The Riddle of the Minotaur, and Why You & Your Friends Should Escape the Room

It’s a nightmare situation, really – a claustrophobic’s worst fears, complete with a “clue master” like Jigsaw who watches your frantic confusion through a security camera. Even without direct fear of death or dismemberment, or the promise of any reward beyond glory for you and your friends, the pressure is on to crack every puzzle, open every lock, and Escape the Room. And if you live in New York City (with new cities being added across the country) the new attraction is a must for your inner nerd. Escape the Room is the real-life analog to that adventure video game you loved, or if you have enough imagination, that old episode of Batman: The Animated Series where they have to escape Riddler’s labyrinth called “Riddle of the Minotaur.” Batman and Robin were forced into a mind experiment of puzzles and deadly stakes on their way to the center where they solved one final riddle to save a man’s life. And while there’s no risk of harm in Escape the Room, your ego’s at stake when the door closes behind you and your friends, and the large digital clock looming above you on the wall begins counting down.

You have 1 hour to follow every clue, solve every riddle, and unlock every lock to escape with your friends, and here’s the thing: only 20% of teams pull it off. I thought about that pass rate when I went in with 9 other friends into “The Apartment” and remembered Batman and Robin in the Riddle of the Minotaur, which was a modified version of a computer game at which Robin was fai…