HOUSTON --The Houston Escape Room is part of the latest worldwide fad, finally making its way to the Bayou City.
You and up to a group of ten friends can get locked in a room for one hour, as you try to unlock clues to find the key to get out.
KHOU 11 News Reporter Jacqueline Crea tried it out for herself with three volunteers:
After we were given a quick briefing on the history and goal of the room, we gave up our phones and voluntarily got locked inside.
To divide and conquer seemed the obvious thing to do, but not everyone was up for that.
"So when everyone was running around, I just wanted to rock in my rocking chair, get a little view of the scene, figure things out," said Devon Fanfair, a participant.
After a few minutes, we started to find random clues like a match and a notecard.
"It says just add heat with a little arrow. So I light the match. So we need to find something we can light," said Cimella Kidonakis, a participant.
When we lit the match, it read a message, directing us to another clue.
"Open globe. Globe! There's a globe over there!" said Kidonakis.
And then it seemed like we were on a roll.
"There's a dice in here!" said Kidonakis.
The excitement of finding one clue, keeps you motivated to keep looking for others.
"It's kinda those 'ah ha' moments you have where you figure something out," said Gene Liaw, a participant.
The room was rigged with hidden numbers and codes that led to locks.
"A black eight. That's genius. Oh my gosh, when you close it. It's a black eight," said Gene Liaw, as he discovered a folding fireplace screen with a number on it.
Then we found more numbers.
After trying for several minutes to decipher codes from the groups of numbers we found, we were quickly reminded we were running out of time, as a staff member shouted out the remaining time.
"Oh my gosh, guys hurry up, use your brains!" said Kidonakis.
We took a break from the numbers and the lock and found a message pointing us to a bowl of sugar packets, each labeled with a word that spelled out a sentence.
"We got a clue! What does it say? Sweet plus Splenda equals sugar," Crea said.
At that point nothing else mattered, just solving the puzzle and not letting our frustrations get the best of us.
"I like using my brain and seeing how my friends find clues," said Kidonakis.
We eventually discovered most of the clues that lead us to a key---ultimately unlocking the door and ending the activity, with eight minutes and forty-five seconds left on the clock.
Houston Escape Room's creator Edward Chao talked about his goals for the new downtown venture, modeled after escape room games first developed in Asia.
"(It's) a unique and memorable experience that you will not forget," said Chao.
The group is operating one room at the moment, but is soon opening a second at the same location. The activity is also developed for companies that want their employees to experience team-building exercises.
"It's all about team building. If we can get out of this room, we can make it in life," said Fanfair.
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