For fun
Your designation.
Who you were in the room, handed to you on a card at the end. Fifteen to collect, made to be set on the table and compared at the bar.
Three doors. One story. Find out who you really are.
Ninety minutes, a small team, three doors and one story that does what you decide. No puzzles, no clock on the wall, no way to win. The room only watches.
90 minutes
3–6 players
Reading first
The honest answer
Closer to theatre than a puzzle.
It borrows a shape you know (a team, a room, a door) and throws out almost everything else. No maze, no jump-scares. A room, low-lit and quiet, that asks you one thing: choose.
Nothing to solve.
No combination, no hidden key, no riddle in your way. There's a story and three real doors. The room asks for a decision, not an answer.
Nothing counts down.
Ninety minutes, but no clock on the wall. You're never racing it. A choice is allowed to take exactly as long as it takes.
No way to lose.
Nobody keeps score. No leaderboard, no exit time, no team that "beat" it. You don't escape the room. You go through it, and find out who you were.
Where
The first room opens in Reading.
The next is decided by where the waitlist concentrates. Tell the host your city when you join, or see the full list.
The point of it
You leave knowing who you really are.
Every door you choose says something. The room reads it back to you: gently if you came to play, seriously if you came to work. Same ninety minutes, two different mirrors.
For a team
Your FRINGE profile.
How your group actually decides: six roles, read off the room and posted a week later on cream stock. Descriptive, never a score.
How it runs
Four moves, ninety minutes.
01
Arrive
Ten minutes in the antechamber. The host takes your coat. The address arrived the day before; the door is unmarked.
02
Choose
Three doors, one story. Every fork is yours. The room presents; it never pushes. The seventh player is the room itself.
03
Live with it
A choice stands for the ninety minutes, and a little while after. That is rather the point.
04
Find out who you really are
The host walks you back out. You leave with your designation in hand; for teams, a FRINGE profile follows by post a week later, on cream stock.
FRINGE
Six in the room. The seventh on the wall.
A behavioural profile observed during your time in the room and posted a week later. Six roles, read off the room. Not assigned, not scored.
Coming as a team? You can take a Designation home too: the lighter read, one each.
Reframes the problem.
td·fr-fConnects the team.
td·fr-rGoes first.
td·fr-iLands the decision.
td·fr-nAsks the hard question.
td·fr-gChallenges consensus.
td·fr-e
What's running
In the room now.
CASE FILE 01 · THE DIRECTORATE
The Directorate
A story of who decides, and who only thinks they do. Currently in the room; replaced before long by something else. The host will know.
For teams
Meet each other, not a measurement.
Bring the team into the room on a weekday daytime. Ninety minutes inside, then a FRINGE profile for everyone who came: six roles, read off the room, posted a week later on cream stock.
Before the doors open
The room opens by invitation first.
We're taking names before booking opens. Message the host on WhatsApp and you'll be first to hear when a slot comes free.
Booking opens later this year. No deposit to join the list. The host simply keeps your name.
The antechamber
Questions the host has answered before.
What actually happens for ninety minutes?
You arrive, the host meets you, and you have ten minutes in the antechamber before the doors open. Inside, the room presents three doors and a story. Every fork is yours; the room only watches. At ninety minutes, the host returns and walks you back out.
So it's not an escape room?
It isn't one. It borrows the shape but there are no puzzles to solve, no clock counting down and no way to win or lose. It is closer to a small piece of theatre that asks you to decide instead of solve.
Is it scary?
No. There is no jump-scare, no actor lunging at you, no maze. The room is low-lit and quiet. The discomfort, if any, is the kind that comes from a question you didn't expect, not from anything in the room itself.
Can I come on my own?
Not yet. The room is built for a team of three to six, and four is the sweet spot. The smallest we can run is a pair, on a private booking; the largest is six. Seven or eight of you? We run two teams back to back, and you compare cards afterwards. We can occasionally fit you into an existing party. Write to the host.
Is there a minimum age?
Sixteen, with two exceptions. A fifteen-year-old can join a sixteenth-birthday party, and one brother or sister of thirteen or over can join a team that includes an adult.
What do I walk away with?
A read on who you really are. If you came for fun, you leave with your designation: who you were in the room, on a card, one of fifteen to collect. If you came as a team, a deeper FRINGE profile arrives by post a week later: six roles, descriptive, never a score.
Where is the room?
The first room opens in Reading. The exact address is sent the day before your visit. The door is unmarked. You will know it when you see it; the host has done this for a while. Other cities are pre-registering, and the next room opens where the waitlist concentrates.
How do I book?
Booking opens later this year. For now, the room runs by invitation: join the waitlist on WhatsApp and the host will be in touch when a date comes free. Corporate visits can be arranged directly. Start at Corporate.