February was a fun month filled with the 15-day Chinese New Year celebrations from 31 January to 14 February and my educational tour to Northern Italy from 5 February to 16 February. However, it was not a productive month for me in terms of postings on my Retire – Do What? blog. Upon my return, I was resolved to make amends by adding catch-up posts for the month. However, barely two days after my return from Italy, I received this tempting invite from Grace Tan, the Award-Winning Singaporean Business And Lifestyle Blogger! The invite was for “Escape Room Themed Attraction: 26th Feb, 12.30pm. Location: 42 Kandahar St (near Arab St).”

Escape Game

A Reality Game

Not knowing what it was all about perked my interest. So I Googled and asked my daughter Carolyn. Essentially it is a reality game that is derived from the on-line Escape The Room (or Room Escape or Escape Game) game where the mission is to escape from an imprisonment. Wow, I have never experienced such a game before. Why not for I had been trying to live young and continue to learn new things by the dictum “Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish” by Stewart Brand and by bonding with the younger generations. And so the fun continues.

The Challenge

The four of us – Grace, Derek, Jiahe and I – had lunch and arrived for our pre-game briefing by a helpful and re-assuring Hendra. He went through the do’s and don’ts. Suitably psyched up, we were taken to the first of two darkened rooms. With just two torchlights, one of which was specially fitted to go out halfway, a telephone handset and one hour to unlock the two rooms, the four of us have to depend on our wits, CSI skills, teamwork and intellect to decipher the codes to open the first door. With the 30-minute mark approaching, we decided to use the help-line to get out of the first room.

Next Victim!

The second room was more challenging. We had to find clues and decipher the codes of the locks of the two wooden trunks and a cupboard to retrieve the key to open the second door – and FREEDOM! Ahem! We managed but with a little help and a few minutes of extra time. Well the World Cup 2014 is coming soon, and so extra time seems inevitable.

The Victims or Escapees?

Fun Time

Need I write more to spoil your fun? No, the photos showed how much fun we had. No, there were no heated debates whilst in the darkened rooms. For the group picture taken at the end, you can perhaps detect what Grace would have wanted to do to me.

The Singapore Scene

Apart from Trapped, there are about a dozen other similar establishments in Singapore. The games originate from Japan and Hungary. The break out rate at Trapped is between 20 to 25%. So our team’s efforts were acceptable for first timers. My recommendation is for you to gather a few friends and experience the thrills and challenge of the many themes that are blossoming in Singapore. I think the best group size is between 4 to 6 people. Yes, go and have fun and deepen your bonding 🙂

For Opening Hours, Location Details and Other Essential Info, please see Grace Tan’s post “Trapped in Singapore: My First Escape Room Themed Experience.”