203. The Grid

An AI themed escape room with cocktails? Sure! Why not!

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With Pete Trainor

I met Pete digitally a while before I met him in person. He was this cool tech guy and when he first reached out after watching The Big Life Fix I was a little intimidated by his substantial twitter following and impressive knowledge. Now I class him as a friend I know those things aren't what make him special, it's his curiosity and his heart the size of a universe. Pete is the founder of Us AI and author of Hippo.

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We arrived at the normal looking office in the arches near Blackfriars Bridge and were given silver jackets to put on (instant win in my book) We introduced ourselves to our fellow attendees Paras and Ebru and were told as Neosight lab volunteers we would be required to take part in some experiments.

We were led through to the testing facility where A.I.D.A our digital guide talked us through the steps to mix a cocktail. Half way through drinking it we were alerted by a bug in the system that our drinks contained a dangerous compound which we needed an antidote for.

Then the fun really began. To avoid spoiling it or ruining the escape element I won't share in detail what happened but we were challenged in 2 very different rooms to find our way out, which we miraculously did. But it was tough. It was physical. We had to think laterally. There was maths.

We burst out of the doors at the end into a little room where we made a gin cocktail with a foam top. To be honest the experience didn't need the cocktails, they felt a bit extra to the story but I'm never going to say no to gin. Although I don't think it made the puzzles any easier.

Good fun and a real mind bender. We left feeling like we had done a mental workout.

You can buy tickets for The Grid here.