ABSOLUTE ASCENDANCY

Commencing operation . . .

Overview

Just over a week ago, a surprise party was arranged for one of my friends. We met up in Bracknell to participate in an escape room by a company known as Puzzalogical. There was a group of nine of us, so we split into two teams and decided to have a competition to see which team could escape the quickest.

The Secret of the Vault

After listening to the instructions, team Funtastic 5 were trapped in a room, and our objective was to unlock the door to the vault within an hour.

For those who are unfamiliar with escape rooms, it is essentially a room with loads of puzzles and clues which need to be solved to complete the mission. You could end up finding a clue which provides numbers to a combination lock, for example, which then provides another clue for something else and so on.

We asked for four hints in total, although two of them were arguably unnecessary. We lost a bit of time because one of the numbers we were provided was incorrect. Basically, there was a number, and there was a variance of ± 1%, so we tried the six possible numbers it could have been to open one of the combination locks but none of them worked. The game master then advised us that the number was slightly beyond the number range we were using, so the hint he gave was mathematically incorrect, given the information we were provided in the game, but correct to open the lock!

The other hint was practically irrelevant because my friend was basically about to do the correct thing, but we asked for one anyway as we had not made much progress – it was the first hint we asked for.

There was also a bit of backward logic with the sequencing of some of the clues, and even the game master admitted he needed to contact the game designer and query that aspect of the puzzle.

In the end, it doesn’t even matter we managed to unlock the safe in 58 minutes and 30 seconds – a close call! The other group completed their trial in 57 minutes, so they were quicker, but we did get delayed for a while due to being provided with a mathematically incorrect clue while investigating, so perhaps our team would have won if not for that, but who knows!

The Steakhouse

Afterwards, the two teams went their separate ways, and the team I was on decided to go to a restaurant for dinner. I started with a honeycomb milkshake for a drink which was delicious except there was way too much cream on top. I had a five bean chilli curry with tortilla chips and rice, which was surprisingly large and filling for me.

I felt sorry for one of the ladies who ordered the mac n’ cheese pie because it was pretty darn tiny! There was a roughly equivalent serving of pie and side salad, whereas it should be mostly pie and a bit of salad!

I had an apple pie for dessert, after which I was seriously stuffed and slightly regretting my choice on having the milkshake, due to my mild lactose intolerance.

We probably overstayed our welcome at the restaurant for too long, but as there was plenty of space, we didn’t see the need to leave early, so we ended up talking for a few hours after we had finished our meals. Great banter was had, but after leaving the restaurant, it was time to call it a night and head on home.

Conclusion

The last time I did an escape room, was in 2015 for a corporate team-building event. It was nice to be able to do one of these again with my actual friends though. Also, it has been a long time since I have eaten so much food! Once in a while, it’s okay to let loose and enjoy a hearty meal. All in all, a great day with my mates!

Mission complete – Overlord Drakow signing out.