Escape Reality Birmingham: Machina

By | March 20, 2019

by Escape Reality Birmingham (website)

60-62 Constitution Hill, Jewellery Quarter, B19 3JT

Birmingham

2-6 players

60 minutes

A team of high-tech scientists and programmers have assembled to perform ground breaking experiments in developing the first instance of true artificial intelligence known to man. You have just been accepted onto the team of scientists and have arrived at their headquarters. After a few days you realise that scientists are suddenly leaving and that these robots are showing scarily human-like emotions. You decide that you need to leave as quickly as possible as something peculiar is happening, but all of the doors have been locked trapping you and the rest of the team inside. Can you all escape before you reluctantly become a part of the experiment?
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Overall rating

Rated 3.5 out of 5

based on ratings from 14 users
combined with 3 pro reviews

Your review

Player reviews

Brandon experienced rated this:Rated between 35 and 35 out of 5
Team size: 2 Outcome: Successful escape!
๐Ÿ”James Bloodworth expert rated this:Rated between 35 and 35 out of 5
Played: 16/10/2021 Team size: 2 Outcome: Successful escape!
Anonymous rated this:Rated between 35 and 35 out of 5
Played: July 2019 Team size: 4 Time taken: 52:00 Outcome: Successful escape!

This is one of those 'creepy' games which are never quite as scary as they could be.  We sailed through the first two thirds of this game, then got really hung up on something daft and wasted lots of time.  Enjoyable, and the dressing of the room is much better than some of their others.

Simon R Leslie experienced rated this:Rated between 40 and 40 out of 5
Played: 18 Nov 2023 Team size: 2 Time taken: 40:22 Outcome: Successful escape!
clevergood puzzles
Siรขn O'Brien experienced rated this:Rated between 30 and 30 out of 5
Played: 13 Jul 2023 Team size: 3 Time taken: 49:38 Outcome: Successful escape!
plainunoriginalquite easy

This was probably one of our better experiences at Escape Reality, as everything in the game worked. It was just a shame the game was so dull. The aesthetic was flat and not really in keeping with the theme. Escape Reality has a habit of locking you in black empty rooms, that only contain the props necessary for the tasks themselves. So in that sense, if you know what you're doing, you can walk through these linear stories pretty easily. We certainly should have done better in terms of time and was largely delayed by our own anxiousness to interact with (spoiler alert) locks that only have a certain number of attempts. We also tried to avoid using the scanable clues - this is Escape Reality's way of circumventing the unstaffing of their venues. Your games host is also managing other games, e-mails, the phone and walk-ins. They're not watching you on CCTV and they're not listening to you. If you get truly stuck and the scanner isn't helping you, you switch on a light and wait for your GM to respond. Our GM, on this occasion, was lovely and very responsive, but I personally don't agree with the management decisions that are made by Escape Reality. And although this won't stop us coming back, the fact I've ran out of games there will. Apparently there are no plans to install new games, which makes me wonder if they're winding down. So, if you're thinking of going, you might want to do so sooner rather than later! But find a discount code. I don't suggest paying full price, as these rooms don't provide the full experience. Our room didn't so much as have atmospheric music to help lift our dull surroundings. I get the impression many of the puzzles are designed in such a way as to not be tampered with too, as they don't have the budget or means to replace items. So instead, they've just locked things away and now you play by looking. Not touching. It was, overall, a playable game, but just a bit dull.

piratechaek experienced rated this:Rated between 10 and 10 out of 5
Played: 17 Mar 2017 Team size: 2 Outcome: Failed ๐Ÿ™
broken techpoor hostingplainvery difficult
elfgrunge experienced rated this:Rated between 20 and 20 out of 5
Team size: 4 Outcome: Successful escape!
plain
๐ŸŽฒA Jones experienced rated this:Rated between 25 and 25 out of 5
Played: 14 Aug 2019 Team size: 4 Outcome: Successful escape!
๐Ÿ”SpontaneousIllusion expert rated this:Rated between 15 and 15 out of 5
Outcome: Failed ๐Ÿ™
illogicalpoor hostingplainquite difficult
๐Ÿค˜The Pick of Destiny expert rated this:Rated between 35 and 35 out of 5
Showing most recent only - see all ratings & reviews

Reviews by escape room review sites

Escape Reality's Leeds branch is out on the western side of the city sharing with a laser tag facility next to a major road; we managed not to miss the turning for them on the third attempt. Perhaps because of the location or the number of games they offer, we found it much easier to get some last-minute weekend availability with them to top up our schedule than with the various venues in the centre of town.

Unsure of which of their games to book in for, I used the dubious tie-breaker of seeing...

Iโ€™m so pleased that customer feedback has been taken on board to improve Machina. A non-linear approach is great for teams who prefer to separate, and some upgraded features succeed in increasing the immersion of the room. I didnโ€™t quite experience my beloved frantic attempt at solving the final puzzle as it was a lot easier than most of the previous solutions, so it was all over quite fast โ€“ but all in all this is a great room, perfect for teams who have a bit of experience and know what to expect.

See also

Other copies of this game in other locations:(Different copies of the same game sometimes have significant differences.)