I don’t know about you, but I felt really dumb,” was the opinion expressed from my 13-year-old daughter Becca after our time at the new Nancy Drew themed escape room experience at the Gateway’s Mystery Escape Room. “Me too,” was my response, smiling back to her in agreement.
“Nancy, every place you go, it seems as if mysteries just pile up one after another.”―Carolyn Keene, The Message in the Hollow Oak
What exactly is a mystery escape room? Good question. For all intents and purposes, these rooms are set up for entertainment but also serve another stealthy motive—team building! A popular destination for corporate business and families, the team-building element is led by a trained facilitator/team coach to improve a team’s performance. A facilitator’s role is to point out what the team’s strengths are, as well as providing insights on how to improve productivity and team unity. Hey—escape rooms are not just for girl detective fans either. Other rooms follow the storylines of Downton Abbey, Peter Pan, Zorro and even for those who like creepy, the Mirror Ghost.
Our particular escape room was following a Nancy Drew Stories theme, a time machine was provided, allowing us to go back 40 years to the Evergreen Lodge. Our specific team task was to find a once stolen, hidden-in-a-hotel-room jewelry collection, that was never claimed. Entering the room, the team is to figure out from a myriad of successive clues on how to locate the missing jewels. Like counting colored thumbtacks to skee ball games that open up to pictorial maps, secret hideaways within walls, optical illusions and lights bouncing off mirrors. Without giving too much away, Becca’s first statement about feeling ridiculously clueless is accurate, however, with the help and insights from all participating (and clues coming in from sleuth Nancy herself), it’s possible to solve the case in the hour allotted. But, your odds aren’t great, in reality, only 20 percent do.
To learn other ways to explore and enjoy SLC, go here.
Former Salt Lake Magazine Associate Editor Jen Hill is a SLC transplant from Bloomington, Ind. As a blogger and feature writer, Jen follows the pulse of the community with interests in urban agriculture, business, fitness & beauty and anything that allows her to get out of the office and into the mountains.
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