You’re a giant! Oh no, wait… I’m tiny!

News about the next new game… oh go on then…

Anyone who has played our prison break escape room, The Block Breakout, will know it is a little different to our other escape rooms. In many ways it is more in keeping with the traditional physical escape rooms near me, with puzzles involving finding codes and patterns, and solving logic puzzles. An alarmingly high number of prisoners have escaped from this maximum-security prison escape room!

B Block, and our new room, feel different to our other games. Firstly because they're made by a different team with the delightful name Plucky Wombat, and that gives it a different visual and audio style. But mostly it’s about the story telling within the game. That’s what charmed us into adding The BBlock Breakout to our escape rooms last year - and it’s why we’re really pleased to be opening Plucky Wombat’s new room to the public in early May.

We’d like to invite you to volunteer for a scientific experiment… Come and meet Professor Parvus…

So, what’s the escape room about? Where is the adventure taking us this time? What are the puzzles like? And, most importantly, when can you play?!

Buckle up! Put those lab coats on, and secure those goggles, because Professor Parvus has been creating his newest invention – The Parvus Box. And you are his test subjects! You will be shrunk down to microscopic size and will get to explore the world at a completely different scale! With blueberries the size of your head and fridges like tower blocks, this is a familiar yet entirely new experience! There are a few things that seem “a bit off” with this experiment though. But it’s entirely safe right? Bound to be. What do they do if experiments go wrong? What happened to the last vict— volunteers? Will you be able to get back to normal size and escape before it’s too late?

The Parvus Box uses virtual reality to create imaginative, innovative puzzles that aren’t possible in a regular escape room. The whimsical concept of being teeny-tiny is brought to life in the most creative of ways, while also providing challenging and thought-provoking puzzles.

The theme of being tiny in a normal sized world is a popular one. It’s common in books, films and games and has included some classics.

Remember Honey, I Shrunk the Kids? This is the first film that came to mind when I played The Parvus Box. Probably because of the scientist connection. In the film, scientist Wayne Szalinski accidentally shrinks his own kids in the backyard. Chaos follows as the kids have to work together to get through their now gigantic backyard to return to normal size. A funny, must watch for all.

We can look further back though!

Back in the early 50s Mary Norton published the classic “The Borrowers” with its tiny people living in the walls of full size houses and “borrowing” things from the full sized owners. The series of books are still well loved today. Terry Pratchett’s Diggers, Truckers and Wings, had similar themes albeit his characters were gnomes. Of course, they were just small living in a large world. They hadn’t shrunk.

In the 60s Marvel introduced Ant-Man - a thief-turned-hero who using a suit to shrink in size. But what he lacks in size he gains in strength. The small-but-mighty. Ant-Man technology must stay in good hands to protect the world from evil!

In the 80s there was the classic Inner Space.

Lets not forget the more recent Downsizing! A socially satirical film, where people shrink themselves to live in a more prosperous and environmentally friendly community.  

In the gaming world there’s It Takes Two – a game that focuses on Cody and May, a couple going through divorce who are magically turned into dolls. They must work together to navigate various fantastical environments and scenarios, solve puzzles, and overcome challenges to return to their human form. The game really places an emphasis on teamwork and is great for couples.

Back in the 90s there was the fabulous Micro Machines on the Sega MegaDrive! Players control their tiny cars and race through miniature everyday tracks. Kitchen counters, school desks. bubble baths.

In other words - being shrunk and seeing the world from a different perspective isn’t knew to entertainment culture - but it’s new to our escape rooms.  

The Parvus Box is a story based, very logical and puzzle-focused escape room. It’s a well-struck balance between ‘escape room’ and ‘virtual reality experience’ that will keep even the biggest of escape room purists happy while using VR to create puzzle twists that just aren’t feasible in the real world.

The Parvus Box isn’t one of our horror escape rooms - well scary escape rooms - like Manor of Escape (and soon to come Alien Infection!). The Parvus Box is a family friendly escape room experience for up to - we think - four players. (We’re going to test it with up to five and see how we get on.)

So, when will the game be available to play? The Parvus Box will be launching on our website at the beginning of May, but we’re running test days on Sunday April 13th and Sunday 27th April so we can learn about how people interact when playing etc. At the time of writing the 13th has sold out except for one session, and there are only a couple of sessions left on the 27th. (If you’d like to play and have missed out ping me a message using the WhatsApp button at the bottom of the page as I may be able to open for a few more sessions during the Easter holidays.)

Get ready scientists, because things are going to get exciting! Come and play The Parvus Box for a bite-sized themed science lab escape room full of puzzles and fun!