It goes against my principle of "I'm in my 30's now, I can't fool around too much," but my friends and I had a great time at an escape room this past weekend. An escape room, for those who haven't had the pleasure of experiencing one, is a game where you and a group of your friends (or just random strangers) get locked into a room and try to escape from it using clues, solving puzzles, and looking for hidden pieces. For people who are fighting wars and truly trying to escape from their environments, it may seem like a waste of time (and when I think of it in that depressing way I do feel a bit uneasy), but it can be quite a lot of fun! Apparently the escape room phenomenon has caught on in various areas of the world, too, because the big Asian countries seem to have it too, with their own unique names for them. (Luckily all similar to the concept of "breaking out" or "escaping with your life," so not too difficult of a concept). The escape rooms are like puzzles or riddles or things you just need to figure out, the ones I've done don't need players to be super smart or knowledgeable like for trivia, just to use the information given in front of you and try to piece things together, like noticing different pieces hidden/laid out in a room and piecing together a puzzle.
In my life I've done 4 escape rooms, and they've progressively been getting better because I've been more selective about the ones I do. Anybody can create an escape room, it just takes some imagination, (and I'm not talking about the Ariel Castro kidnapper kind) materials, and good theme to draw people in, but some seem to be done hastily, without much variety,
Signs of a good escape room:
1.) Have a good theme to the room: not just a story of "Oh you go locked into the room, you need to escape!" It has to be like Greek-themed, or lunar space mission-themed, or you're in a magical kingdom and you need to bring life back to the kingdom, something that can be used in the puzzles.
2.) More than just one section of a room. Just being stuck in one room isn't as fun as "unlocking" new rooms as you go along. The most recent one we did involved starting in a really cramped room, having to figure out how to get out of there, then emerging into another larger room, and then discovering new layers upon layers of that, even rooms that we didn't even know existed! Adds to the mystery.
3.) Token economy- at our core humans are just seeking rewards and like rats in a maze, so we like it when we get something cool for our efforts. So lots of effects should happen when we solve something, like a magic sound, explosions, advancement in the story line, etc.
4.) hints: inevitably people get stuck. (you want the room to be challenging so people don't solve it too easily and feel unsatisfied, but not too challenging so as to be hopelessly stuck in the same spot). I tend towards liking harder rooms to really stretch your abilities, but then obviously have an operator or some sort of person helping in case you really just can't get it. The good escape rooms have a cool way to get a hint, like "feeding the oracle" or something to really get in the mood.
5.) Costumes!- it's all about that picture evidencing you went to an escape room. MJ and I did one with Harry Potter-looking costumes on and wands, and it'll be a shared memory for a while.
6.) Sometimes it's on the players themselves- gotta work together and don't just solve everything by oneself! Try to share with the group all the hints, and when you think you're about to do something, let everybody join in on the fun! And get everyone involved in a big group if a few people don't seem like they're getting it and don't feel like they're contributing. That's kind of the idea of going with friends and having considerate friends who try to allow for the full experience. Cuz for the really good escape rooms, I'm not doing it just to solve puzzles and get through mazes, I'm also doing it to observe the process of the escape room, the story develop and the thinking that went behind it.
7.) I'm not that there to escape! If I've escaped too early, that means I didn't use up the full time, and it was too easy! The ideal scenario is for us to get through almost everything, be just on the verge of getting out, and get stuck on the last clue before time runs out. Getting only halfway is just embarrassing, and just missing out means we used the full time and get the full experience, plus we could see the finish line and see what we needed to do.
Fantasize on,
RobertYan
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