Zombie Escape Room

Zombie escape room is a game where participants try to solve riddles and puzzles using hints, strategy and clues to complete a given objective. Completion of this objective is hastened by setting the game in a minimalist time frame; forcing people to work together or run the risk of being caught up by time. The set time limit is used to unveil secret plots within the rooms making the whole game fascinating. It is a very popular game. In fact, in December of 2016, US President Barack Obama visited Breakout Waikiki’ with his family and managed to complete the game with 12 seconds to spare. This was after he took up the challenge posted on Twitter by the escape room. Also, Race to Escape’, a popular highly rated television game show is based on the theme of escape rooms.

Such games are usually inspired a fictional location, for example, a space station or prison cell. Other common story-lines include haunted houses, pirates, kidnappings, hostage and science laboratories. Complex as it may sound, an escape room puzzle is quite simple. It has particular elements that every player must understand in order to excel at playing. An instructor will deliver rules, goals, and themes for the room using compelling stories. These stories set the mood for the game and are usually quite detailed, at times told accompanied by music and dimming or flashing lights to add to the aura and create the perfect ambiance for the game.

Players will then be handed envelopes with the first hint or task. Players are meant to use the hint to complete the initial task for them to proceed. The initial task is acts as some sort of gate-keeper. More often than not, it is dependent on players having to combine their queues and use them together as hints to build up a solution.

Completing the first task will reveal a combination that unlocks the first box. Inside the first box, a second box will be found with another set of clues to solve the second puzzle. The puzzles then go on and on following this structure. All this while, the game is made lively by the fact that these tasks must be completed within a certain timeline. The time allocated is intentionally little and this serves to push people out of their comfort zones and to their extreme limits. Players may opt to play fictional characters or themselves. Should they go with frictional characters then they will be trying out new approaches to situations, different from how they would approach such situations in their day to day lives.

The game has its origin in Japan. Around 2007, Takao Kato developed Real Escape Game that established most of the rules that are applied in modern day escape room challenges. Over time the game grew in popularity spreading far and wide to San Francisco, Europe and Australia before it eventually became popular world over. As it spread, the rules became more sensitive to different situations and cultures. Participating in zombie escape room revolves around a couple of motivations: it stimulates active learning, enhances team-work, trains people to handle time crunch, interests those participants who like getting lost in the story or plots and offers a form of escapism.

Active learning purposes to achieve critical thinking, analysis, synthesis and an overall evaluation of content at hand. In this game, it is helped by the fact that the environment is a playful one full of fun and excitement. These conditions naturally stimulate out of the box thinking. As some clues each player has coincided with other clues another has, players, must work together to finish the tasks before time runs out. From the word go, it is up to the players to figure out which other player has matching clues. It gets interesting when there are players who shun teamwork. They may be holding the critical clue but due to the fact that they prefer to keep to themselves, the whole team may suffer the consequence and run out of time to complete the given task. The effect of this is that it will build teamwork effortlessly, and in a style that breeds mutual trust and respect.

The time crunch in the game will help participants learn how to handle pressure. Much as the time is little, it is surprisingly sufficient. The whole idea is to push the players to the limit and bombards them with constant reminders in the form of loud reminders or ticking clocks to intimidate them and throw them off balance. Should they be able to handle this pressure, nothing else in their normal day to day lives should scare them.

Getting lost in the story is all just a matter of enjoyment. Different plots and settings indulge people differently. If a police officer is put in a prison cell, for example, they will soon come to the realization that it is a setting they know a lot about. As such, they would be excited as they would have the clues at hand and know how to interpret those that a layman would not be able to. The excitement that comes out of being engrossed in the story may at times become too much. For example, participants are known to tear down decorations or equipment inside the fake settings when they are too invested and lost in the plot.

Currently, this game is very popular among overworked young professionals and students who are experiencing lots of stressful situations. For such individuals, this game offers an escape from everything going on in their life. The relation between the stress and the actual life of the player may act as a form of therapy allowing them to relive their lives through a fictional character but at the same time learning through events occurring to the fictional character they are playing in the game.

As a precaution, this game usually requires the participants to sign a release and waiver agreement. The nature of the game is that it is edgy and may result in harm or injury. In order to protect the organizers, the game makes participants waive, release or covenant not to sue the organizers. As such, full responsibility for any death or damage of property whether due to non-negligence or negligence is assumed by the participant. Participation in the game is voluntary.

In conclusion, zombie escape room is an edgy game that brings out the best in people or exposes their worst fears and weaknesses, thereby allowing them to know more about themselves.