By Devin Holt
The monster that brought my death came from behind. I had made a crucial mistake: I stopped paying attention while staring at the dictionary in my hands, trying to understand what the cover had to do with two pictures on the wall. I knew there was an important link between them. While I was distracted, the zombie crept to the side of the table and flung its body around the corner to gorge on my flesh. It happened so fast I never had a chance to be scared, but that didn’t matter anymore — I was officially zombie meat.
I had been locked in the room 20 minutes earlier as part of Trapped in a Room With a Zombie from Room Escape Adventures. The company bills the experience as interactive theater, as opposed to a game. Joining me in the room were nine other participants, a silent room monitor, and, of course, the “zombie,” which took the form of an actor in Halloween-style makeup and chains. Our goal was to dig through the furniture, artwork, books, puzzles, games, and other random objects to put together the clues that could help us escape. We had one hour. Every five minutes a loud buzzer would go off, and the zombie’s chain would get longer.
Room escapes first became popular as online games in Japan. They were usually played from a first person perspective, where the player is given a short backstory and a few clues to escape. The live-action versions are similar but emphasize teamwork. Some of the more ambitious ones feature escapes from large stadiums or “haunted” ships. There are two companies that offer them in San Francisco. SCRAP Entertainment runs Real Escape Game from the New People building in Japantown, and Room Escape Adventures hosts its version in SOMA near AT&T Park. I’ve now tried them both. You don’t need to be good at solving puzzles (which I’m not) to enjoy them.
Our group ran out of time and was eaten by the zombie, which isn’t unusual. The success rate for Room Escape Adventures is 27 percent. Only one team in San Francisco has escaped.
You don’t even have to be good at avoiding zombies. I was killed relatively early and sent to stand on one side of the room with the other “dead people.” I could no longer touch anything but could still shout observations. Since most of the clues involve solving riddles, this allows an enthusiastic player to stay in on the action. Our host, Sophia, explained it like this: “You’re zombie from the neck down, and it takes an hour to get to your brain.”
I was able to solve one important clue from my post on top of an orange X. Sadly, this wasn’t enough to save the team. Our group ran out of time and was eaten by the zombie, which isn’t unusual. The success rate for Room Escape Adventures is 27 percent. Only one team in San Francisco has escaped (the company also runs shows in Chicago, Los Angeles, and Washington D.C.).
After the final buzzer, Sophia told us we were excruciatingly close and explained the final mysteries. She also took a moment to highlight a few key people who had been particularly clever. I wasn’t one of them. This piece of interactive theater was almost-won by the ladies.
Of the two room escapes I’ve played, I have to give a slight edge to Real Escape Game in Japantown. The crew over there has the logistics of entry and exit down better, and the room is larger, which allows people to break up into teams and explore. Trapped in a Room With a Zombie is definitely a good time, but its major selling point is also its biggest flaw. For the zombie to feel dangerous, it has to kill a certain number of participants. And while “dead people” aren’t entirely out of the action, it’s easy to see how someone could lose interest if they’re relegated to the wall early on.
But Trapped in a Room With a Zombie does win in one important category. I highly recommend it for dates–definitely the second or third time out, if things are going well. You’re bound to bump into each other a few times while avoiding the zombie, and you’ll be too busy trying to solve the puzzles to feel awkward about it.
Get Trapped in a Room With a Zombie Wednesday through Sunday at various times. Click here for tickets, which are $28 a pop.
Photo courtesy of Room Escape Adventures.
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