We are led silently in single file down a dark corridor and ushered into a small office. The door clicks shut behind us, locking our family into the room. We stand in a quiet huddle, staring at the ominous chalk outline in the shape of a fallen human body on the middle of the floor. My heart is pounding and my first instinct is to pat my pocket for my phone, but it’s not there – they took everything from us before locking us in.
We look around – besides the body outline, it looks like a normal office. Suddenly, a raspy voice crackles over a loud speaker telling us about the murder that happened here. He explains that our only chance of escape is to solve the heinous crime in under one hour. There is a large blank TV screen on the wall that suddenly flashes with a white number 60:00….59.59…..59.58…..the countdown has started!
Where do we even begin?
We are in Cape Town for the weekend with our teenage sons, and have decided to head over to the Old Biscuit Mill to try our hand at HintHunt – the real life room escape game that has taken the world by storm. The game entails being locked into a room and having one hour to escape through solving a series of puzzles and clues.
A briefing session before the game
We have to use our powers of observation, search for hidden clues and calculate riddles to solve combination codes and open locks, to find more pieces of information that when pieced together help solve the challenge and will ultimately allow us to escape. It is actually really difficult, and left purely to our own devices we would probably still be locked in the office.
What lies behind the door to JM’s Office is a mystery
Luckily though, there is a game master watching our every move and giving us an occasional well timed hint via the TV screen to keep our game moving.
HintHunt requires teamwork and entails lots of heated discussion and laughter. Our teenage sons spend rather a lot of time gaming and have fine-tuned their skills of observation and strategy. As parents, we get exasperated by constantly nagging them to get off their screens and to join us in the real world. So we were absolutely delighted to discover HintHunt, as here was a way that we could all enjoy gaming together – in reality.
This is probably what makes it one of Cape Town’s most highly rated activities – HintHunt has consistently ranked as one of the Mother City’s best activities since it rocketed to the top of Trip Advisor’s list of things to do in Cape Town in 2014.
There is a choice of four different games – JM’s Office and the Zen Room in Woodstock and the Shipwreck and Submarine at the V&A Waterfront. We chose to do JM’s Office which was their original version. The rooms are expertly themed, equipped with period props that make the fast paced challenge feel very real.
Outside the Zen Room
Outside JM’s Office
Groups must be between three and six people, and there are numerous rooms, so larger groups can play simultaneously. Due to the challenging nature of the mental tasks, HintHunt is only suitable for kids from the age of 9 if coming with adults or 15 if unaccompanied.
According to HintHunt, “There are two types of people on Earth – the ones who rave about mind-bending live escape games and the ones who have never heard of them. Gradually the first group is eating the second one alive”. It’s easy to see why.
00:30….00:29….00:28….With trembling hands we punch in what we think is the final code. The door clicks open. We made it! We solved the murder! We escaped! And in the words of our teenagers, “That was awesome – let’s do it again!”
Team Chasing the Rainbow just made it!
Bookings must be made online.
Rates – R230 per person
Rates – R280 per person
Prices valid as at June 2018
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