Time Hopping In East London With Time Run

By Stuart Black Last edited 106 months ago
Time Hopping In East London With Time Run

Adam Lannon as Aubrey Defoe. Photo by Chris Page.

In an alleyway near London Fields lined with unassuming warehouses, one lone doorway stands out from the rest. Finding this ‘portal’ with its steam-punkish hour-glass design involved the first of many over-enthusiastic high fives that Team Londonist indulged in over the course of a hugely enjoyable hour playing new interactive game Time Run.

Anyone who understands the phrase “stop the clock, I’ve got the crystal!” will have an idea of what lies behind that door. Time Run is a distilled adventure with a set of very nicely-designed themed rooms that contain head-scratching puzzles all of which demand quick-thinking and teamwork to solve.

There is an over-arching narrative about time travel linking the game rooms together; it's slightly hokey but pleasing enough and introduced with an ironic twinkle by suave host Aubrey Defoe (Adam Lannon). He explains how the world may well end if we don’t squeeze through the wormholes of time and locate “the lance of longiness” or something. Yep that sounds fine, let’s play the game. You may be killed on the way, he warns. Yes, yes, no problem. Quick toilet check? Let’s play!

We head in and make our way from a high-tech space station to a classical temple then to an office that is too cool to mention here lest it ruins your surprise. Our team of four rattles through the games — some of them brilliantly complex and fun, others slightly maddening (we’re embarrassed to say how long we spent over a more-devilish-than-it-sounds 12 piece jigsaw). Luckily there are handy hints to keep the fun flowing — we get regular briefings from time traveller Luna Fox (Michelle Ghatan) and larky advice from her robot assistant Babbage (yes, it's a touch kiddy but we are all in full-on 8 year old mode).

It’s a bit breathless, but our team manages to complete everything in 59 minutes (one minute more and the world would have ended so yeah, you’re welcome) and as we come out blinking into East London again, we agree — while high-fiving once more — that we’d all happily do this particular time warp again.

Time Run is on until 2 August and is located at 9-15 Helmsley Place, London, E8 3SB (near London Fields train station). Tickets are £24 each with group discounts available. Londonist played on complimentary tickets.

Last Updated 13 May 2015