Can You Escape the Room?
Have I ever told you about the time my family uncovered who was poisoning patrons at a local diner? Recovered a stolen Monet? Escaped the Pharoah’s Tomb? Exposed the killer on a train? Cleaned a wizard’s enchanted cottage? Disarmed an active bomb?
Yeah, we’ve done all that. Each in less than 60 minutes — in escape rooms.
An escape room is an immersive quest, with a goal you have to achieve in 60 minutes to “escape.” Before the clocks starts ticking, the game keeper will explain the backstory, who and where you are, and what your goal is. To get to the end, you’ll need to find hidden keys, put things in order to find the combination to locks, and notice details that are out of place. All your team’s puzzle, riddle, and game- solving abilities will be put to the test.
But don’t worry — if you get really stuck, the game keeper (who’s keeping track of your progress on video camera) is there to drop a hint.
We did our first escape rooms about eight years ago, after my friend from college introduced us to them. Being claustrophobic, I was leery at first about being locked in a room, but the game master explained we weren’t really “locked” in and could get out any time we needed. He was even nice enough to show us how the room would start to help allay any fears.
After that first experience of rescuing hikers from a serial killers’ clutches, we’ve willingly put ourselves in “peril” and escaped from over 30 rooms in several states (they’re great vacation activity, especially if it’s hot outside).
The family outings became tradition initially as we looked for a way to spend quality time together as a family. Now it’s something we do every New Year’s Eve day when the kids are home. Escape rooms have brought us together in ways I couldn’t have predicted.
Yes, we always have fun in the room, but the most special thing is how we’ve learned to work together and come to appreciate each other’s special skills and talents. My oldest is very good at noticing things that are out of place, and my youngest is our out-of-the-box thinker, coming up with stuff I’d never think off. My husband excels at patterns, and I’m pretty good at keeping track of things.
Together we make a formidable team, and we’re proud to say we’ve only not completed our quest once, but even that room was a blast to go through together.
Each room is different and presents new challenges, puzzles, and riddles. As more escape room facilities open, the developers have found unique ways to challenge the players and discovered cutting-edge ways to incorporate technology into puzzles.
“Locks” can be as simple as requiring a key to as complex as being a series of notes played on a piano to doing dance steps in the right order, to just about anything the writers can dream up for players to solve.
Escape rooms or quests are not only excellent for families, but also as team-building activities for small groups or teams, birthday party activities, or just as anytime adventures.
The DFW Metroplex offers a number of escape room options. Escaperooms.com has a pretty comprehensive list of rooms in the country, and terpeca.com (The Escape Room Project Enthusiasts’ Choice Award) names the top rooms each year.
Here’s our top five faves in the area:
Celebration Escape Room in Highland Village, celebrationescaperooms.com
The Escape Game in Grapevine Mills, theescapegame.com
The Perfect Escape in Arlington, perfectescaperoom.com
The Grapevine Escape in Grapevine, thegrapevineescape.com
Escapology near Victory Park in Dallas, escapology.com
When you’re booking consider whether you’ll be the only participants in the room or if you might be paired up with another party. You’ll be asked to show up about 15 minutes before time to sign waivers.
While some of the content matter may not be appropriate for children, there are some escape experiences in the area that will offer elementary kids tasks they can do with adult participation. Check for any age restrictions or recommendations when making your reservations, as they differ from room to room.
So go see if you’d make a good secret agent, detective, explorer, chemist, thief, time traveler… You never know what role you’ll have to tackle to escape!
