Prodigy Escapes & Experiences is an independent escape room company based in Exeter, UK. Owners Dan and Lisa have lovingly crafted three very different experiences: a spooky haunted manor, a tomb-raiding adventure, and a magical quest for a dragon egg. So if you want to be transported away from reality and happen to find yourself in Exeter, be sure to swing by!
Overview
The Venue
Prodigy Escapes is a 10-15 minute walk from the centre of Exeter and the train station. Free onsite parking is also available.
The reception area features a funky neon ‘Prodigy’ sign, comfy sofas and a selection of plants. The toilet facilities are close by, along with lockers and the main reception desk. Next to the reception, you’ll find a selection of Prodigy-themed merchandise on sale, including caps, T-shirts, and mugs.
When asked to lock up our belongings, we were surprised to find built-in phone chargers in each locker. This is something I’ve never come across before, but it is such a clever idea. It’s a great example of how much thought has gone into the customer experience. Another nice touch is the photo books on the coffee table in the waiting area. These capture the build of each room, showing step-by-step progress. As an enthusiast, it is really fascinating to get a peek behind the curtain! If you don’t like spoilers, you may want to hold off opening these until you’ve played the rooms.
Accessibility
All rooms are wheelchair-accessible, although they may require an able-bodied team member for some elements. For full accessibility details for each room, check out the individual room pages on the Prodigy website.
The Rooms
Prodigy Escapes has implemented variable difficulty into its rooms. You can choose from Easy, Medium or Hard modes, tailoring gameplay to your team’s experience level. We opted for Hard mode, of course.
The Lost Temple
Players: 2-6 | Duration: 60 mins | Difficulty: Easy, Medium and Hard modes available
“In the depths of the deepest jungle, a lost temple awaits. The bravest of explorers are needed to unlock the treasures that have been hidden away for centuries. Fame and glory await the most fearless of adventurers capable of overcoming the temple’s secrets in our adventure escape room.”
Our thoughts
The Lost Temple is, perhaps unsurprisingly, a tomb-based adventure with Indiana Jones/Tomb Raider vibes. It spans multiple spaces, with the jungle as the main entry point. Decorated with lush plants, dinosaur remains, and a running water feature, it feels very immersive. Strange symbols adorn the walls, with only a large temple door and puzzles keeping you from the treasure. Equipped with sun hats and torches, we were ready to take on the challenge!
An introductory video sets out the mission: to hunt down a piece of treasure rumoured to be hidden within a long-forgotten temple. Stranded in a jungle with only a small locked box and a map, we had to work out how to unlock the tools needed for our journey. The room starts as a linear experience, before branching into non-linear gameplay later on. We enjoyed the mix of working together and breaking off to tackle puzzles in pairs. One element that is often hard to nail is getting the right people in front of the right puzzles. There were instances where we probably should have switched things up, but it’s easy to work that out in hindsight. We evolve as a team with each game we play, so hopefully, this is something we will get better at.
We only came across two traditional padlocks in the room, with most elements utilising technology to unlock the way forward. This paved the way for some creativity with the puzzles, which don’t just generate a number for you to input into a lock. Instead, your map-reading ability, observation skills and physical dexterity will all be tested. Some puzzles were very interactive, requiring us to act quickly, while others required more brainwork. Our strength as a team is definitely more in ‘thinky’ puzzles vs physical challenges, so we felt a little on the back foot at times. Rooms are built to test us, though, so we relished in the chaos as we tried to work outside our comfort zone.
There was one element of the room that broke immersion a bit for me, and that was the fire door. Fire safety is hugely important, but I’m not used to seeing the fire door in the escape room itself. I appreciate that there is no way of getting around this, due to building limitations, but it did break the illusion of being in the jungle a little. Not enough to have a big impact on my enjoyment of the room as a whole, though.
As the time quickly ran down, we had to work hard and fast to finish the final puzzles. The last one, once we got the hang of it, was extremely satisfying. We got our hands on the treasure just in the nick of time and escaped for a delicious Thai lunch.
The Wizards of Wyvern
Players: 2-6 | Duration: 60 mins | Difficulty: Easy, Medium and Hard modes available
“Long before Hogwarts and Harry Potter, Exeter was home to an ancient magical community. They were gifted with the power by a Dragon Egg, and now, the magic of Exeter is under threat. It seems the Egg has been stolen, and those who were once powerful now see their abilities fading. In this hour of need, will you be the ones to restore the magic?”
Our thoughts
The Wizards of Wyvern is the newest addition to Prodigy Escapes, inviting players – ahem, Wizards – to unite and restore the magic of Exeter. To do this, you’ll need to locate the source of power: a stolen magical egg that’s hidden somewhere nearby. Once you’ve donned your wizard’s cloaks and hats, you’ll be ready to take on the challenge. Dressing up is optional, but come on – who doesn’t want to don a cloak?!
As you might expect in a wizard-themed room, you get to brandish a wand, cast some spells and use magical artifacts to reveal the way forward. To achieve this, there is a mix of traditional locks and technology employed, keeping the game grounded while allowing for surprising interactions. We loved the level of creativity that went into the puzzle design, with a clear focus on imbuing everything you encounter with a touch of magic. It isn’t very often that you come across something truly spellbinding as an adult, but there were a few moments here that we found captivating. I can only imagine the reactions had there been any children in our team!
Clear communication is vital for some tasks, where you need to work with items across multiple spaces simultaneously. We actually worked together really effectively, adjusting our approach to one particular puzzle and keeping calm when another wasn’t going as smoothly as we’d have liked. Everyone had their moment as we hurtled towards the endgame.
The experience culminated in a dramatic reveal that served as the perfect climax to our quest. We finished the room on a real high, full of energy from what we felt was the best room at Prodigy. If you are a fan of the fantasy theme/Harry Potter, then you’ll love this room. If you keep your eyes peeled, you may even spot some cheeky pop culture references that the team have slipped in.
The Haunting of Mount Clifton Manor [Closed]
We got to play The Haunting of Mount Clifton Manor just before it closed its doors to make way for a new chapter from the Mount Clifton Manor story. It was a fairly traditional haunted house room, with spooky surprises and dark secrets. As the oldest room, Dan and Lisa have decided to reimagine it using everything they have learned since it opened.
The Curse of Mount Clifton Manor will serve as a prequel, promising to ramp up the fear factor and delve deeper into the mysterious history of the building. Work has begun on the new room, but a time window for opening has not yet been confirmed.
Ranking
Our team rankings for the rooms we’ve played at Prodigy Escape Rooms are:
| 1 | The Wizards of Wyvern |
| 2 | The Lost Temple |
| 3 | The Haunting of Mount Clifton Manor [Now closed] |
We escaped… now what?
The best rooms don’t send you away empty-handed, so we were delighted to be given printed team photos. This was alongside postcards for each room that feature the final escape times. In one more shocking twist, a birthday gift was hidden in each of the rooms in celebration of Tomi, Lenka and Georgina’s birthdays. It was a very unexpected and really touching surprise from the Prodigy Escapes team.
Isaac was our GM for the day and was a fantastic host, deftly switching between his roles for the different rooms. The customer service was superb, and this definitely contributed to how comfortable we felt throughout the day.
I had a great catch-up with Dan – one of the owners – before we left, who shared some fascinating insights into some of the player data they collect. This is used in several ways to improve the user experience, and allows them to track how long each puzzle takes a group and/or the number and level of hints required. The team at Prodigy Escapes really want all players to escape so that they can enjoy the full experience. One clever use of the data is in determining when a GM should intervene with a hint.
We played the rooms in the order that they were built, which meant we saw the clear evolution of quality over time. I’m sure that future rooms will only continue to be more impressive in creativity and scope. It’s clear that Dan and Lisa are just warming up, and if this is the quality now, I can’t wait to see what comes next.
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