TRAPPED in the study of a missing archaeology professor, Team Adver had just one hour to solve a myriad of puzzles and escape.

Looking around the room at a dozen different maps and locks and books and drawers that didn’t seem to relate to each other in any way whatsoever, we weren’t really sure where to start.

But after more than a little trial and error and some complete guesses, we got the ball rolling and slowly but surely began to work our way through the fiendishly-clever brain-benders that our host Alex Mulhall had dreamt up.

We were trying out the newest addition to the growing number of escape rooms in Swindon, Co-Decode Live Escape Games in Cheney Manor Industrial Estate.

Armed with just our wits and two tablets we could scribble notes on, we really had to put our heads together and co-ordinate our efforts if we were ever going to make it out of there.

Quick-thinking escape room newbies Adver Tanya and Adver Joe proved to be vital additions to the team, while the no-nonsense logic of Adver Chris and motivational support of Adver Tom helped immensely.

I lost count of the times that a seemingly innocuous bit of set decoration ended up being an important step on the path to freedom.

The sheer number of impressively-varied mind-teasers often had us stumped and bewildered.

While I was busy solving one clue, I often heard a cry of ‘A-ha!’ from across the room as my teammates solved another.

There are few things more satisfying than the sound of a mechanism clicking into place and unlocking a new piece of the elaborate puzzle.

As time ticked mercilessly onwards, it became clear that, despite making plenty of progress, we weren’t going to make it out in time.

Time did indeed run out but the owner Alex generously let some of us continue to show how close we came to escaping.

We had made it to one of the final puzzles and had been mere minutes away from finally finding the key to the exit.

‘Professor Dunstan and the Search for the Ancient Statuette’ is a lot of fun and it’s interesting to see the way your friends’ minds work - or don’t work, in some cases.

There’s a special opening offer of 20 per cent off the game when players book online to play between Saturday July 29 and Saturday August 12.

Use the code ‘CO-DECODE20%OPENING’ at check-out to apply the discount.

For more information and to book a game, visit co-decode.co.uk