Escape Edinburgh: Darker Side of Edinburgh & Da Vinci Room (Scotland)

The Darker Side Of Edinburgh

We booked two rooms at this place which was billed as "Scotland's First Live Escape Game". Their website was terrific and we were excited to do both these room.

The Da Vinci Room

The first room we did was "The Darker Side of Edinburgh" and this was one of the least exciting rooms we've played to date. There were no extra rooms and only padlocks to open so maybe it is showing its age as the first escape room in Scotland. We also managed to open the final lock that gave us the key to the exit at around the 12 min mark which lead to the moderator to rush in and tell us not to use it. He questioned how we got to it and we explained that a riddle lead us to a number, which we were told was a coincidence. Ok, so we agreed to put it back and asked that he let us know when it was time for us to use the key since we already solved the puzzle. He never comes back and we eventually escape with 12mins to spare.

The second room was the Da Vinci Room which is a common theme and nothing really stood out here. It was better than the first room but still did not have many innovative or inspiring puzzles.

The best rooms that we played in Edinburgh were Svengali's Lair (Exit Plan Edinburgh) and Mission Odyssey (Can You Escape?) and we highly recommend visiting those rooms if in town.

Pros: Low cost, walking distance to where we were staying

Cons: Only padlocks, nothing really inspiring

• Set/room design: Mediocre
• Technology/automation: Gen-1
• Difficulty: Moderate 
• Price: £48-£66/room
• Number of players: 2-5, private room (we recommend 2-3)
• Duration: 60 minutes
• Overall Rating (Darker Side Of Edinburgh): ★
• Overall Rating (Da Vinci Room): ★★

See their website here: https://www.escapeteambuilding.co.uk