Thanks to the pesky school wifi, there are few corners of the internet available to students that aren’t academic-related. While CCSD’s blockage policy is well-intentioned, this means that us students are digitally stranded at school. Additionally since many rooms at AMHS are infamous for their dreadful service, even some games on our phones are difficult to access. Personally, I find it hard to grind on schoolwork for eight hours. I need silly little games and “brain breaks!” Over the years, I’ve moved through several gaming phases including Temple Run, Solitaire, Water Sort Puzzle, FireBoy and WaterGirl, and currently, any free and unblocked crossword puzzles I can find.

Thankfully, one Magnet student, Emily Daniels, reached out to the Talon with information on a new mode of procrastination: digital escape rooms. The Escape Crew is a website containing a collection of themed escape room puzzles. Some categories that caught my eye were “Hunger Games,” “National Parks,” and “Pickles?” So, desperate for a serotonin boost in 1B, I dove into my first puzzle.

I chose to start my adventure with the Murder Mystery puzzle under the “Halloween” category. The first page lets the user pick a quirky screen name. Even though this puzzle is clearly modeled after the board game Clue, I couldn’t help but be reminded of Knives Out, so I chose to take on the detective name  “Ransom Drysdale,” an homage to Chris Evans’ and his precious cable knit sweater.  I move onto the first clue, smooth sailing. By the second clue I am already stumped, but thankfully Daniels has included a hints feature when you answer incorrectly. I eventually figure it out, but I have to change the combination several times to fit the exact format of GoogleForms answer key, a minor and unavoidable inconvenience. I managed to figure out the rest of the puzzle, finishing in around 20 minutes (though I even got distracted from this task I took as a distraction… oh the irony).

I explored the site a bit more and ended up also attempting the “Stop the Clock,” Pickles, and Christmas puzzles. While the “Stop the Clock” had a storyline like “Murder Mystery,” the Pickles and Christmas themed escape rooms were basically just quiz questions. The most developed category on the site has to be “Escape the National Parks,” which has six escape scenarios. I attempted one, “Escape the National Parks: Denali,” but it only had one question. I then spy the disclaimer warning users that the Denali puzzle is currently being fixed so I try “Escape the National Parks: Acadia” instead. This one was also quick quiz questions that the participant takes after being prompted that it is the only way to escape. The quiz is submitted when the user misses a question. I did not know any of the answers so consider me still digitally lost in Acadia National Park :/.

Overall, I’m extremely impressed by the effort and creativity that has gone into the creation of The Escape Crew. The concept is super original, and I can only guess at how much time it took to assemble an entire website. My favorite puzzle by far was the “Murder Mystery,” as it had a storyline and played out most similarly to an actual escape room. If I were to make any suggestions to the creators of The Escape Crew, I would say to create more scenario-central puzzles rather than quizzes. “Murder Mystery” used cyphers and gave meaningful hints that helped the user. Most of the others I tried relied on straightforward questioning or information that needed to be Googled. 

If you want to try the puzzles created by The Escape Crew for yourself, click here!