YORK is to get a new fun family attraction.
The city's' first escape room exclusively for children will open this weekend.
The room is called Candy Chaos and is aimed at children aged between five and ten.
It is designed for teams of up to six and is modelled on the popular escape rooms, normally for adults, where participants have to solve puzzles to exit a locked premises.
The idea is the brainchild of York mum-of-two Dawn Murphy who already runs a novel business for youngsters - children's hairdressing salon Star Street in Poppleton Road.
Candy Chaos is located at the salon too. Each session lasts 45 minutes and costs £50 for the booking.
Dawn said: "Each team has 45 minutes to solve puzzles and games and find keys to access the sweet shop.
"When inside they need to solve various other puzzles to find the missing ingredients to get the sweet machine working again.
"Once they’ve got the sweet machine working, they will receive a reward for their efforts."
Like all escape rooms, Candy Chaos has a background story. In this case, the story is that there is a problem at great uncle’s sweetshop. He has lost the keys to his shop and his customers will be arriving shortly. To make matters worse, his sweet making machine has run out of ingredients.
Children have 45 minutes to solve puzzles and games and find keys to access the sweet shop. When inside they need to solve various other puzzles to find the missing ingredients to get the sweet machine working again. Once they’ve got the sweet machine working, they will receive a reward for their efforts.
Dawn said: "It’s very much a positive experience. Everybody will escape and receive a reward. It’s meant to encourage team work and get young minds thinking, all while having lots of fun."
She added: "All our games masters are DBS checked and will always be on hand to give clues and assistance.
"They can be in the room to help or can watch and listen from outside the room, it’s down to the individual team.
"We hope to appeal to groups of friends and families who want to do something different."
She added that children could be accompanied by adults into the escape room, but it was for the youngsters to take the lead in the game.
To find out more or book go online at: starstreetescapes.co.uk
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