So, things slow down at work during the summer and you get the chance to do fun things during lunch without the bloodhounds being turned on you if you are five minutes late getting back to your desk. This past Friday was one of those days, where I joined four other co-workers as we decided to carpe that diem. One of my co-workers, Jenny, had found a Groupon for Escape the Room, and had recruited all of us to play with her.

At 12:00 pm sharp we were waiting outside for the one poor co-worker whose boss had decided to show up on a Friday and be completely needy. We clustered in a small circle, big sunglasses on, one of us sipping on iced coffee, as we discussed the breaking news of Sean Spicer’s resignation from the Trump administration. The conversation followed us into the car, but when it switched to Melania I moved things along to weekend plans.

You might be wondering what Escape the Room is, well, let me tell you. You pay good money to be locked in a room for an hour. During that hour you are supposed to figure out the mystery and find the key to get out of the room. Don’t worry, there is an emergency exit button and they watch you like Big Brother and will come over the loudspeaker if they think you are about to break something (I learned this from one of my co-workers, this did not happen to us).

We got there almost exactly on time, descended into the basement and were let into the Detective room. The lights were out, after a brief explanation (dirty detective has sided with the mob and stole evidence), we were left with a single flashlight and given the task:

• Turn on the lights
• Find the stolen evidence
• Get the key and escape the room

So it began: Jenny, Cecilia, Wanda, Jade, and I frantically scurried around the room with the flashlights and our cellphones trying to turn on the lights. I am not sure who did it, but we managed to get them on and then we went hunting for clues. Every clue and think that needed to be unlocked was moved to the desk so everyone knew what we had. At first we were a little scattered, using ANYTHING and EVERYTHING as a code/combination, until we started piecing things together. It was a ton of fun!

We “cheated” a little bit at one point, instead of following the directions, we intuited what they would end up doing and just tried every possible combination until we found the right one. I had the distinct honor of being the one allowed to open almost every lock, it was SO SATISFYING. The best part about it was that we finished the challenge in 38 minutes (22 minutes left on the clock). The staff was stunned, we didn’t even ask for a clue (you can receive 3 clues)! We had our picture taken in the room and then in front of the screen which will be posted to their Facebook in a few days.

It was a nice little high to finish early and then go back to work and put all the excitement back into my job. Of course we have found another Groupon and will hopefully be going again come the fall : ) I will let you all know how we do in SPACE! THE FINAL FRONTIER!!!