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Company team building event

I received word that we were going out on Thursday night after our company meetings. No one knew where we were going which resulted in many conversations with growing anticipation. Since there was a high level of secrecy, I knew it was going to be good. Turns out, Seattle Escape Games was our destination and most of us were excited.

Let the games begin

After we arrived and signed in, we waited in a lounge area for the 1st round of teams to enter their Escape Rooms. Along with the event, our company provided catering. With 4 escape rooms and 7 teams, each round had time to kill.

I watched with anticipation as the 1st round of groups went to the escape rooms. I was in the 2nd round which gave me time to play a couple of games of Corn Hole. Along with this, I had the pleasure of watching 2 team members play a mean game of Jenga. They were amazing at it.

As we were relaxing in the lounge area, we could hear teams celebrating their accomplishments which added to our excitement. Each team has 60 minutes to figure out all the clues and escape the room. Each room has a watcher guiding us through the do’s and don’ts of the game. We were allowed to ask for help solving a clue, the 1st one was free. Each clue we asked for after the freebie, cost us a minute of our allotted time.

Turns out there was a low success rate with the 1st round, only one team made it out. Wow, this was going to be hard.

The Bank Job

We got the call to proceed to our Escape Room, which we chose The Bank Job. We were robbing a rival Mob Boss with an inside man that was supposed to be helping us. First, it was a poor choice to trust a Con Man, second, what am I doing locking myself in a room with 3 other people looking for an escape? Our company is full of smart, High D type of personalities, which can cause conflict if we don’t work together. I decided as a team member to let my other team members work their strengths and I would work mine. Needless to say, I was grateful we had a couple of “numbers” people on our team. I knew that would be important.

Finding the 1st clue

It was absolutely exciting to find that 1st clue. We went to work fast looking for that 1st clue which resulted in a quick find. The clue we found was easy. The problem was we were clearly overthinking the solution which slowed us down. With each clue, came new problems to overcome. Figuring out the clues resulted in an extremely rewarding feeling of accomplishment. We opened False doors, and crawl spaces. Sometimes, a new clue would send us running back to the starting point to retrieve corresponding clues. I remember bursting through a crawl space on my way back to the team with an answer, took the turn too quickly, and rammed my arm into a door jam. Yep, that was going to leave a mark.

Does it ever end

Every time we thought this clue would lead to our escape, we were wrong; the clues kept coming. We pulled together as a team and ended up getting out of volt in the end. When the volt door opened, we started yelling, throwing high fives, congratulating ourselves and enjoying the celebration. Our watcher comes down and congratulates us for getting out. Something told me that he was delivering bad news. We ended up asking for help 3 times which used up 2 minutes of our time which left us with only 45 seconds left on the clock. Darn! We were 1 minute 15 seconds over our time and considered “Captured”

Lessons learned

We are only as strong as our other team members. We couldn’t have done it without each other

Observation is key

Don’t dismiss something you see or hear

Don’t over think situations

Slow down; I still have a bit of a bruise on my arm. :=)

Is it for you?

I had a blast! If you are not afraid of small spaces and being locked in a room for an hour, I highly recommend you find an Escape Room and give it a try. If you like challenges, this is for you. Can you work with other team members and utilize each other’s strengths? If you can, this is for you.

Add another to my list

I wanted to try an escape room adventure. I can gladly say that I did. My next escape room adventure is on my horizon; maybe next time I am in Seattle or I understand we have one that has opened near my home. My list of Been There Done That adventures is growing.

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