What are escape games?
Not for the claustrophobic. You are in a locked room, or series of locked rooms, with a limited amount of time to get out before you are visited by some unpleasant fate: death, permanent incarceration, mild embarrassment at your failure to escape. Extracting yourself involves teaming up with fellow inmates to identify clues and solve various puzzles.

Sounds stressful.
But they’re incredibly popular. The concept, which evolved out of online games and harks back to TV shows such as The Crystal Maze, is believed to have originated in Japan; the earliest known real-life escape room opened in Kyoto in 2007. It’s taken off in the US in the past three years and it’s having a moment over here too: according to the Escape Room Directory, there are more than 60 sites around the UK. Target audiences include students, stag parties and companies in team-building mode.

Is there more to it than solving problems?
Many of them take basic cues from immersive theatre – think Punchdrunk with jigsaws and combination locks. At Time Run, a well-regarded example of the genre in east London, an actor in Victorian garb ushers contestants into a room done up as a steampunk laboratory. We’re spun a tale about a time-travelling scientist and her robot sidekick before being thrust into the distant reaches of time with just 60 minutes to make it back to the present day. The story is a bit of fluff – our freedom depends on the recovery of a magic lance – but the challenges are imaginative enough to keep us occupied for the full hour (we escape with seconds to spare).

How much does it cost?
Time Run is £24-£29 per person, though you can pay as little as £12 outside London. Its value depends on how much you enjoy puzzles – and whether you feel indulgent towards actors gamely striving to keep preposterous storylines in the air.

Time Run is at 9-15 Helmsley Place, London E8 3SB