by Benjamin Nunnally
It’s 6:30 on a Friday
night, and a player at
Escape Zone in Oxford
is literally pulling
apart a room looking
for clues.
Owner Ginger Bunn watches in horror
as the player pulls items off the walls to
check for secrets and puzzle solutions. It’s
a cardinal rule he’s breaking — anything
that’s nailed down is meant to stay that
way — but in spite of the reckless play, she
can’t help but laugh when he reacts to his
team’s dwindling game time:
“We’re all gonna die anyways!”
Tonight’s players are in “Sully’s Sinking
Ship,” a pirate-themed room with hidden
treasure and a door that has to be opened
before the ship sinks. The setup is common
to most escape games: players have one
hour to decipher cryptic clues, solve
puzzles and punch in a code to unlock the
10
door. A timer keeps players on task and
and adds a bit of pressure, encouraging
teamwork and quick thinking.
It sounds simple enough, but Bunn is a
seasoned player of escape rooms herself,
and she knows how to create a challenge
that visitors will feel is worth the money.
“Other rooms have used all keys, just
opening one lock, getting a key to open
another lock,” said Bunn. “These puzzles
tend to be a bit more cerebral, figuring out
codes and clues that are mysterious, but
August 2016
INSIGHT