You wake up on the concrete floor of an unfamiliar room. The light is dim, the walls are wooden, and the ceiling is far above you. As you blink sleepiness out of your eyes, you notice a piece of paper on the door. You get up, then walk to the note. You try the door as you quickly read the note. “Hello player. I go by many names…” You don’t get any further when you realize that the door is locked. You are trapped.
…
Uhhh… We aren’t quite there yet, Traveler. I do have plans for the idea, but now is not the time. Today’s hypothetical is on more general level. What if you were trapped in a random room? Any generic room will do. Hmmm…
Ok, here’s what we’ll do. Imagine if you will a rectangular room. The floor is wooden, the walls are covered in a flowery red and gold wallpaper you’d find in older houses. A desk with a large dictionary sits against the northern wall. The door you’d expect would lead outside is on the east wall, with two lightswitches next to it. To its right is the only blue flower on the wallpaper. A note is held to the door with an oddly shaped magnet. Behind you on the southern wall, is a large painting of a beach. Next to it is a calendar. A toolbox sits on the floor in the south west corner. A coat rack ladened with a winter attire sits opposite the door against, right up against the western wall.
In our world, escape rooms have been growing in popularity as a fun puzzle adventure. I myself have been in a Hansel and Gretel themed room. These games are quite entertaining for those who enjoy puzzles, riddles, and mental challenges. They can get a bit claustrophobic though.
But pretend this is a more dire situation. You don’t know how you got there, you have no idea of how much danger you’re actually in, and you have no incentive to maintain the structure of the room. Starting from here, and the information of the room, here are the many options you have.
- Go through the puzzles, riddles, etc., till you escape
- Try to break down the door
- Try to break down the wall
- Look for a secret door
- Wait for the culprit
Option one, play the game by the rules. Or at least attempt to. It’s possible that your actions will reveal tools for the other options. In escape rooms, your first order of business is to check the door. You know, just to make sure its locked… But in all seriousness, you’d look around to see if there are any tools you can use. Objects that contain clues or locations of keys, even if they are locked behind another puzzle. Look in classic hiding spots; behind pictures, under carpets and floors, and in anything nearby. In this example, checking the toolbox, the desk, and the clothing rack would be the best places to start, as well as behind the painting and calendar.
Next, once you find some semblance of a lead, you’d follow it as best as you are able. Let’s say you find the toolbox is locked, but has the same symbol as the magnet on the door. Or that there’s a safe behind the painting. Perhaps a slip of paper with D3 on it. If you are alone, choose one path to follow, the toolbox perhaps; if in a group, split up and tackle each separately.
Most escape rooms have at least on combo lock within them. The ways to solve them can range anywhere from letters on different objects, to slips of papers with numbers, to keywords in a dictionary, to dates on a calendar, (we get it already), to a hidden message in a note, etc. The list goes on and on. My favorite iteration of hidden messages right now is the pwl clue in a book. This puzzle comes with sets of numbers associated the the letters. The ‘p’ stands for page, the ‘w’ for word, and the ‘l’ for letter. (Sometimes the ‘l’ is a ‘c’ for character instead.)
Escape rooms also tend to have physical puzzles. A series of keys on chains that go to a box on the other side of the room. A sliding puzzle to reveal a code. A block out of place revealing a hidden panel. A matching puzzle that will unlock the exit. A soft wall in which is a key. These puzzles occasionally require less thinking, but can wind up being the most frustrating of them all.
While solving the escape room’s challenges could be fun, this situation could be deadly, and the stakes are high. It may be necessary to change the rules. First, I’d try to just kick the door down, look for loose floorboards of ceiling tiles, a broken bit of wall, anything to just escape without trying to show off. If I find something promising, I’d grab the toolbox or the dictionary as a makeshift defense, in case someone dangerous is just outside or is alerted to my escape. If nothing comes of making your own way out, then you’d best race through the escape room as intended. If it might get you out, go for it. For all you know, a sadistic murderer is on there way. If you can take action to save yourself in a dire situation such as this, by all means go for it. Unless you get your hands on something powerful like a weapon or a sharp object, waiting to be attacked is not a good solution.
If you are forced into working through the puzzles, remember that there are other options that could open up. If the room presents you with a tool, say a hammer in the toolbox, it might be wise to hit the walls and see if anything opens up. Being perceptive is key, both in solving riddles and noticing crucial details. The culprit could return at any moment, and being caught off guard could possibly spell your doom.
If any of you are wondering, I do have a semi-believable solution to the room presented above. Here’s the short and sweet nine step process. 1) Take the note and the magnet, finding key inside magnet. 2) Use the magnet key to open the toolbox. 3) Take hammer and broken blue key. 4) Hammer the wall to the right of the door where the blue flower is, revealing a paper with D3 on it. 5) Search coats for slip of paper M1. 6) Turn off both light switches to reveal a hollow floorboard. Use hammer to pry it up and obtain the slip A2. 7) Turn to the word “mad” in dictionary on desk to reveal a four digit code (hint for this is on calendar). 8) Open safe behind painting with the code, revealing white key. 9) Open the door using white key and escape.
I’m sad to say it took me a bit of time to come up with that, as I came up with the description of the room without actually thinking of a solution.
I’ve had my say on this topic for now. Do you like escape rooms? Why or why not? What would you do if you found yourself in this sort of situation? How would you escape? I challenge the creative of you who have time to take my initial description and create their own solution. Feel free to add hidden details if necessary. Put your solution in the comments below.
This isn’t the end. I want to create a choose your own adventure style escape room challenge for a future blog post. Would you like to see that? Let me know down below, and as always, thanks for playing!
The Hypothetical Game 