A door slams. You are trapped with four other people in a room. Somewhere in the darkness something moves, and you all jump. Over a loud speaker, you hear a voice begin a countdown. You have one hour to find the clues and escape.
This is the premise of an escape room. A group of people are locked in a room that is filled with clues; you just have to figure out how to find them and put them together to get out. The rooms can be anything from a bedroom to a dungeon with a zombie, but no matter what the contents of the room, the objective is always the same: Escape.
Here are five reasons you should consider going to an "Escape Room" this Halloween.
1. It's a very active experience.
Haunted houses are great, but all you do is walk through them. Things jump out at you and you continue walking. With Escape Room games, you and your team are trapped in a room. You get to interact with the props and objects (and even sometimes, actors) in the room with you. It's your job to move things around and find clues, or else.
2. It's a great team-building exercise.
Whether you're there with a group of friends or a group of colleagues, you are forced to work together. And it's a lot more fun to be in a high pressure situation that is make-believe than doing team-building exercises in an office.
3. Escape Rooms are like video games come to life.
It's no secret that people love video games. They are a way of moving away from reality into a different world. With Escape Rooms, you are put in the world visually, as well as physically. The room you're in transports you to another world and can be anything from a 1940's war room to present day Atlanta where you are trying to steal the Coca-Cola Formula.
4. You get to be a detective.
If you don't want to think about it as being like a video game, think of an Escape Room as an excuse to finally put on that deerstalker (literally or metaphorically) and pretend to be Sherlock Holmes for an hour. Put all those hours of watching crime dramas on TV to the test and prove that you and your friends or colleagues are clever enough to get out.
5. Even celebrities are getting in on the fun.
I found out about Escape Rooms from Felicia Day's video blog. She, Zachary Levi ("Tangled," "Chuck," "Heroes Reborn"), Seth Green, and Clare Grant went to an Escape Room in Los Angeles. They had to work together to get out of a basement in an hour. The video showed the inner workings of the escape room since they were allowed to film inside the room. (Skip to 3:38 for the actual Escape Room portion.)
So, if you're looking for a fun alternative to a haunted house this October, I highly recommend finding an Escape Room in your area. Ultimate Escape Game Atlanta and Paranoia Quest are just a couple of the Escape Rooms in Atlanta that are currently taking reservations.
