In the previous part you got a glimpse of, among other things, the occasional difficulties of getting into an Időcsapda game . We revealed how a real car made it down the spiral staircase to us, and you could read about other curiosities. In this post we let you in on more secrets from our everyday life.
Highly recommended!
Perhaps the simplest form of cheating is the excessive use of physical force. At Időcsapda (and we’re sure everywhere else too) the game master explains at the start of every game that nowhere do you need to apply real strength: every task can be solved with the strength of a kindergartener. So how does brute force win out? Players are often rather older and forget quite how long ago kindergarten was, remembering themselves as being about this strong back then.
Joking aside: in the vast majority of cases the misuse of force isn’t meant as cheating, even if that is the end result. What happens is that the team suspects something in the room has broken. They are sure the code they worked out is right and that the door has simply jammed. Or they go looking for a trick in objects that hold none. That’s how you get cases where floor tiles are prised up, because surely the last missing number is under there. Furnishings and decorative pieces often fall victim to these theories as well. What can you say in such cases? Well, a little glibly: brains over brawn.
Dog-friendly
Most owners try to spend as much time as possible with their pets, and more and more restaurants, bars and venues are becoming dog-friendly. We have good news for owners who fancy an escape: Időcsapda is dog-friendly in every respect. Dogs of all sizes and breeds are very welcome alongside their escaping teams. It is important that your pet is house-trained, since for understandable reasons that is the only way we can let them into our rooms. And if all the excitement leaves your dog thirsty at the end of the game, we’re happy to offer a bowl of water.
“Sorry… where’s the toilet?”
The toilet is one of the most crucial points in the life of an escape room. Every team wants to find it; for most it is the first question they ask — which is entirely understandable, since they are about to be locked in for 60–75 minutes and, let’s face it, this is better dealt with beforehand. You can of course leave our rooms at any time if someone misjudged their fluid intake, but it isn’t exactly practical: the game master has to open the door and then lock the team back in, which breaks the flow of the escape. So we encourage everyone to visit the bathroom before the game!
Two important points are worth mentioning, though. Escape room guests love a challenge and are creative — qualities we would never deny them, since they are exactly what the game calls for. But it doesn’t pay to rush, because there are two mistakes you can make if you set out to explore. There are three ways to leave the waiting room in search of the toilet, and only one of them leads to the perfect solution. A 33.33% chance isn’t great, so please, do just ask. In the lucky case the explorer picks the right direction: turning left out of the waiting room and finding the bathroom within a few metres.
If instead they head straight up the spiral staircase, there is every chance they end up in the restaurant and in the gyros place’s staff toilet. That isn’t terrible, and it has never caused any unpleasantness, but our own bathroom is the better option. The worst thing an adventurer can do is turn right and make straight for the brown door at the end of the corridor, which leads to Moaning Myrtle’s bathroom. The unsuspecting explorer may be delighted, because it really does look like a bathroom — but it is nothing of the sort. Everything inside is pure set dressing. It is part of our Chamber of Secrets room , the place where the whole adventure begins. That, let’s be honest, could lead to serious trouble. Happily no such misunderstanding has ever happened, and to keep it that way, please ask the game masters for any information you need.
The mysteries of the lift shaft
As I mentioned, the rooms occupy a rather atmospheric downtown cellar system, which brings a surprising number of curiosities and difficulties with it. One of the most interesting is that the lift shaft of the apartment building above us can be reached from our Chernobyl room. Players needn’t worry about ending up in the shaft through some careless move, of course — but it is right next door. During the design of the room, this initially disadvantageous-looking feature turned out to be a gift. The Our Chernobyl room tries to evoke the inside of a reactor, and the humming of the lift next door creates the feeling that players really are deep inside a complex machine. Thanks to deliberate planning and creative thinking, players get the chance to peek into this machinery-filled space. In fact it is well worth doing so: one of the puzzles makes it essential that players draw the lift into the game — if not physically, then at least visually.
It’s a nice touch that the lift maintenance crew are decent enough to let us know in advance when they are coming to do their work. That way neither the players nor the workers ever have to wait for each other.
Unexplainable phenomena at Időcsapda!
Years of experience and running games sharpen our game masters’ attention — because attention is most of their job. Where does help need to go, and when? When is the next team due? Where might the previous group have put that very small key? As a result, a game master’s attention is keener than a layperson’s: they notice things others might not. And our game masters have observed some mysterious things at Időcsapda. The phenomenon hasn’t been named yet, but in essence: in certain periods, for a few days or weeks, teams keep making the same mistake at the same point in a given room. Picture it like this — neither before nor afterwards do players get stuck at that point. Only in that one week can you observe what we might call “the mystery of collective error”. Then it vanishes without trace, and may never return. Sadly we have not yet been able to explain these phenomena by scientific means, so we cannot rule out that some kind of magic or curse is behind it…
What should you bring with you?
A perennial question is what teams may take into the room. At Időcsapda there are no such restrictions — so much so that you may even arrive with a pet. But the fact that you can bring anything in (within reason, of course) doesn’t mean it’s worth setting off with a lot of extras, since the differently themed rooms don’t all have a suitable place to store bags and other belongings. Another recurring question is whether you can bring your phone. Of course you can: the puzzles are designed so that the internet is no help (and there may not even be a signal down in the cellar). For the most immersive, perfect game experience, we recommend putting bags, coats and phones in one of the lockable cabinets, where they will be perfectly safe waiting for you after your escape.
In the 21st century the smartphone is unavoidable, and it feels as though it has to be with us at all times. Even so, we encourage you to leave it in your bag. The constant beeping and buzzing pulls your attention away and can knock you out of the game, which is obviously no advantage — least of all when the team has just got into the rhythm of the challenges.
