Remember the old nursery rhyme you would sing out of tune while holding hands out like a bridge so other kids would walk under, until the bridge fell and you “locked up” the person you trapped? Well, it seems some smart grownups decided to take that idea and run with it, but without the creepy singing. Thus, was born the idea of THE ESCAPE ROOM!
Okay, I’m sure that is not how the escape room really came to be, but it is what I imagine when I think of it. To be honest, I’m not sure why these games are so popular. I mean, you pay someone to basically “lock you up” sometimes with complete strangers, where you are forced to fumble around in dimly lit rooms looking for clues to get out! And yet, for years I have wanted to try to do just that! I know, crazy, right?
Before I go any further, for those of you reading this who might have been locked in your own room (ha, see what I did there?) and are not familiar with the premise, let me quickly explain what it is. An escape room is a real-world, detective-style mystery, adventure game that requires you to race against time to escape a locked room; or, in our case, find Captain Bonefish’s hidden treasure.
It goes without saying that the hour my family spent sprinting around, looking for clues, running into each other in what must have looked like a Three Stooges comedy routine that I am sure made the game monitor watching us from a different room (probably eating popcorn) laugh his head off, was memorable!
How did we do? We had found all the puzzle pieces that led us to the final clue and were trying to put it together when we ran out of time. Though we did not “escape,” we still had a blast. And from the experience, I think we all learned some lessons – lessons my children will be able to apply to their new school year and life in general.
LESSONS WE LEARNED FROM AN ESCAPE ROOM
– Go to the bathroom BEFORE you begin. Really, trust me…just do it!
– In the escape room, some things were clues and others were distractions that had nothing to do with escaping. This happens in life, too. One minute, you are cleaning your house and then someone comments on your Facebook status – you get the idea.
– Success leaves clues…literally! When we solved one challenge, it led us right to the next clue and so on. When you solve a challenge in life, you will eventually get another one, because believe it or not, life is much more challenging than just trying to find a user name that isn’t already taken!
– Teamwork is the key to success. In an Escape Room, everyone is on the same team and your opponent is the clock, not each other. Once we started working together, we became much more effective in hiding the fact that, individually, we had no idea what we were doing!
– Don’t be scared to ask for help! Many times we had the right idea or were on the right track but were missing something and were just too stubborn to simply say, “Can we have a clue?” But we quickly learned that it’s better to ask for help than do the wrong thing or waste too much time. Asking for help will allow you to reach your goals more quickly, even if the prize at the end is just a bunch of glued-down plastic coins that you can’t take with you!