We have exit.

“Excuse me, where is the exit?” No one knows. No one will say. And on top of all that all doors are locked and there’s no sign of how you actually got in here in the first place. Or is there? Live escape games originated in Japan and are the real-life equivalent to computer strategy games. The basic procedure is always the same: Along with a couple of other players you’ll find yourself in a seemingly hopeless scenario and your only way out is by solving the mystery through teamwork: Read clues and make the right decisions together and escape from the dungeons step by step. There’ll be locks to pick and the occasional arachnid falling from the ceiling – your only real enemy (apart from claustrophobia) being the relentless ticking of the clock. After 66 minutes, it strikes zero. In the end you’ll have had some fun, strengthened the team spirit and trained your brain a bit. Germany’s largest live-escape-game-playground EXIT Berlin has recently opened on the grounds of a former East German bomb shelter near the Alexanderplatz. On an underground surface of 350 square metres, up to 35 gamers can play in four different missions, trying to get out unscathed. The secret to success is teamwork – the lone wolf doesn’t stand a chance – so it’s an ideal game for team building events and company parties. The elaborately staged set-ups with lots of clever details guarantee a real thrill and will surely get your adrenalin flowing; solving the mysteries requires creativity, skill and an alert mind. A game master will be watching your every move on video and will give you some (cryptic) advice, in case you lose your bearings. Granted, we had our reservations initially. Computer games, role play, mystery missions? Come on… And then we ended up in the “Madhouse”, an abandoned mental institution, with a lunatic chasing us. Welcome to SAW. But it took less than 30 seconds for us to be fascinated by the game and soon we were opening cabinets, rummaging through belongings and ransacking blood stained lab coats. Exactly 60 minutes and 13 seconds later we were free. What happened in the meantime? Well, we’d rather not say. Only this much: Brain workout?­ Check! Team spirit? Check! Loads of fun? Double check!
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EXIT Berlin | Klosterstr. 62, 10179 Berlin | www.exit-game.de

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