#24 Try an Escape Room

A few of my adventures are moments that begged to be tried again. This is one of those moments. You may have heard of them because they keep popping up all over the place. Somewhat amusing, kinda expensive, mostly entertaining... Escape Rooms. If you haven't heard of them, an escape room is a situational game room where you are locked inside a room for 30-60 minutes. You must figure out a series of puzzles and clues to work the scenario and escape. Like most of my adventures I kinda just stumbled across this one.

It truly is a great time to be a fan. Pretty much anything you have a passion about these days there's a fanbase attached to it. In that fan base you can usually find some sort of Con (short for convention)
My friend Chuck and I have been going to Cripticon for the last couple years. Watching it grow and shrink, change locations then very from year to year on how entertaining it is.

Cripticon is a local Horror convention http://www.crypticonseattle.com so there's all the usual spooky stuff and interesting vendors. They have a ton of B-Movie celebrities that are usually very gracious and friendly. Vendors that have unique items mostly handcrafted. Costume designers, cosplayers, artists, filmmakers, and of course horror fans. I have an interesting decor in my house and I can always find something out of the ordinary when I attend these shows. Last year a guy built me a custom pirate chest for carrying the beer I brewed. That'll be another story down the line.

This convention just like any other was Chuck and I wandering around checking out the obscure wears people were peddling. Listing to authors try and sell us their books. Buying artwork and taking pictures with horror movie stars. But this year, we stumbled upon an escape room. There was a girl walking around passing out flyers and I had always wanted to try one out. Chuck was down for the experience so we made our way to the third floor where they had blocked out an entire conference room for the event.

The story behind this escape room was that a mad scientist created a chemical weapon that he set on a timer to go off in 30 minutes. If Chuck and I didn't solve the puzzle the chemical would be released and kill everyone in the hotel! The room was a basic square conference room with a puzzle on each wall and a table in the center. There was a lab assistant to help us along the way if/when we'd get stuck.  We were instantly drawn to the table in the center which had a locking briefcase on it.
It was number based so I figured we needed to solve another puzzle to get the combination. After about 5 minutes the table in the center of the room started to shake and a zombie came crashing out of it! He was chained up and our helpful lab assistant was there to edge the story along. Turns out that it was the doctor himself and he'd created a toxin that turned people into zombies!

He wasn't your average brain dead zombie.  He was able to speak in a few word sentences. We were instructed that if he touched us we'd be out of the game and turned into zombies ourselves. It was also added that his chains would extend out another 3 feet every five minutes! This pushed us into the corner of the room farthest away from him and also created a new sense of urgency to the game.

We found a water bottle in one corner with another briefcase. Along that same wall there was a safe with an odd cylinder sticking out of it. I looked down the tube and could see something orange. Another 5 minutes ticked by and the zombie doctor's chains extended out again. He was still too far away for him to reach us. The cylinder was too small for me to fit my hand in so I decided to pour the water in it. As the water filled the tube, a key on a floating keyring rose to the top. The key was a perfect fit for the second briefcase.

Inside briefcase number 2 there was another key and this is were we started to get confused. Where does this key go? It doesn't fit in anything else. There was a table with a bunch of cards glued to it. and another table with a funky lamp on it. Some shelves which had the water bottle and 2nd briefcase and the safe with the puzzle we'd already figured out. 15 minutes go by and his chains extend again. Now he was able to reach us. We're looking around the room for something this key has to fit in. The lab assistant points out there's an odd box on the other side of the lamp table. Chuck jumps over the zombie's chains and distracts him while I run over to inspect this new found box. What do ya know! The key fits! I open the box and there's nothing in it...20 minutes go by now we're running out of time and can't figure out what to do next.

The zombie doctors chains can reach us from any point of the room now. So we antagonize him and run around his table so he wraps his chains up around it. With a little more breathing room we head to the card table. Each card has a number or symbol on it and this is where missing a chunk of knowledge really screws up the game...There's a clue about how the doctor was an avid poker player and his current hand could only be beaten by this set of cards. Both Chuck and I were stumped. Was it a straight? Royal flush? Full house? What did that configuration even look like?

25 minutes go by and our assistant points out that the box I inspected actually has something in it.
I go over to it and use the lamp on the table to get some more light into it. Turns out there are symbols in the box and each symbol has another number to add. But between us not being able to figure out the card riddle in order to use the numbers next to the symbols in order to open the briefcase we were screwed. The last 5 minutes go by and the game is over. The chemical is released and turned everyone in the hotel into zombies. They let us leave and even though we'd lost the game.

Overall it was pretty fun, I think with a larger group of 5 or 6 people it would have been even better. What sucks is that between the two of us our knowledge stopped at poker hands. The most frustrating thing is I can play poker pretty well. Just the correct hands were "escaping" me at the moment. That's what I mean when I say some of these moments are just begging to be tried again. At some point I'll get there, maybe a team building exercise at work or random birthday party. But I'll make it back to one of these Escape Rooms and conquer it next time!



Things I learned today:

Two heads are always better than one.

You can't always handle everything alone.

It takes a group effort to find success.

#23 Go to a Silent Disco

It's been a long while since I've written a post and that was never my intent. I enjoy writing, I enjoy telling stories and I enjoy it when people tell me they've read my stories. I set out to create this blog in order to avoid the mundane.  While I've still been having adventures; I've neglected sharing these moments with people. So here it goes, setting excuses aside, trying to get at least one of these out a week. Don't you dare call it a New Years resolution. I don't believe in them. Anytime is a good time to start a good habit. You don't need to wait until the beginning of the year.

My 30 for 30 is done and gone. I'm 32 now and refocused my energy into an actual bucket list. Most of the 30 for 30 experiment I spent just casually wandering into other people's adventures they had invited me into. With this new thing, it's seeking out things that I've always wanted to do. Daydreams I had as a kid, or goals for self improvement. Each make a unique story and it will allow me to continue my blog, continue my passions and continue bringing inspiring moments to anyone who reads this.

My story today is a pretty simple one. Nothing too special but definitely unique. Throughout each experience and new relationship I've been introduced to a few new situations. Things and opportunities I would have completely missed otherwise. Like going to a tech company's anniversary party. I thought this was a pretty cool solution to avoid the PC Police's war on Christmas parties. Forcing companies to call them holiday parties.  Instead just ignore it and throw an anniversary party. No one can argue that you're celebrating another year your business has survived and prospered. Not to mention how much more fiscally responsible and reasonable it is.  This year I've spent more time in my job as penny pincher and bean counter than I care to admit. After being behind the scenes on how much our company spent for our annual holiday party it would have to be much more economical to throw a huge party in May.

So I was invited to a huge tech company party. What is the one thing we know about tech companies? They have tons of cash to blow! This company was also celebrating their 600M acquisition that year. Which definitely could have contributed to the grandiose party. These guys rented out Seattle's legendary Paramount theater. All my life I've gone to concerts there and its really a breathtaking environment. Full of gorgeous classic painstakingly maintained architecture. I went to both the best concert of my life and the only place I've also walked out of concerts. If you ever get a chance, I highly recommend taking the free tour they offer on the first Saturday every month.

These folks went all out and their theme of the night couldn't have suited me better. "Comic book prom" I wish I had some silly cosplay outfit to show you. That's a blogpost for another time. This place was really decked out. Fully decorated to fill the Paramounts high ceilings. Free booze and photo booths. Catered by Tom Douglas all very fancy pants elements in a silly vivid colored tone.  
For the entertainment they hired ribbon arial artists and local comic book nerd band Kirby Krackle. That have a basic pop-punk style wrapped up in nerdy lyrics. I was very impressed with it all, taken in by the amount of energy, money and time it took to but something like this together. But the moment it became a 30 for 30 was when I saw the dance floor.

It looked simple enough. A squared off section of the place with a DJ and curtains around scaffolding holding up rotating lights on a dance floor. Now, I am not a dancer but if you get enough booze in me I'll cut a rug. I was intrigued by the curtained off area and wanted to figure out what was going on and why I couldn't hear what the DJ was playing. Once I got up to the entrance and asked a few people they explained that it was a silent disco. Upon entering the dance floor you're given a set of headphones that everyone is wearing. While wearing those headphones you can select the type of music you're listening to. Now it's not satellite radio or anything and there still has to be a reason for that DJ in the corner so you're offered three different stations to pick from. Each station has a different selection of dance music attached to it and funny enough you could figure out what people were listening to just by the way they moved. It was pretty hilarious coming across someone that actually was listening to the same station as you and you could properly sync up and dance with them. Casually sharing a laugh as everyone is a muddled mess of dancers. It was an interesting experience, something I'd never normally seek out. I'm happy I got to try it but overall I think there's something more powerful about a room full of people sharing the same musical experience.




Things I learned today:

Maintaining relationships and social circles can lead you to some very interesting opportunities.

You might as well take hold of said opportunities because most days of the year are unremarkable with no lasting memory as made. You'll never know when you'll be experiencing something you'll remember forever.

Being embarrassed from dancing is certainly, almost always, just in your head.