Sussex House, behind the huge ASDA supermarket in Hollingbury, used to be a police station. It was, and to a certain extent still is, fairly uninspiring from the outside but, as you open the doors to Phileas Fogg’s brand new Brighton home, a totally amazing adventure begins.
The entrance lobby contains all manner of gadgets that really set the tone for the Victorian era tale that is about to unfold. On the wall, clocks displaying the correct time in zones all round the world hint at the destinations that are in store for the intrepid travelers who wish to help Mr Fogg win his wager with the others members of the Reform Club.
He has made an extraordinary bet of half his personal fortune of £20,000 (worth over £2,000,000 in today’s money) that he can travel around the world in 80 days, after an article in The Daily Telegraph states that this amazing journey is now possible. But there’s a complication, the bank of England has been broken into and
Detective Fix of Scotland Yard is convinced that Fogg is his man and is in hot pursuit.
We are hastily called through to the platform of a railway station in Paris where a train waits to take us on to our first destination, with a very impatient Phileas Fogg already on board. As we start moving, the commentary fills in the back story and prepares us for the tasks, puzzles, riddles and challenges ahead as, in order to complete everything we will need to work together as a team.
With a fascinating combination of 21st century technology, totally immersive theatrics and wonderfully detailed settings we start collecting artifacts from the amazing locations we travel through along our journey, but this is not an easy task as the items we need are only obtained by completing the challenges.
The actors that we meet along the way all stay firmly within the boundaries of their, sometimes quite eccentric, characters and they really help to bring the story alive. Some are there to assist us along our way and some form part of the challenges that we must overcome to move on to the next land and to collect the artifacts to prove that we have completed our round the world journey.
I’m not going to reveal all the locations that we get to travel through (although there are a couple of pictorial clues here) but I can tell you that the attention to detail that has gone into creating 16 amazing sets, across all five continents, is worthy of a movie blockbuster. The mission that we aim to complete is a clever combination of the Crystal Maze and a live theatre show which go together to create an interactive adventure that is suitable for all the family.
Happily, we (mostly) evaded capture by the police and, after a right royal ending to our trip, we find our way through to the Reform Bar and Indoor Garden Room, another cleverly designed space with a stage, Gazebo’s, tables and chairs where every day is a sunny day regardless of the weather outside, and we can relive our experiences over a cup of tea and a snack!
The interactive experience lasts about an hour (arriving early for your session is highly recommended) and the time just flies by, but that is mainly because we are having such a tremendously fun time. The puzzles, riddles and challenges are tailor made to the variety of ages in the group and, although sometimes tough, we worked together to complete them which allows us to head back out into the modern world with our heads held high, all ready to return for Phileas Fogg’s Winter Wonderland Experience which runs every weekend from November 24th up until Christmas
***** Five Stars
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