A Day Out at Si5 SpyMissions Chelmsford

Dann and I have done escape room style games and escape rooms before, ourselves, but never have we done a real life escape room with the kids! When looking for fun activities we could get the children to on the weekends, Si5 SpyMissions came up, with a branch in Chelmsford. This branch of Si5 SpyMissions offered quite a few different age groups, as well as a family package that could accommodate all ages along with a guide. As we have children ages 5 to 11, we figured this guided family package was the best fit for our family, and went off!

Booking was pretty straight forward, though we had to call due to the size of our family. The pricing was interesting, as technically we could have had another person with us for the same price, and Si5 SpyMissions seems to do a lot of birthday parties, judging by the number of times I had to confirm that it was nobody’s birthday. When it comes to getting there, we parked up nearby and entered the building, which had a small lobby with tables for birthday parties, and a front desk. We had arrived around 10 minutes early, as that’s what the main headquarters had said on the call. However, it’s worth noting, our guide was actually not in the building and showed up 15 minutes late for his time, which left us waiting. The front desk person did get all of the kids different drinks, and we read the cool signs around the room about different spy technology.

When our guide arrived, he took us right into the game. We started off by watching a mission briefing video, which acted as a call from someone who needed our help. In the game we played, which was called Broken Arrow, there was a missile heading straight for London, which we needed to stop! We started off by going into a small room which we were told was a submarine boat. Robin was the designated captain, with Kai as her sub-captain, with Amelia and us being the helpers of the spy mission. Robin got to drive the boat, which Kai still, a week later, keeps saying that he is surprised we didn’t crash, without understanding that actually it was a video game that they played on a big screen. Inside the room, we had to solve little missions, follow pipes, and tick different lights.

We then had to crawl around to different areas, going through actual tunnels, avoiding lasers, solving riddles, and doing a bunch of different mini-games. Our guide did an amazing job of actually ensuring that we were on track, helping the kids find numbers, and hyping us all up! He very quickly was able to tell us what to do and how to do it. There were points where we looking at computer screens for hidden numbers. A huge pipe puzzle was a real highlight, as this puzzle had us connecting pipe to different places, and then driving another boat, using levers, which all kids had a turn doing.

Si5 SpyMissions did end at the exact end of our hour, not taking into perspective the fact that the host was a bit late, but that’s alright in the end, as everyone was so pumped up and excited. The kids loved being a spy, and the fact that this was fun for literally all of the age groups we have is amazing. Kai had just as much enjoyment as Robin. Amelia, who is most quite, did everything super deliberately, made no mistakes, and was so proud of herself in the end. All of the kids had a lunch tunnel to crawl through in the end, which was an amazing exit. I do think we will find ourselves doing more missions at Si5 SpyMissions in the future.

You can check out our other Days Out to see what else we’ve been up too!