You are in a Harry Potter-themed escape room with your friends, trying to discover clues and piece together evidence to escape. You turn to the timer and see that there are only 15 minutes left. The adrenaline rushes through your body and you start to feel a little worried. Suddenly, the main screen in the room lights up again and Dumbledore’s figure appears, giving a hint about how to continue that no one understands at this point. “It’s ok, we can do this guys! We’re almost there,” you shout to your friends as they scavenge around the room, inspecting objects and walls carefully. Suddenly, you find a set of buttons, but none of them press or seem to do anything. What does this mean?

Rooms like these, called “escape rooms”, have become extremely popular and a hot trend in the past few years all over the world, with rooms in Asia, Europe, and the U.S. They have become especially popular with teenagers and young adults who enjoy the thrill and challenge an escape room holds. Escape rooms are great for birthday parties, dates, bachelor/bachelorette parties, or just to experience with friends. These rooms, where groups pay per person to enter, are carefully designed with clues and hints scattered around the room. It is the job of the group in the room to discover these clues and to do certain actions (that the clues will hint at) in a certain order to be able to “escape” the room. These puzzles are timed, which only adds to the difficulty and thrill of it. If the group does not complete the puzzle in the specified time, they will be let out of the room but will have failed at “escaping”. Each room has its own central theme, with themes ranging from Harry Potter to haunted basements.

One of the closest escape room facilities to AHS is The Exit Game, located at 111 N Atlantic Blvd, Ste 148 in Monterey Park. This facility has 4.5/5 stars on Yelp, with many having praised the overall interesting and exciting experience they had in the rooms. Another popular escape room facility close to AHS is Escape Room LA, located at 120 E 8th St in Los Angeles. This escape room place has 4.5/5 stars on Yelp and includes highlights such as “The Detective” room and “The Cavern” room. Most escape room establishments have multiple-sized rooms that are themed differently, with rooms allowing for a few people to over ten. In addition, prices typically range anywhere from $20 to $40 per person and rooms have to be scheduled ahead of time.

The thrill, mystery, and challenge of escape rooms have made them immensely popular worldwide with many, especially young people. Experiencing an escape room is a truly unique and immersive experience that can build teamwork skills, friendships, and cooperation.

Graphic courtesy of Sandi Khine.