Quiz Room comes to London — forget escape rooms and axe throwing

There’s a new social experience in town for those who have escaped all the escape rooms and maxed-out on virtual golf: Quiz Room.

This is an in-person quiz game, in a set dressed up like a TV quiz show, and the first UK venue just opened up in London’s Spitalfields area. For the locals, it’s right by the Cotswold Outdoor store on Bell Lane.

You can book for up to 18 players — or even more if you request a quote — and get to take part in a TV quiz, minus the broadcast cameras. There are lights and buzzers, and if you’re looking for something to fill up a hen or stag do, you can submit custom questions rather than rely on the Quiz Room’s own set. And, yes, there's a licensed bar on the premises.

Assuming drunkenness and ritual humiliation are not the aim, you have three main quiz types to choose from: the standard quiz, a music quiz or one suitable for kids. Quiz Room suggests the latter is a good fit for birthday parties for 8-12 year-olds.

In the standard quiz, you pick from six topics beforehand (music, movies & TV, sport, daily life, news and society, top of the class (general knowledge)), and sign up for two or three games. Each takes around a half-hour.

The music quiz is a classic “name that song” affair. You can pick which decades of music are included. It's not all about knowledge either, as there are "joker" abilities to let you strategically trip-up other players.

There’s no host, no stand-in Alexander Armstrong, but there is a “voiceover” character Amber, and the quiz is directed by the screens on the podiums.

There are six of these podiums in each quiz room, so if you rock up with more than six players you’ll have to organise yourself into teams.

It’s best to find a group of six to play, at least, as otherwise you’re left paying more per person. With such a six-person group it works out at £28 per person for an hour-long session, or £38 per person for a three-game 90-minute session.

While not the cheapest way to stay entertained for an hour or so, Quiz Room is roughly comparable with what you’d pay down the road at Enigma Quests in Shoreditch.

This format has also proved super-popular elsewhere. Quiz Room began its life in 2019, in France. There are already more than 60 locations over there, while Australia, Canada, Belgium, Switzerland and the UAE also have Quiz Room venues already.

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