Hocus Pocus

Escape Date: 29^th July 2014

dPace: We managed to enter the mysterious Chamber of Hocus in Breakout belonging to the wanted criminal, Mr Hocus, but now we’re trapped in this magical house.

Dscry: Our mission is to find our way around this magical chamber and capture Mr Hocus once and for all. We have 45 minutes to find him. Let’s do this, dPace.

dPace: Let’s go! We have chosen our characters carefully this time, after experiencing the characters of Breakout games. I hope to be more helpful this time around! There’s something in here, but I can’t reach it, probably not for use now?

Dscry: Let’s search elsewhere. The background music of this chamber sounds like from a magic show.

dPace: Remember this house belongs to a magician. Who knows what will be harmful or safe to us? Are we allowed to remove these from the wall to inspect? Oooops.. I think I dropped one of them, wasn’t my fault right? It’s cramped here ><

Dscry: Wow… These things can easily fall with just the slightest touch. Dangerous. So, we do it like this and oh, it didn’t work. Something is wrong.

dPace: I think we there has to be some contraption or a hidden switch. Or maybe we need to think scientifically. After all, magic is just science and tricks.

Dscry: Er… Is that the magician? Hmm… I think not. He looks kind of creepy with that big smile on his face. I’m beginning to think that we should have equip ourselves with some magical knowledge to solve this room.

dPace: He looks familiar. Now where have we seen him before, could be around here, or it could be on something that we usually play at home.

Dscry: Oh! I think I found his identity. This should solve our problem.

dPace: Yes, that’s right. Now we need to think scientifically. This magician has hid the clue very well, and I know how to unveil the clue. Lesson learnt, “School science may not be important for your career, but it is important for escapers”.

Dscry: That was like magic! I really didn’t see that one coming. It’s a clue for our exit.

dPace: Yes, too bad we had to call for hint on this one. Where’s the thing that this sentence is trying to say? Dscry, how to get out from here?

Dscry: If I’m not mistaken, it can only mean this. I think this is the door to the exit. Let’s try opening it. I see the magician now. We caught him! Justice prevails.

Amount and difficulty of puzzles – 4 / 5

Common knowledge required – 4.5 / 5

Room complexity – 4 / 5

Players recommended – 4 to 5

Hints given – 1 hint and 1 answer

Difficulty rating (according to Breakout) – 3 / 5

Read More

A Short Forever

Escape Date: 23^rd July 2014

Dscry: After regaining memory about how we ended up in the previous room of Breakout, Project Fallout, we found ourselves enrolled as participants of a social experiment in this room we are about to attempt. Did I heard them say that we will be hypnotised?

dPace: Who am I? Where are we? Anyone there??? Why am I being locked with these guys?

Dscry: I feel dizzy… Like in a trance. This place is so weird. This room is called Infinity. We have 45 minutes to escape from this place or else we will be considered a failed experiment. 

dPace: Oh, I see a door, let’s try go through it. Apparently, we cannot leave any of our teammates behind. But I still don’t see Dscry.

Dscry: Okay, everyone ready? Don’t leave anyone behind!

dPace: Let’s go. Eh wait. Did we go into the wrong direction? Are we being hypnotized again? What happened? I’m confused. ><

Dscry: Maybe signing up for this experiment was a bad idea after all. Am I hallucinating or are there doors everywhere?

dPace: Let’s just try and solve this place and move on. Ahhh, I spot something! Thank goodness my memory did not fail me now. Lesson learnt, “Escapers with good memory are very useful escapers”. We can move on now.

Dscry: Good thing I have someone with a good memory here. My brain is having a mental block. Everything looks the same to me. It is like a déjà vu.

dPace: It was a good thing we planned our characters well. I can now make full use of my character. 

Dscry, we need to find these things so that we can stop this infinity thingy and we can then find each other. I’ve not seen Dscry up until now. ><

Dscry: Maybe we’re in two different locations altogether. Let me solve this and see what happens. Ready, dPace? One… Two… Three!

dPace: Oh hi, Dscry! We have solved the infinity puzzle! Now since we got kinda confused after going through infinity, where is our exit?

Dscry: It says here. Just go through here and open that door. That should be our ticket to the outside world, hopefully.

dPace: Alrites, thanks to the team members who didn’t get lost in infinity and brought our bearings on track, we’ve managed to exit, and also in record time! Good job, everyone!

Amount and difficulty of puzzles – 3 / 5 (average)

Common knowledge required – 5 / 5 (average)

Room complexity – 4.5 / 5 (average)

Players recommended – 4 (maximum 6)

Hints given – 1 hint and 1 answer

Difficulty rating (according to Breakout) – 3 / 5

Read More

Mass Destruction

Escape Date: 23^rd July 2014

dPace: Hello, readers! We’re on to our 40^th room! And not only that, we’re at a new company, Breakout, located in Avenue-K. We will be attempting their easiest room, Project Fallout. What’s the story behind this room?

Dscry: I can’t seem to recall anything. Why are we here? Why are they asking us questions that I don’t seem to know the answers to?

dPace: It seems that we are suspected of being terrorists who created a bomb. They have chained us up in different cubicles. Dscry?? Where are you???

Dscry: I’m here! I can hear you but I can’t see you. How are we supposed to free ourselves? These chains are heavy and it is not easy to move in this position. We have about 45 minutes to get out of here before our interrogators returns to torture us with more quesions. 

dPace: Ohh, I think we have to cooperate in order to free us from this chain. Alrites, I saw the keys. Okay, I can unlock myself.

Dscry: Nice! Pass me the keys. I want to be unlocked from these heavy chains too.

dPace: Here, you go! Lemme go explore around. There’s an old cabinet which I think looks more like a kitchen cabinet than a chemistry lab cabinet.

Dscry: I wonder what kind of experiments these apparatus are for. Being the Oracle in this game, I remember these things are part of the game and those things are not. Let’s do that accordingly, shall we?

dPace: Let’s go! Woah, something moved behind there! Lemme go check. Ohh… everything is good. There’s a passageway here. Would you like to go first, Dscry?

Dscry: Er… Okay. I think I might need the Light Bringer with me. Oh! I see a bulky machine. But, I don’t know the password to switch it on. Do you have any clue as to what the password is, dPace?

dPace: There’s something here that we can use. Lemme try and turn this thing. Dscry, can you hear me? Do you see anything now?

Dscry: Yes! I think I got the password. Let me try it. Yay! It worked. Wait, I think this is a trap. I might have triggered a bomb or some sort. Let’s get out of here fast.

dPace: Woah! There’s a warning sound. It says we have limited time to get out of here, but on our clock we have more than 20 minutes!!! Let’s go, there’s a way here, but it looks cramped, be careful.

Dscry: There’s the exit! We made it just in time before it was too late. The rush to the exit was really exciting. Let’s prepare for the next room.

Amount and difficulty of puzzles – 2.5 / 5 (average)

Common knowledge required – 4 / 5 (average)

Room complexity – 4.5 / 5 (average)

Players recommended – 5 to 6 (maximum 6)

Hints given – 1 hint and  1 answer

Difficulty rating (according to Breakout) – 3 / 5

Read More

You, My angel...

Escape Date: 20^th June 2014

Dscry: Through Heaven and Hell, I shall find you, dPace. Wait, shouldn’t it be the other way around? Getting back on track for our room reviews. We are now at Escape Room Berjaya Time Square about to travel through Heaven and Hell in the search for the wings belonging to the angel, Gabriel. I thought it was a he but is actually a she.

dPace: He? She? Oh well… I guess they mixed up the gender. Oh wow, I didn’t think this place could so… so… so… not like what I imagined. Nonetheless, after receiving our briefing from the guardian of angels, we need to find the path to Hell to retrieve Gabriel’s wings. Poor Gabby.

Dscry: Gabby??? You already giving her a nickname? What?!

dPace: I dunno. >< He, oh I mean, she sounds hurt. Her wings are like a part of her. Dscry, have you found the path to hell?

Dscry: I think it is here. I hear screams and sadistic laughter. We need a way to open the hell’s gate.

dPace: Hmmm, I’m sure between the clouds and the angels there should be a clue. Meh, I don’t see anything. I wonder where the Pearly Gates is. ><

Dscry: What is the Pearly Gates? I don’t know how it happened but the gate to hell is now officially open. After you, dPace.

dPace: Pearly Gates is the gate to enter heaven, and you’ve found it! Let’s exit from here and go into the dark abyss of hell. Hmmm.. I thought hell is supposed to be burning hot. But, I don’t feel any of that here. So both the heaven and hell rooms of this escape game don’t really have the thematic atmosphere I was expecting.

Dscry: Well, after a while being in hell, it does get a little stuffy and warm. Did you see that person over there? Is that the one of the guards of hell?

dPace: Oh Hello! How are you? How’s everything? Hmm, no answer... Oh... So you use this gadget eh! How do you use this? Ahhh… I see, a clue! Thank you, guardian of hell.

Dscry: She, I think is a she, is kinda pretty. Long silky hair with big round red eyes and snow white fair skin. Definitely a hot beauty in hell, don’t you think so, dPace? She makes it hotter in hell. Maybe she is Hell Girl!

dPace: Lesson learnt, “Think innovatively. You’ll never know how things may combine to work out a clue”. We can’t explain much for this lesson, as it’ll be a game spoiler. We’re almost out of this heaven and hell conundrum.

Dscry: There are quite a number of creatures in hell that don’t seem human friendly in here. I can’t seem to find Gabriel’s wings. Oh, no! The gate to hell is closing soon. Hurry! Find her wings and get out of here.

dPace: Gabby, I found your wings! But, we didn’t manage to escape from this heaven and hell puzzle... Let's negotiate with the guardian of hell to let us out of here. Till then!

Amount and difficulty of puzzles – 3 / 5 (average)

Common knowledge required – 4 / 5 (average)

Room complexity – 3 / 5 (average)

Players recommended – 4 (maximum 6)

Hints given – 2

Difficulty rating (according to Escape Room) – 4 / 5

Read More

Halloween Escape 2014

Escape Date: 18^th October 2014

dPace: Dscry! I went to the Halloween Escape, held in the Wet World Shah Alam. The water park is now a horror-themed park!

Dscry: Oh! That one. I’ve seen the advertisements for it. So, what was the place like?

dPace: The place was decorated with horrific items, such has amputated hands and legs, with fog and mist giving the eerie atmosphere. They also have a laser and mist show that acts as the introduction to the storyline, similar to the normal escape games.

Halloween Escape 2014

Dscry: Sounds like a very nice place for Halloween. Too bad, I couldn’t go for it. Anyway, what can people do there?

dPace: Maybe you can go for other events in the future :) The place is like an escape game theme park, where there are different mini escape games to play. For each escape game or the horror house, visitors have to queue to wait for their turn to play. And for each escape game, the game time is 10 minutes, but they have two identical rooms for each escape game, so two groups of players can play at the same time. However, the queuing time is very long, very much longer than the normal queuing for a busy theme park day.

Dscry: Aww… Long wait? That place must be swarming with humans! I heard there is a horror house too which I think is the main attraction of the Halloween Escape.

Welcome to Halloween Escape!

dPace: As for the horror house, you have to walk through dark corridors and there were jump scares. After these dark corridors, there is an escape game for you to attempt in 5 minutes. If successful, players can proceed to the next stage of the horror house, which is more dark corridors and another escape game, also 5 minutes to complete. If players fail at the first stage, they will have to exit the horror house immediately and will not be allowed to experience the second stage.

Dscry: Is the horror house big and house like? I’m picturing an old abandoned mansion now. Is it something like that?

dPace: Nope, it doesn’t look like a house. They’re just calling it horror house for namesake.

Wanna take a picture with me?

Dscry: Oh. Would be nice if they could improve on that. So, what happens if the players failed any escape games? Are they given a second chance?

dPace: For all of the games, players can retry as many times as they wish. Furthermore, if a group successfully completes any escape games there, they are given a reward, a voucher to play escape games at one of the organizers’ branches.

Dscry: Oh! At least, there is a reward. Are there other rewards available or just that one?

dPace: For all the games I won, the rewards are all the same, a buy 4 free 2 voucher.

Hi, I'm Chucky. Wanna play?

Dscry: Are there any food stalls around the event place? I’m sure some humans would be hungry after all the wait and games.

dPace: Yups, there are! They sell fingers and eyeballs to munch on as well as packs of blood with different blood types available for drink, similar to those used in hospitals. I guess these Halloween delicacies came from rare sources because they were expensive!

A hearty Halloween-ish meal

Dscry: At least they have stalls offering nice Halloween delicacies. I would really love to try one of those.

dPace: Watch out, Dscry, there’s Chucky behind you! There’s also pretty Annabelle… Ooh, there’s a Chinese ancient minister, and also a prisoner, as well as surgeon that got leprosy! They’re all coming!

Dscry: Where?! Why are they coming? O_O

dPace: To scare visitors! I think almost none of the visitors were scared, except for a few surprised faces, frightened children, and a couple of screaming girls.

Oh, so you think you're hot, don't you?

Dscry: Wished I could witness the screams. As a whole, how would you rate your experience of the Halloween Escape?

dPace: All in all, I would say that the trip wasn’t very worth it, as we only played 2 out of the 4 escape games, which has 2 easy puzzles in each game. Experienced gamers will be able to solve them easily, which is not quite worth the long queue. Other friends who went there with me were also not very excited about the puzzles. However, the Haunted House did give quite a good scare. In terms of overall experience, I would rate it a “one-visit-is-more-than-enough”.

Dscry: Well, I’m sure they will make lots of improvements in the future. Hopefully, by then, I would have a chance to experience it myself! Happy Halloween, everyone!

Read More