Escape rooms are fun “adventure” type puzzle games, where you are “trapped” in a room and have to figure out how to escape. The activity is usually played in groups (I suggest four to six people). You have an hour to search for clues and solve riddles to escape whatever scenario you are put in.
I went to ‘Escapology’ in San Diego, California for the first time in 2019, and it was the second time I’ve ever done an escape room.
Our group was shown a video that gave us instructions for how escape rooms work and introduced the storyline for our escape room. Our course was supposed to be the second hardest puzzle that the location had. Our scenario was that we were a rookie detective that went on our own to try to catch an infamous hacker. When we followed an anonymous tip to a deserted apartment, the hacker locked us in so that he could frame us for all the crimes he committed.
There were some obvious clues at the start, so we did not have much trouble in the beginning. Once a clue was used, it was very unlikely that it would be used again. Some clues that were meant to be used later were found early and served to confuse us. After a while, we began to have trouble and had to ask for hints. We were given three free hints, but if we ask for additional ones, we got 2 minutes taken from our remaining puzzle-solving time.
I have learned something very important about escape rooms. Misplacing a single clue can completely ruin everything. The first time I ever tried an escape room, one of the members of our group set her purse on the first clue and set us back about 20 or 30 minutes.
This time it wasn't our fault! We came to a standstill, because the employee did not reset the course properly. They left a key clue in the wrong place (a place behind a door we could not get to, unless we had that clue to open the door), so we didn’t win.
I was a little bitter because once time ran out. The employee explained what the next steps in the scenario would have been, as if a mistake had not been made. Having a misplaced clue would have been a major problem, if we had better timing, since it would have kept us from completing the course.
An escape room is perfect if you are looking to have an hour of fun with friends or family. I recommend making a reservation, because many escape rooms do not take walk-ins and they fill their time slots quickly. It’s just that popular.
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