Eye on Entertainment
The Cube Meets The Crystal Maze In Belfast A new entertainment complex in Belfast’s Boucher Road area brings a state of the art Scandinavian concept to the city.
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rison Island is one of only two franchises in the whole of the UK, designed and fitted out by the Swedish franchise operator but owned and run by Lisburn businessman Ryan Lyttle. A former senior manager in the world of FMCG with PepsiCo, he took the bold step in late 2019 to leave his job and bring the Prison Island concept to the island of Ireland. “I first heard about it when I got friendly with some Swedish people on holiday. Myself and my wife ended up flying to Sweden to see a number of the centres in action before we decided to take the step,” he says.
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Back in Belfast, Ryan found available former warehouse space on Balmoral Link and experts from Sweden flew in to do the detailed fit-out. Prison Island opened for business just before Christmas in 2019 and was starting to hit its stride the following February when Covid hit. A couple of lockdowns later, it’s getting a real chance to shine and it’s proving popular with families, groups of friends, business groups, youth groups and so the list goes on. “It’s ideal for corporate days out, for team building and for business social events,” says Ryan, “especially now as we come out of the pandemic.”
So what is Prison Island? Imagine The Crystal Maze, Channel 4’s hit show, or current ITV favourite The Cube, presented by Philip Schofield. In both, contestants have to face a series of challenges, and that’s the premise behind Prison Island. If you’ve enjoyed escape rooms, Prison Island takes things to an entirely new level. Why? Because where escape rooms focus on mental challenges, Prison Island blends those with physical tests, teamwork tests and a whole lot more. Teams are not locked in trying to escape a room in one hour. Behind the doors at Prison Island, there are no less than 25 different rooms, each one containing a very different challenge. You are free to attempt all 25 challenges moving from one to the other in any order you like. You can also repeat the
challenges to try for a higher score. Participants can work in teams of up to four, and an electronic fob system controls access to the rooms but also records the scores, with scoreboards on display in the corridor areas. What does it cost? £20 per
