A few weeks ago I came up with a crazy idea to build my own escape room. Escape rooms are a worldwide phenomenon, originating in Japan, but much more popular overseas. There are a couple in Fukuoka, but none elsewhere in Kyushu.The basic premise is that you are trapped inside a room and have to solve problems and puzzles in order to escape before time runs out. Some rooms come with scary clowns or serial killers; others have themes such as pirates, Sherlock Holmes, bank robberies, schools of magic, Breaking Bad style meth labs…you name it! I’ve actually been to all of these rooms, and many more.
For my own escape room I was somewhat limited by the only available space being my English school, and a budget of 10,000 yen. I scoured local recycling shops, Daiso and the internet for the props I would need: assorted locks, chests, second-hand books; and then set about creating all the puzzles and the story to link everything together. My students were quite puzzled by the gradual transformation of their classroom, with strange books and mysterious items appearing around the room. On the whole, I think they welcomed the distraction from their studies, especially when they got a chance to have a go at some of the puzzles themselves.
The pop-up room ESCAPE FROM BRITZ opened at the end of September, and has welcomed teams of players keen to test their skills. So far, the fastest team to find all the treasures and complete the game did so in 1 hour and 3 minutes. No-one has managed to do it within the hour…yet! There’s a prize for any team managing to make their escape in under 60 minutes.
With Halloween and Christmas round the corner, not to mention writing deadlines for the book I’m currently working on, the game will be dismantled soon, and my classroom returned to its normal state. The final chance to play Kumamoto’s only escape room is Sunday October 21st. Teams of up to 6 players, 1000 yen per person, open all day Saturday and Sunday, plus weekday evenings, every day this week. If you know someone who might be interested, please spread the word, or get a team together and take the challenge yourselves.
Thanks for all the interest so far!
Fiona Wall Minami