Time Run in East London is a fantastic way to spend an hour on a day out

If you’re looking for something out of the ordinary to do with your family, friends, or work colleagues, take a look at Time Run, a challenge that Helen recently had a chance to discover. Here’s what happened when she and her family ‘travelled through time…”

Time Run Review

On a rainy day, from an unfamiliar train station, Google maps led us alongside a park, and into an unlikely-looking alley. Warehouses, dead ends and iron escape stairs up to small offices all had us convinced we were in the wrong place. But no; the map said we were on track, and the directions said to look for a wooden door. How we walked past it the first time I’ll never know, but I’ll put it down to hunger and a general wariness over what was to come.

Described as an “escape-from-the-room adventure,” Time Run is interactive entertainment the like of which I’ve never experienced, and which now I have, has left me trawling the internet for more. Think Crystal Maze meets Doctor Who (without the aliens) and you’ll have an idea of what lies within.

Once you knock on that door, in the most inauspicious back street, magic begins. A voice invited us inside, whereupon the doors slid open to reveal a scene set for adventure. We were promised time travel, danger and a race against the clock, in such a way that once we were set our challenge we were as excited as we were apprehensive for the adventure to begin. At this point I have to commend the acting of our host, who had the children eating out of his hand and ready to comply with all requests. As we were asked to step through the first ‘portal,’ nerves gave way to curiosity, and we entered the room.

Time Run Corridor

The Time Run corridor.

What followed was a series of puzzles, challenges, and mysteries to be solved, all against the 60 minute timer we had synchronised with the other team completing an identical route on the opposite side of the building. Not knowing what to expect, we quickly set to work as a team, sifting through the provided equipment to piece together practical and mental challenges in order to escape from the room into the next time era.

I won’t spoil it by explaining the challenges – you really do have to experience it for yourself – but we gradually worked our way through three distinct time periods, tackling the puzzles to achieve the goal we had been set. Nor will I tell you if we made it, but we did get a thorough and fascinating debriefing at the end, alongside the other team, as to our strengths.

Time Run Image.jpg

Luna Fox: your host, and the discoverer of time travel!

Time Run place an age limit of 10 years on their teams of 3-5 people, but it’s intended as a guideline, and my 8 year old handled it really well. This is not a game for groups of children, as direction is sometimes needed, but teenagers would have a blast if you booked it as a birthday event, for example. The session opened my eyes to some of my children’s strengths too: I had no idea my son was a master at physical puzzles, nor that my daughter could think in the linear fashion which secured us a fast path through our second set of challenges.

And that’s the real beauty of the game. It gets you working as a team – there’s no way one person could make it through Time Run alone. In fact, when we came home and described our afternoon to my husband, he immediately started planning a team-building day out for his colleagues at work.

I wish I could tell you more, but that would spoil your fun. We left wanting more – half of us wanted to complete the exact same game now we know the secrets, half want to go back when Time Run have set up their new challenge later in the year. Make the effort to go – you’ll be so glad you did.

Time Run is at London Fields, E8 3SB. Tickets cost from £24 per person, plus VAT, and are available from Tuesday to Sunday. Our tickets were given to us for the purposes of review. For more information on the story check out the link.