Cluedupp Genuine Review of the Outdoor Escape Room Phenomenon

Cluedupp is a mobile app that poses as an exciting detective game, that you can play alone or with others in your home city. When I was considering what looked like an amazing day out with the family, I found it quite hard to find any genuine Cluedupp Alice in Wonderland reviews anywhere. You may be looking for the Witchcraft & Wizardry Murder by Magic or Beauty and the Beast experience, which are the same thing, just a different theme.

This left me with only facebook comments that Cluedupp hadn’t deleted, and not much else. To be fair, their advertising and marketing campaign is second to none. Kudos to them. However, I wanted to give others the opportunity to read honest, genuine Cluedupp Alice in Wonderland reviews, based on first-hand experience. If you are considering the Beauty and the Beast experience with cluedupp, or the Cluedupp Witchcraft and Wizardry Murder by Magic – you will find this helpful, too.

Informed decisions are the best ones, right?

A new one of these “experiences” has popped up in my Instagram feed recently too, QuestoApp. QuestoApp seems to be identical in their business model, but the only one of these outdoor escape rooms I have played myself, is CluedUpp.

About the Cluedupp App

Cluedupp is a UK-based company that creates outdoor detective adventure games for individuals and groups. Their games are designed to be played in real-world locations, such as parks, neighborhoods, and cities. The Cluedupp app claims that players can immerse themselves in the game’s storyline, explore their surroundings, and solve puzzles to uncover clues and solve the mystery. So, is Cluedupp legit?

How This Actually Translates in the Real World

We downloaded the game in preparation of the Cluedupp Alice in Wonderland “event” that was taking place on the Gold Coast. It prompted us to choose a team name, and my husband chose “Alice, Alice, Who the F*ck is Alice”. And I’ll have you know, that we were just as clever and original as three other teams playing that day!

Moving on… upon arrival, we clicked a button in the app to begin the event, and the timer started running.

A clunky map showing face-down playing cards appeared on our phone, which were spanned out in random places in the suburban streets. Our own location was also shown, so that as we walked towards the imaginary items in each location, we could see on the map we were getting closer.

At sporadic intervals along the way, a popup would appear on our phone, asking easy riddles or setting silly tasks. The questions were easy enough that our 10 year old successfully guessed several of them, and the tasks included things like “chasing” Alice in Wonderland characters… and if you were fast enough, you succeeded at the task.

Of course, there are no actual characters, so you are just running down a residential street with your phone in your hand. Yes, it felt strange. No, we did not enjoy it.

This is basically the entire premise of the event, whether its Cluedupp Withcraft & Wizardry, Beauty and the Beast, or any others they continue to come up with. You walk around looking at your phone, and going from point to point on the map to activate popup questions and activities.

DRESS UPS for Cluedupp Witchcraft & Wizardry, Alice in Wonderland or Beauty and the Beast

You must admit this part is especially clever. Cluedupp offer a prize (not sure what you get), to the best dressed team. Now, those who dress up are much more likely to post pictures on social media. Personally, I think these pictures make it look a lot more fun that it actually is.

This is a huge success to getting other people to sign up and do it too.

Personally, I save my dressing up for Halloween (as per my DIY Harry Potter inspired Bellatrix outfit from a previous October 31 – pictured below), so we went in casual attire for this family day out.

There were quite a few others who did dress up though, and I’m sure it added to their fun. When you’ve gone and bought costumes, or had team t-shirts printed up, you’re pretty invested in making a good day of it… and so the social media buzz continues. This is similar to those travel photos that make a place look ten times more amazing than it is in reality. But why though?

Cluedupp Winners

We lasted over an hour of walking around the streets, chasing imaginary Alice in Wonderland characters, before we used time penalties to complete the game.

By using a time penalty, you can skip to each “popup” and get the game over quicker. 🙌

Apparently the fastest team to complete the game gets a prize. I am hoping for their sake it was not another free Cluedupp adventure, but I don’t actually know for sure.

We were 100% happy with our decision to use the time penalty option. We went on to have a fun day doing some of our favourite things to do in the Gold Coast. Surfers Paradise and the greater Gold Coast region is home to stunning Queensland beaches, themeparks, restaurants, national parks and shopping outlets!

Cluedupp Alice in Wonderland and Beauty and the Beast Experience Reviews

As mentioned above, I found it incredibly hard to find anything that wasn’t written by Cluedupp themselves (paid for blog posts, crafted feedback), or any reviews that weren’t on their own facebook page (I am assuming they edit out anything less flattering).

Now that the Witchcraft & Wizardry as well as Beauty and the Beast Experience are being heavily pushed on social media.

Best Things to do instead of Cluedupp Experience

As a more fun alternative, I honestly recommend doing an escape room. We have done 4 different escape rooms as a family, and we always have an absolute blast. You can find a variety of escape room options all around the world.

If you’ve participated in a cluedupp event, I would love your feedback! It would be good to help others make a decision. Plus, I am open to hear about any positive feedback as well, I mean – I do hope someone genuinely had fun doing this, because for us… it was just a waste of money.

Leave a comment below to let us know your thoughts.

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