http://i.imgur.com/HERro1r.jpg
Do you like puzzles?

William Elshoff scoured the globe for artifacts of great power. His findings had turned up little until now, he claimed he had found the key to Nibiru!

He locked himself in his study and began to work, he was in there for over a week! When we went to check on him, we discovered he had vanished. That’s why we have summoned you here. We are hoping, with your unique skill set, you and your team can unlock the secrets to Uncle William’s whereabouts and bring him home!


Last week, I received a review pass to Hour To Midnight - Room Escape Games to check out their first puzzle Room, titled The Secrets of Nibiru. I happily accepted it and joined a team of local “influencers” (2 people from hotels and 1 person who works in business networking) who were invited to promote Hour To Midnight. (Cheerful Ghost was contacted to try it out, as we’re a gaming website obviously. Jon couldn’t make it, but he offered the chance to me.) The recommended team size is between 6 and 10, so our team of 4 started out at a disadvantage, but HTM modified the game slightly for our team size (they have different rules for different sized teams).

To begin, one of the HTM employees talked us through the rules and gave us some very general tips, as it was the first time in an Escape Room for any of us. Then we were walked into the room to start, and the door was shut behind us, locking (for legal and fire safety reasons, there’s a panic button to get out if needed). The lights were off and a short narration started, beginning the game. We then had 60 minutes to tear through the study and figure out how to get out. We started out slowly, just looking at everything, but soon started finding clues in random places around the office.

I won’t go into any details about any of the puzzles, but sometimes simply just figuring out what the puzzle was was difficult enough! Everything was logical though and made sense within the room. Puzzles lead to more puzzles throughout. Sometimes, you’ll be working on one puzzle and concurrently someone else will be working on another that will help you along in yours when they’ve finished.

I had an absolute blast! My team didn’t finish within the allotted time, but we got really close, and considering we were a small team of people that didn’t know each other, I was pretty proud of all we got through. Escape Rooms have been something I’ve been very interested in for a couple years now, but just never managed to try one out. Now that I’ve experienced it, I can’t recommend Hour To Midnight enough! Currently there’s only one room finished (this one took around 8 months to put together. The detail they went to is incredible.), but they hope to have a second room finished by the end of the year. And have 2 more rooms in planning/building stages.

Hour To Midnight also has a banquet room, where they can host receptions, office parties, etc. (I’ve already talked with my office manager at work about having an office outing here) When a large group is there, multiple teams can work through the room, and after your team has finished, you can spend your time in the “spoiler room,” where you can watch video feeds of the next teams struggle through the puzzles.

I want to thank Hour To Midnight for inviting Cheerful Ghost to experience their business, and thank Jon for letting me go in his place. I absolutely recommend checking it out for yourself!

For more information or to reserve your room, go to https://www.hourtomidnight.com/, call 503-673-EXIT(3948), or email [email protected]

Travis   Admin wrote on 12/12/2016 at 04:09am

This sounds truly awesome. I've played video games like this before, but doing it in person sounds even better!

Nicholas_Biondi wrote on 12/12/2016 at 04:35am

I did this one a few weeks ago. Was a pretty good time

scrypt   Supporter wrote on 12/13/2016 at 03:34pm

Another reason to move back to the northwest! Was there music playing in the room? Any other sort of atmospheric ambiance (beside the actual room, of course)?

scrypt   Supporter wrote on 12/13/2016 at 03:50pm

There's one here in Fort Worth!! http://www.thesecretchambers.com/home/

I'm so excited now!

AdamPFarnsworth   Post Author wrote on 12/13/2016 at 04:36pm

I don't think there was any music? Honestly I was so focused on the puzzles, I might have not noticed. But there were special effects at times :)

Thomas_Johnson wrote on 12/13/2016 at 05:25pm

Hello, Tom here, one of the owners of Hour to Midnight. Yes there is music, it is low to allow you to concentrate on the puzzles. Though maybe we can turn it up a little. Thanks again Adam for stopping by and the wonderful words!

AdamPFarnsworth   Post Author wrote on 12/13/2016 at 09:27pm

Tom, you guys have done a great job! I can't wait to try out the next room!

Travis   Admin wrote on 12/14/2016 at 04:44am

There's one minutes from here: https://puzzlr.us

I gotta try this out!

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