Zombies come in all shapes, sizes and speeds. From the slow-walkers in Dawn of the Dead to the uber-athletic zomboids in 28 Weeks Later! But they are all pretty dangerous so who would in their right mind want to get close to Mr. Bitey?! Well, if you’re looking for a great hour of fun and team-building, you might want to get locked up in a room with a zombie. Enter Raleigh Room Escapes, a new Raleigh venture offering an escape from reality with a real-time, real-life puzzle room that you need to escape from, alive…
A group of 10 Yelpers showed up at Raleigh Room Escapes for an Unofficial Yelp Event (UYE), not knowing what to expect. Innocuous front door, I peek nervously inside the mirrored window to see what’s up. It looks quiet so far! We’re greeted at the doorway with a loud welcome from the bespectacled mad scientist, Professor Von Guttenburg all decked out in a white lab-coat. We sign a liability form up front, make a made-up name, name-tag and head into a side room for a quick briefing!
Professor Von Guttenburg goes through some basic rules like don’t move the furniture, don’t damage anything in the room and certainly, don’t damage the zombie, Dr. Oxy! As you can guess, the adrenaline can get flowing and even zombies have feelings. And if you’re touched by said zombie, you have to head off to a side-room but can still participate as a viewer. We’re told to strategize a bit before entering the room to identify strengths on the team but we’re all buzzing around nervously.
Down the dark hallway we go and we’re given the back-drop story on how the zombie, Dr. Oxy, got trapped in the room. Soon enough the door opens and we’re inside with the countdown clock running! I won’t get into too many details about the actual Escape from a Zombie room but needless to say, it’s a fun way to spend 60 minutes. The room is a funky mix of staged artifacts, horror decor, office equipment, combination locks and more. There’s one final lock on the door leading back out to the hallway which you have to solve and open. And yeah, that zombie!? Dr. Oxy moves further and further out every five minutes until it’s munchie-time or you escape. There’s a lot of screaming and scurrying around the room as Dr. Oxy makes her way out for a human happy meal…
Team Yelp did end up as a zombie dinner which is pretty ironic, eh? (I wonder if we were a 3, 4 or 5 star dining experience?) Even with a lot of help from Professor Von Guttenburg, we fell one step short of the solution. With the constant threat of the zombie scuttling around the room, there’s enough of a distraction to prevent you from getting too comfortable or concentrating. And obviously, communication and some leadership is super important for you to coordinate activities and puzzle-solving around the room. But with only about a 26% success rate nationally I didn’t feel too bad! Professor Von Guttenburg awards titles to each team member based upon his observations and how they pitched in to help. As we closed down, certainly don’t forget to tip your Raleigh Room Escapes performers for their time and energy!
We all scratch our names and a tag on the wall of shame and we were done. While we all came out for just a bit of fun and live performance theater, I can definitely see Raleigh Room Escapes and its live-action puzzle rooms as being great team-building exercises. For $30 (listed price) you’ll definitely learn a lot about yourself and a lot about each other under a bit of make-believe, human flesh-eating stress and pressure! So bring the team or some friends on out if you need some unique fun in the Triangle. Raleigh Room Escapes is doing a great job bringing the Zed to town…
1520 Brookside Drive, Suite 5
Raleigh, NC 27604
919.696.9049
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