2

17/11/2015 | By Breakout Manchester | Category News

Last month Breakout hosted another charity day across both of our sites. Here in Manchester all our proceeds went toward The Christie Charity and in our Liverpool site we supported Imagine If. Lots of fun was had by all who came to play and in Manchester we raised a grand total of £900! The team with the quickest escape time also won a lovely hamper. The Christie We raised money for The Christie on our last charity day, alongside other charities, way back in March and we were proud to help raise money for them again. The Christie is a…

The most FUN team building activity you'll ever do!!

26/08/2015 | By Breakout Manchester | Category News

Breakout is not just for groups of friends and families, it is great for work colleagues and team buidling events too. How is Breakout good for this you ask? With 5 different themed rooms we can accommodate 25 people an hour. Team Building Our rooms our perfect as it requires groups to get stuck in and work as a team. The puzzles require mental ability including numerical and literal clues to help escape. It’s something unique to get the groups to work together under pressure but also fun. If you would like to observe them inside the rooms we can…

Manager's Stories

28/07/2015 | By Breakout Manchester | Category News

Being a manager here at Breakout we get to see and hear some very interesting things, from and staff and customers. When one of our managers Kate first started she thought she was doing a good deed and started to water the plants. These plants are in fact fake and she didn't realise until someone else told her. Kate also used mouth spray for a week thinkng it was hand sanitiser. Another highlight was when she was told to tidy our storage cupboard and came across a brick, instead of throwing it away she decided to tidy it away in…

Breakout Franchise

26/06/2015 | By Breakout Manchester | Category News

Here at Breakout we like to keep things close and personal, that's why 6 of our rooms have been created internally by Breakout Manchester. Over the past year Breakout Manchester has become a one of the most succesful escape rooms in the UK and we believe that's down to the excellent design flow and unique story lines that are the key to our success. You can now purchase any of our 6 rooms to franchise and start up your own escape room anywhere in the world. We will help you every step of the way by adapting each room to…

Breakout's 1st Birthday

26/05/2015 | By Breakout Manchester | Category News

On the 22nd of May Breakout has it's first birthday! This year has flown by and we've come a very long away since we opened 12 months ago. We first opened with just one room, our classic John Monroe's Detective Office. It wasn't a smooth start to begin with, there were 4 members of staff no furniture in reception and wires galore. We then opened up our Virus room. Bookings were coming in slowly and a few more members of staff were hired. The Breakout Family began to grow. The next step was opening up a completely unique 3rd room.…

Still no clue what we do, here's some info for you!

27/04/2015 | By Breakout Manchester | Category News

You must be wondering what actually goes on here at Breakout and why we lock people in a room for an hour? Well because its fun of course! You have 60 mintues to escape a locked room by solving clues and puzzles. We currently have 6 completley different themed rooms each with a difficulty rating out of 5. When you come down to us we will give you a short health and safety brief which is mainly common sense of don't put fingers in plug sockets, climb on furntiture etc. We then tell you the good part, your story line…

Is this the best job in the world?

13/04/2015 | By Breakout Manchester | Category News

We've been there, waking up Monday morning and dreading having to go to work, often wondering what the best job in the world is... Actually, no, we haven't. We know what the best job in the world is! And we bet you want to know too. Well, here at Breakout we have the best job in the world! Each day we wake up smiling. Why? Well, because every day we have friends, families, couples, work colleagues and even first dates come through our doors. Once inside the lobby and sat down they can't help but play with the various puzzles…

Charity Day

09/04/2015 | By Breakout Manchester | Category News

Last month here at Breakout we decided to have a charity day where we picked 3 charities and dedicated each one a room. The room that was dedicated to them was open to the public to book but the full proceeds of that room were donated to them. In total £764 was rasied. The 3 charities we chose were The Christie, Roy Castle Lung Cancer and Just Jack. The Christie were given the Virus room along with bookings they also had a charity bucket in reception. In total they received £362. Roy Castle Lung Cancer were given the Madchester room…

Breakout Manchester Blog Entry No.1

30/03/2015 | By Breakout | Category News

We are Breakout Manchester, we are a live room escape game situated in Central Manchester. We challenge members of the public to be locked in one of our puzzle rooms for 60 minutes while they attempt to escape. With the clock ticking down rapidly the challengers search franticly to find clues and solve puzzles to hopefully piece together all the elements they need to Breakout. Opening to the public on May 27th 2014 we launched with just our John Monroe Detective Office in which players raced to solve the murder of John Monroe and prove their own innocence. Our second…