A FAN of escape room attractions who ran out of local ones to try is about to launch his own.

The PARC, to be opened by ClueCrypted in New Milton, will be the first such attraction in the New Forest.

Adam Howard, who set up ClueCrypted, plans to launch the escape room in an industrial building.

He had already done the five escape rooms which have opened in the Bournemouth area in recent times.

Mr Howard said: “I’ve always had an interest in puzzles. I did my first escape room just over a year ago in Southampton. Ever since then, I’ve been doing as many as there are around.

“I ran out of them in the local area and so I’ve had to go further and further afield.”

The PARC will give groups of two to six people 60 minutes inside a themed room to solve puzzles and riddles to find a way to escape.

The scenario involves a series of simultaneous virus outbreaks all over the world. The players are cast in the role of citizens who have been captured by research scientists and locked in a pandemic testing centre. They have to use the objects around them to escape.

Building is still going on at the unit in Milton Business Centre on Wick Drive.

Mr Howard, who works as a police digital forensic examiner, said: “At the moment, I still have a full time job so I’ve been doing this in the evenings.”

With the help of his father, he has been supervising the contractors who have been building the attraction.

Having completed so many escape room challenges himself, Mr Howard said he wanted to update the game at the PARC later on.

“I don’t think anyone ever goes back to the same one, which is why we’ll update the game after a year,” he said.

“I plan to keep the one we’re going to build for about 12 months and then maybe take a different part of the story.”

He said the aim was to create a game that children and adults could both play.

ClueCrypted is planning to start taking advance bookings soon on its website.