The Observatorium is a Royal Caribbean escape room challenge on a cruise ship. (Photo: supplied by Royal Caribbean Cruises)
Escape rooms are a popular, challenging puzzle type that ask of their participants to solve various riddles within a given time limit. Players integrate into the storyline’s narrative, becoming the detective, seeker or sleuth who is tasked with solving a crime or finding treasure before the time runs out. If you’re looking for a unique and brain-bending adventure puzzle which puts you in the middle of a story, escape rooms could be the next thrill you’re looking for.
There’s an escape room near you, whether you’re reading this from Johannesburg, Queens or KwaZulu-Natal. Escape rooms have even made it to cruise liners, where they join other popular activities like contract bridge on the Caribbean seas. Would you agree to enter an escape room to find out if you can solve it? They are fast on the way to becoming the new bowling alleys or laser tag adventures.
What’s an escape room?
An escape room is a physical type of puzzle. Participants are “closed off” in the escape room for a specific time, during which various puzzles have to be solved before the timer runs out. Rooms are themed and usually include participants in the narrative.
Escape rooms combine puzzle-solving skills with some physical activities. The concept might attract anyone who loves gaming, puzzles or performance arts. Standard puzzles last between 60 and 90 minutes.
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The concept might attract anyone who loves gaming, puzzles or performance arts.
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Escape rooms encourage nonlinear thinking: answers might be locked in a box, which opens with a hidden key. Riddles, individual mini puzzles and varied difficulty levels make escape rooms the modern treasure hunt. While not all providers do it, some escape rooms also have an option for “hints” if players get stuck on an element within the game.
Escape rooms can also have other elements, like puzzles that require physical fitness to solve rather than relying on mental calculations. Usually, the description tells you what kind of escape room experience you are signing up for.
Johannesburg-based company Escape Room offers three room puzzles: Disappearance, Mine Escape and Kellar’s Magic Emporium. The description for Disappearance sets the premise:
Arriving for your shift, you find the head office deserted – your colleagues have left to investigate some unusual activity in the mine and never returned. It’s up to you to bring them back to safety, but the clock is ticking. Can you get them out in time?
Kellar’s Magic Emporium, however, has a mild horror theme:
The world-famous magician Kellar is back in town for the first time in over 20 years. You have been shortlisted for the role of magician’s assistant. Arriving at Kellar’s Magic Emporium, you are tasked with solving a series of puzzles in order to prove your skill. You’ll need to pay close attention to pass this test, as things are not always what they seem.
Rooms have basic safety protocols, and participants can be let out of any challenge on request. More daring world escape rooms might require medical clearance or waivers, and rarely some escape room challenges are for hardcore adrenaline junkies only.
Challenges can make everyone feel like an amateur sleuth, detective or lateral thinker making their way out of a tough situation. It’s almost like the Saw franchise, except that the puzzles are much milder, and you have the option of being able to leave the challenge at any point in time.
The first escape room: 2007
Escape-the-room games achieved their initial fame, thanks to the internet and Adobe Flash. Elementary graphics with challenging mini-game puzzles made them fun to play; they also practically revolutionised puzzle gaming. Computer games like Hugo’s House of Horrors, The Curse of Monkey Island and Leisure Suit Larry contribute to the original point-and-click puzzle genre from which escape rooms appear to take much of their inspiration.
If you’re more of an introvert, you might enjoy the thrill of a traditional escape-the-room point-and-click adventure over the excitement of having to leave the house to experience the joy of seeing other people. Like today’s real-life escape rooms, the traditional escape-the-room computer game relies on thinking outside the box: hidden keys, secret compartments and passwords that are either hidden away or have to be solved before you can reach the next question (or level).
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Today, escape rooms have been wired straight into popular culture, and you can almost imagine The big Lebowski taking place in an escape room rather than a bowling alley.
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The Real Escape Game is generally credited as the world’s first physical escape room, and was created by Takao Kako from Scrap. It’s headquartered in Kyoto, Japan; however, it has also branched out into other territories like the United States.
Photo: supplied by Royal Caribbean Cruises
Puzzle Break is the first purely American escape room company. Nate Martin and Lindsay Morse cofounded this company in 2013, and it now designs Royal Caribbean’s unique escape room challenges.
Today, escape rooms have been wired straight into popular culture, and you can almost imagine The big Lebowski taking place in an escape room rather than a bowling alley. There’s even a current Guinness World Record for The Most Escape Rooms Played in 24 Hours. The record is 32.
The escape room on a Caribbean cruise – Mission Control: Apollo 18
Royal Caribbean and Puzzle Break have joined forces to create several themed escape rooms for their cruises, including one that draws from the authentic Apollo 18 space mission. Participants have a time limit in which to solve the room, and they’re put right into a setting with a story that makes them a direct part of the action. According to the game’s backstory, it’s time for lift-off in the year 1973, but first there are some puzzles to solve.
Royal Caribbean’s Mission Control: Apollo 18 is challenging for groups to solve, but also friendly enough for families to enjoy. Its premise is light, but lends itself to a whole plethora of different puzzles for curious visitors. NASA flight director Gerry Griffin is credited with making sure the puzzles are as authentic as possible. The cruise-based puzzle challenge is best suited for larger groups (12 people or more); however, smaller groups can be matched up with other visitors doing the challenge to complete the team.
Escape the Rubicon. (Photo: supplied by Royal Caribbean Cruises)
Mission Control: Apollo 18 is a tribute to actual NASA missions, which were codenamed Apollo after the Greek god of archery and Artemis’s twin. The real Apollo programme ran from 1962 to 1972 with six lunar landing missions. A total of 24 astronauts undertook real-life lunar missions, which lends itself to a groundbreaking puzzle premise for a modern escape room endeavour. If you’re wondering, yes, astronauts were puzzle fans themselves. Playing cards or board games in the zero-gravity environment of space, however, requires the addition of either magnets or Velcro to keep pieces and cards from floating around. The brand has successfully created an escape room challenge that brings appropriate homage to one of mankind’s greatest accomplishments yet. Royal Caribbean have since introduced more escape rooms to their cruises, alongside other activities like card playing, including unique room puzzles called Escape the Rubicon and The Observatorium.
It’s pretty easy to see why escape room puzzles are attractive to anyone who loves a riddle. If you’re someone who happens to love the excitement of tabletop games, consider booking an escape room and see if you can solve the puzzle before the time runs out.
- All images supplied by Royal Caribbean Cruises
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