Welcome back to the Historian Blog, where in this article we will be covering Troop 123’s journey through the Escape Games. I was unable to make this event due to it being on Super Sunday for the High School Quiz Show, so I sat down with Zavier Morales, who shared his experience in the event.

This event was held on Sunday, November 5, 2017, in Worcester, Massachusetts. Zavier and the other scouts arrived in the afternoon and grouped up in the entrance. The agreement for the event was that each Scout would pay the admission fee in advance, and if they showed up to the event they would get their money back. After each Scout received their funds, they entered the building and waited for their time slot.

After quite some time waiting, the Troop entered. They were greeted by a man with an incredible mustache, who told them the rules of the game– where they were and were not allowed to go. The event played out a scenario true to its name– a game in which the Troop must escape from a locked room. Clues strewn about the room were hidden by locked chests and logic puzzles, and one final clue would lead to the escape in sight.

The puzzles were diverse and complex. Some were trick questions, others were riddles, and still others were circuit boards with buttons and switches, which needed to be set in just the right fashion in order to advance. Some puzzles were even locked behind other puzzles. Upon escaping the room, the Troop was not yet out of the woods, as they were greeted with an armed bomb and a narrow time limit to defuse it. The ultimate quicktime event, the Troop triumphed in the end, successfully defusing the bomb and escaping the games.

From Zavier’s description, the Games seem reminiscent to 5 Wits at Patriot Place, which I visited a couple times several years ago. One of the games even involved a bomb defusal. The main difference, of course, was that my group was not actually successful in defusing the bomb.

After the games were over; Zavier said the event lasted about 1 hour and 45 minutes; the Troop stopped at Antonio’s Pizza for dinner. The pizza was high quality, signifying a job well done for Troop 123. Zavier’s favorite part of the games was the suspense-filled bomb defusing sequence, and his least favorite part was the waiting time for their slot. If he were to change one thing about the event, it would be the access to bathrooms  pre-game, as they were locked.

Zavier told me his main takeaway from the event is that, just like in the tricky puzzles present in the Escape Games, things are not always what they seem from the outside. You may need to solve a little riddle to find the prize inside. Troop 123 will be sure to take this to heart moving forward; until next time, this is Historian Joe signing off!