Code To Exit Altrincham – The Blueprint

The Story:
The goal is to travel back in time to the 1950s. There, you must search and acquire the blueprints of the hydrogen bomb and then return them to the future via the time gate. In order to achieve this goal you have to find the lost parts of the time machine, install them and repair it. The perfect puzzle room, even for beginners.

Our briefing once again took place inside the room, which was fitted out well in 1950s style including a very impressive large organ. The time machine that we needed to repair was located next to the door, which it would open once we completed the task of repairing it.

Almost straight away we noticed two things that we thought must go together, and spent a little time trying to make them fit somehow. We eventually felt we had to give up and try something else though as time was ticking on. These items proved to be not a red herring as such, but it wasn’t until we’d abandoned them and managed to reach a later stage that we realised that the two things were actually from two completely separate puzzles that made a lot more sense once you got there.

We also once again managed to completely miss some of the totally obvious stuff which seems to be becoming our signature move, and not one to be proud of…

After opening one particular container, we took out all the items from inside (and I’m saying ‘we’ here to generously share my blame with Mr Carrot) and completely failed to spot the key still lying there in the bottom. We actually had to get a clue to tell us to check we’d got everything out. Oh the shame!

Also listed under ‘things that make us cringe’ was the wooden item which I (though I’m going to say ‘we’ again) searched ‘thoroughly’ by running my hands up and down the sides, top, and bottom to find nothing hidden, but completely failed to spot that it had a simple latch to open it… it wasn’t even a puzzle! Doh!

We had a slight issue with one part of the room which involved a noise, which we had trouble hearing clearly. It was a little distorted and we just couldn’t quite make it out so ended up having to have the info sent to us. I think we were only slightly wrong though and maybe if we’d tried a few more iterations we’d have got there.

I’m sad to say we also let ourselves down a little on the searching in the room too. There were a few similar items needed for one of the puzzles, and even though we could see what was required, we just didn’t spot where they were for ages (and possibly even more clues).

It probably sounds like we didn’t deserve to escape after making such a huge mess of things, but we did eventually get there after experiencing a few nice touches and surprises along the way, and we were very grateful for all the help we were given.

Great room, and we’ll definitely be back for the third room at Code To Exit – The Dark Ages.