With the Phase 2 Heightened Alert keeping us at home, we’ve had to get creative with unique and fun things to do indoors. From baking banana bread to visiting virtual art exhibitions, our options of indoor activities are slowly getting exhausted.
However, one unique experience that recently emerged are virtual escape rooms. To be honest, I had never heard of virtual escape rooms until I played one. While I have tried (and possibly failed) many escape rooms in the past, experiencing a virtual escape room was definitely something new for me.
Although escape rooms have been around since 2007, with Trapped Escape Room being Singapore’s number one real escape room attraction, they only recently brought virtual escape rooms to reality.
So naturally, the Native team had to go and try out this unique activity ourselves.
I never thought virtual escape rooms would be possible without actually being trapped in a room together. Nevertheless, I plunged into this game with no expectations and was surprisingly impressed by its set-up.
Our experience started at 11 am on Zoom, with our gamemaster explaining the rules of the game. Our escape room was titled “Dark Web”, where we had to imitate the workings of actual hackers to solve various puzzles and riddles similar to the real deal.
We then had to pick a leader, who would be sharing their screen the whole time. This leader would also be in charge of entering our answers to the puzzles and riddles whenever necessary. We were also given a guide, in this case a hack guide, where they gave us hints and instructions on how to crack codes.
From searching for binary codes to bitcoin hacking, this room definitely tested our abilities. Fortunately, our lovely gamemaster was also available throughout the game to help us whenever we were stuck—which was more often than we thought. She was able to lead us in the right direction and fix any rare IT problems we encountered.
With her help and our team’s persistence, we were able to complete this escape room in 105 mins. Sure, it might not be the best time, but at least we got out, right?
The whole experience was definitely a unique one — it had the DNA of a real-life escape room paired with virtual-friendly features for an engaging and interactive gameplay.
By the end of it, we felt so defeated just by pushing our brains to work so hard before lunchtime. In my opinion, this virtual escape room was a lot harder than those you do in person, but the mental exercises were just as rewarding. All in all, it made for a great team bonding experience.
If you are bored this weekend, we recommend getting a group of your friends together online to try out a virtual game room. Trust me, you will definitely come out of it feeling accomplished and take home some unforgettable memories.
Currently, Trapped is offering 20% OFF standard price for virtual escape room experiences. Interested? Use our promo code native20 or click here to book your tickets today.
(Do note that this promotion is applicable for online bookings only and a minimum of 4 pax is needed to enjoy this promotion).
This article is in partnership with Trapped.
