Upcoming Events
Novel Entertainments
February 21st 2012
On Tuesday February 21st, A Door In A Wall proudly presents: 'Novel Entertainments' a night of live, experimental games downstairs at The Book Club (100 Leonard Street, EC2A 4RH). Come and join us to partake in a plethora of promising pastimes including two tried and tested games:
THE TOP TRUMP – A rapid-fire challenge of one-upmanship, celebrating the many faces of America's favourite celebrity tycoon
SMUGGLER’S RUN – it’s customs agents vs contraband carriers in this game of bribery, deception and betrayal
As well as some all new amusements:
CHAEBOL – play your cards right to fight for control of a corporate empire via shrewd investments, shifting alliances and boardroom dealing
MIX AND MATCH – seek out your musical twin and avoid impostors in a game where dance is your only weapon
Plus one or two more.
The night will begin at 6:30pm when we will begin admitting players, with the first games starting at 7pm. Tickets will be £5 per person and can only be purchased on the door on a first-come-first-serve basis. All players will get to play at least two games, though we cannot guarantee spaces available for any one game. Most games will run more than once.
The games involve a mix of movement, thinking, reactions, negotiation and good humour. Players should be prepared to be active, though not all games demand this.
See you there!
Past Events
Mob Justice
May 2011
In May 2011, the unfortunate daughter of Judge Andrew Rhee had been kidnapped! It was up to the players of Mob Justice to find out not only who was behind this foul deed, but where poor Jewel Rhee was being held, before time ran out! The game spanned 5 areas of central London as our players visited characters and locations in search of clues. The game ran 4 times, over two consecutive weekends, with over 500 people taking part.
Covering as much ground as they could in one afternoon, players encountered menacing gangsters, rode in singing lifts, qualified as deputy traffic wardens, trailed a rather lewd smoker and rendered dodgy cover versions of Bryan Adams in search of the truth. This was by no means easy to unravel though as the fiendish plot involved everything from crackpot inventions to a gang of malicious vegans. There could only be one winning team (per day) but, just when our champions thought they'd got their hands on the reward money, the kidnapper had a final surprise!
Huge thanks to everyone involved - Mob Justice was A Door In A Wall's largest event to date and a big success - Hurrah!
Music-Hall Chairs
March 2011
In association with those gallant reporters at Londonist and the charming folks at Wilton’s Music Hall, we were proud to present ‘Music-Hall Chairs’. This was an evening of experimental games in and
around Wilton’s Mahogany Bar.
We laid on four games including a revamped version of Casino Capitalism, which we ran for Hide & Seek last year.
The other games involved such varied things as feuding oligarchs, album reviews and the many faces of Donald Trump.
All were good humoured and mildly competitive.
Foreign Bodies
October 2010
Foreign Bodies was a murder mystery treasure hunt around London, and took place on Saturday 23rd October and Sunday 24th October 2010.
A deadly pandemic threatened the world and health officials from across the globe convened in London to halt this menace. Amongst the bold words and solemn speeches, the untimely death of South American bureaucrat Luz Morales might have been brushed under the carpet, but perhaps there was more to his story. Could the teams of investigators uncover the truth?
With the summit drawing to a close, the teams had only one afternoon to gather evidence, solve puzzles and interact with characters hidden across central London. Corruption, greed, broken hearts and backroom deals were abound in this murder mystery treasure hunt.
The winning team received free passes for a top London attraction of their choice, a trophy, and some lovely moleskin notebooks (essential for the budding detective!).
Murder Killed The Radio Star
April 2010
Murder Killed The Radio Star was a murder mystery treasure hunt around London, which took
place on Saturday 24 April 2010. Over 150 people took part, playing in teams of 3-6.
Our teams of intrepid investigators were charged with uncovering the truth behind the mysterious demise of fame hungry pop starlet
Eva After, following her exit from prime time reality TV show Celebrity Water Beach! Drawing on leads buried in tabloid
newspaper FLASH, players had to recover as much evidence as they could from five areas of central London, including interactions
with extra characters hidden around town. The more clues they discovered, the more chance they had of correctly identifying which
of our five suspicious characters committed the foul deed.
Our fiendish plot encompassed jealous lovers, desperate ambition, crazed stalkers and some very questionable audition tapes!
After several hours of adventuring, our teams returned to the Vibe Bar on Brick Lane where all was revealed and our winners
awarded a personal guided tour on The London Eye, worth over £800!
Good times were had by all and Visit London were kind enough to give us
a very positive review.
An Expedition With Mr Mirrors
March 2010
In March 2010, we collaborated with the splendid folks at
Failbetter gamesto create An Expedition With Mr Mirrors, a large scale game designed
for Hide & Seek's Sandpit night, held at the Victoria & Albert
museum as one of their monthly 'lates' evenings.
Mr Mirrors was just one of many games taking place that night and over 4000 people turned up to enjoy, amongst other things,
balloon races, spy games, face puzzles and one giant pass the parcel!
300 people took part in An Expedition With Mr Mirrors, taking on the role of amnesiacs trying to reclaim their memories,
all set against the rich backdrop of Fallen London
Travelling the hallowed halls of the museum, our players encountered strangers who offered to help return memories (in flavours of
Vengeance, Desire and Curiosity), in return for solving their cryptic secrets. Only if you gathered together enough recollections
could you learn who you once were.
There is a nice video of the night, featuring our game at the start, above! Thanks to the generous Miss Hannah Nicklin for filming.
A Brush With Death
October 2009
A Brush With Death was our biggest event ever (at the time). Over 130 people took part, in teams of 3-6, trying to
solve the mystery surrounding the murder of art critic Charles van der Rood. Teams were issued with a list of suspects
and Charles' final diary entries, from which they had to follow leads and trails of clues to uncover more of the story
and sort the guilty from the innocent. Was it Charles' wife? His boss? A sinister cult leader? Or someone completely
different – only bold detective work could reveal the truth!
Our teams set off from the Vibe Bar to seven different areas of London where they had to cover as many of the
37 clue locations as possible, including interactions with seven minor characters who each had key information to
disclose, in return for a favour or two, of course. Clues involved fictitious magazines, private detectives,
secret handshakes, invisible ink, physical art appreciation and celebrity assassins. A good time was had by all,
despite the weather not being so friendly.
Back at the bar by early evening, our intrepid detectives had some time to mull over their accusations before the
real murderer was revealed. Six teams correctly identified them but there could only be one winner. Team North Horse
were victorious, winning some tickets, courtesy of our friends at The Roundhouse and some accessories to assist with
future detecting. The afterparty featured champagne, cake, applause and the wonderful indie-electro stylings of
Club Rees amongst others.
The event also received a very positive review from Londonist, which you should read!
The Enhanced Creativity Programme
May 2009
In May 2009, A Door In A Wall was invited to produce a game for the Turning Point Festival
at The Roundhouse in Camden. The festival was entirely organised by young people,
drawing heavily on the pool of talent developed within the Roundhouse Studios and featuring an impressive range of live music,
dance, visual arts and fashion. The festival took place over three days and was sold out!
The Enhanced Creativity Programme was designed to lead people around the different spaces used by Turning point,
enrolling them in a fictitious scientific programme designed to build their creative brainpower by solving a string of
puzzles around the building. Clues involved finding hidden photos, deciphering locks and making sense of some cryptic
graffiti. Over 120 people took part during two days and we were lucky enough to be able to give away free Roundhouse
tickets and limited edition Doc Marten's to our winners.
Adventure Captial
October 2008
Adventure Capital saw 10 teams of treasure hunters racing around central London, following trails of immersive clues to
reveal the finish line destination. The fun began at fantastic pub/venue The Glad in Borough and, after a brief
explanation of the rules, the teams were issued with their unique starting clues and dispatched to various districts
of central London to begin their quests.
Along the way, cryptic messages came in the form of hollowed out books, hidden packages, fake newspaper headlines,
lurid phonebox stickers and even a gruesome hotel room setup, complete with fake blood and butchers offal! After an
afternoon's adventuring, we had a winning team who made it the final destination – The Bridge Lounge on the Southbank
well before anyone else. The game came to a close at 6pm when prizes were awarded and an evening of merriment could
then commence.