Three Benefits of Escape Game Play (Besides Fun)

Escape games are skyrocketing in popularity around the world, and there’s good reason for it. Far from a simple form of entertainment, an escape room is an activity that offers a lot to its players. And with hundreds, if not thousands, of escape rooms popping up all over the world—from the first one in Japan (built in 2007) to Brazil, Australia, India, the UK, Singapore, and, of course, Canada—it is clear escape games have wide-ranging appeal.

The most obvious reason escape rooms are so popular is because they’re fun. But it’s not the only one.

Escape rooms are great for team building and bonding

Workplaces looking for a way to get their employees to work together—without the high stakes of a real-world project—are no strangers to pushing their staff into an escape room and throwing away the key. Why? Because there’s no way around teamwork in an escape game. If you don’t work together, you’re not getting out.

Plus, there’s scientific proof that experiences like escape games bond groups of friends and families by creating memories and genuine happiness. 

Escape games spark new neural pathways

Sure it’s fun to pretend you’re saving the world from the Zombie Apocalypse, but as you’re doing it, you’re also strengthening the problem-solving faculties of your brain. More specifically, escape games help to build highly important “fluid intelligence,” which you can learn more about here.

Escape rooms give you a rush of adrenaline—without the danger

Not all of us get our kicks from jumping out of planes. For those looking for a fun challenge and a completely safe way to get their heart rates elevated, an escape game is it. You’ve got limited time to get yourself out of a (fictional) dangerous scenario and the pressure is on—trust us, your fight or flight response will definitely kick in.

Book a genuinely fun, experience-making, brain-building outing at our Coquitlam escape room here.

Coquitlam Escape Games

As winter closes, we all start looking for ways to escape: escape the dreary city, escape our daily routines, and escape boredom. Never fear! We’ve rounded up five foolproof ways to get out of the fall funk in our Coquitlam ’hood—and put your escape skills to the test.

Coquitlam Skyline Photo: Greg Salter (CC BY 2.5)

Defeat the IKEA maze

We’ve all had to go to IKEA to do something boring like buy cutlery or a lamp shade, but let’s be honest: at its best, IKEA is basically Disneyland for grown-ups. Instead of heading to IKEA Coquitlam to squabble you with your partner about a lime green rug, turn it into an adventure by creating a scavenger hunt and seeing who can make it through the IKEA maze to win the day.

Take a crash course at Crash Crawly’s

Let’s not forget the younger escape fans out there: get your tyke prepped for a future as an escape game master by taking them to Crash Crawly’s. It’s basically an obstacle course for pint-sized people, with plenty of challenges to help develop their problem-solving brains.

Escape the city at Minnekhada Regional Park

Though the rain may follow you here, the dreary greys of the cityscape will be replaced by the bright greens of pine trees and deep blues of the water. You don’t even have to go very far to make your great escape, as Minnekhada is just on the outskirts of Coquitlam.

Shake-up routine at Krakit Escape Room

Gathering a group of friends for an outing to Krakit’s Coquitlam escape room offers a chance not only to literally escape the room, but to escape into your imaginations for 45 minutes. Just like the books you read as a kid, you can choose your own adventure: Will you escape from the Zombie Apocalypse, the Asylum, or the Saw Room?

Sail away at Cloud 9 Float Spa

Speaking of escaping into your mind—you can take it one step further and forget you even have a mind at Cloud 9 Float Spa. Climb into a big vat of mineral water, with no light and no sound, and float away into nothingness.

Not a Horror Fan? 10 Escape Films Just for You

Though we’re huge fans of horror (you might have been able to tell), we know that not everyone enjoys having the living daylights scared of out of them.

That’s why alongside our horror-themed escape games we have one that has all of the brain-teasing fun without all of the hair-raising chills. Currently, that’s our One Night Stand room—which offers a different kind of horror as motivation: You need to find out what exactly happened “the night before,” before your 45 minutes is up and the game is over.

For those who prefer the excitement of escape with minimal gore, we list 10 of our favourite non-horror escape films, with a title for every taste.

Labyrinth (1986) 

A selfish teenager has to solve a magical labyrinth to save her brother from goblinhood. Plus Davie Bowie, Jim Henson puppets, and a baby in a stripey onesie. What’s not to love.

The Shawshank Redemption (1994) 

Tim Robbins plays the long game in this prison-escape film that comes from Stephen King’s sentimental side.

The Martian (2015)

Another long-game escape. Matt Damon’s only hope of getting off the desolate planet of Mars is some serious scientific calculations and quick-thinking problem solving. And lots of waiting.

Battle Royale (2000) 

This classic Japanese film sees ninth graders pitted against one another, fighting for the chance to be the one who escapes a deserted island with their life.

The Matrix (1999)

Yes, a sci-fi masterpiece, but also a tale of ultimate escape. For what is the Matrix if not one giant hallucinatory prison from which humanity must break free?

Escape from Alcatraz (1979)

Though it’s been decommissioned for decades, Alcatraz is still known as being the inescapable prison. Clint Eastwood begs to differ.

Papillon (1973)

Another prison break film, set on another island. This time it’s Steven McQueen who attempts to escape his cell—over and over again.

The Maze Runner (2014)

A bunch of boys and one girl are tasked with navigating a shifting maze full of deathbots. Poor things are destined to run into even more obstacles in the forthcoming sequel, The Scorch Trials.

Chicken Run (2000)

Chicken run? More like chicken prison. This family-friendly claymation sees a bold chicken attempt to lead his fellow fowl to freedom.

The Hunger Games (2012)

An unsurprising entry, but one we can’t leave out. The first of the popular franchise has Katniss trying to escape the Hunger Games with her life, before going on to attempt freedom from larger political shackles.

Book a round in our One Night Stand Vancouver escape room here.

Hijinks at the CIA: The Unsolved Kryptos Sculpture

Kryptos by Jim Sanborn, at CIA headquarters in Langley

Photo: Jim Sanborn (CC BY-SA 3.0)

When you think “CIA,” the first thought that pops into your head usually isn’t “fun guys.” But the notoriously stern-faced organization must have some sense of fun (or maybe even a sense of humour?), since their headquarters at Langley is home to one unusual and perplexing work of art: the Kryptos sculpture.

Here at Krakit, we know that art and logic combine to highly fun ends—that’s our Vancouver escape room in a nutshell—and the Kryptos sculpture is testament to that.

Created by artist Jim Sanborn in 1990, the copper and wood sculpture features four ciphers, or coded messages. Composed of 2,000 letters in total, the ciphers presented a challenge not only to the codebreakers and logicians employed by the CIA, but also to the public at large.

It took five years for a group of clever clogs at the National Security Agency (NSA) to break the first codes (although this was kept secret), with the first member of the public, computer scientist Jim Gillogly, announcing his computer-aided solution a year later, in 1996.

However—only three of the four ciphers have been solved to this day.

The final cipher, a mere 97 letters, has yet to be cracked. Sanborn, one of two people who know the puzzle’s solution, has released two clues since the sculpture was unveiled. In 2010, he revealed that letters 64 to 69 spell “BERLIN.” Still, nada. So in November 2014, he doled out another clue: letters 70 to 74 spell “CLOCK.”

It’s been a year since the second clue was given—and 25 years since Kryptos was unveiled—and, still, even the CIA has yet to crack the code that sits on its grounds. (Or, at least as far as we know. They kept their solutions to the first three ciphers secret!)

The cherry on top of this most mysterious of artworks? Solving the final cipher isn’t the end of the puzzle: the code’s solution will complete a riddle, which will then also need to be cracked.

If you want to try your hand at being the one to solve the final 97 letters, the full transcript of the sculpture is online here, along with many other facts about the work, compiled by Elonka.

Last-Minute Group Costumes for Halloween

So you’ve booked one of our horror-themed escape games for Halloween, and you’ve just realized it provides the most excellent opportunity to do a group costume. Unfortunately, you no longer have time to papier-mâché, sew, and blacksmith Game of Thrones costumes.

Never fear! We’ve got you covered with some ideas for easy group costumes that you can throw together with very little preparation.

Photo: Eva Rinaldi (cc-by-sa-2.0)

Ghostbusters

With the new Kristen Wiig reboot coming out soon, this costume is both classic and timely. You’ll need grey or beige coveralls, black backpacks, and some reflective tape for the new cast’s striped outfits or some paper for the old ones’ arm badge.

Cast of Orange Is the New Black

Coveralls win again here. Either orange or beige will do you. Each style your hair like your favourite character—or don’t and just claim you’re an extra.

Photo: Kelly (cc-by-sa-2.0)

Minions

Got a large group? Great, you can all be minions! Blue denim overalls, a yellow shirt, and a yellow toque get you most of the way there. Then, for the eyes, put glasses on your head or get inventive with craft paper.

Cast of Arrested Development / Seinfeld / Friends / Cheers 

aka People Dressed Normally

The trick to these group costumes is that the strength is in the numbers. You don’t make a whole lot of sense on your own, so united you must stand. The most effort is figuring out whose personal wardrobe best matches each character.

Photo: Jeff Christiansen (cc-by-sa-2.0)

Peter Pan and the Lost Boys

One person needs to wear a pointed paper hat and all green clothes (yes, tights required), and the rest can just look scraggly and dirty, if you’re going for the Hook look. This is also an opportunity to have a Play-Doh food fight like you’ve always wanted. Or, if you want to go Disney, the Lost Boys should wear animal onesies.

Photo: Arbitraily0 (cc-by-sa-3.0)

Ghostface and Victims

One person needs to commit to wearing the ghost mask and black cloak of the classic Scream killers, but everyone else gets away with wearing regular clothes—plus a large amount of fake blood. Extra ideal if you still have all of your ’90s clothes and a clunky cordless phone to carry around.

If you haven’t yet booked your Halloween spot at Krakit’s Vancouver escape room, you can nab a slot here.

The Stock Characters of Horror—And Escape Games

We all know (and love) the stock characters that show up in almost every scary film. They’re what make the horror universe go round. 

When you’re plunged into Krakit’s horror-themed escape games, you might just find yourself taking on one of these personas—it’s hard not to, really. The question is: Which character will you become when put under pressure at our Vancouver escape room?

The Jumpy One

The first one to know something creepy is going on—yet no one ever believes them. Maybe you’ll figure out the first clue in our Saw Escape Room, but no one will listen. Luckily, you can just wait until the end to brag about your intuition, instead of being the first one picked off.

The Backstabber

The person in the group who does not have everyone’s best interest at heart. They’ll push you down so they can get away from the zombie hoard. Let’s hope no one on your escape game team gives into these tendencies …

The Know-It-All

The one who is so sure they’ve got it in the bag, only to find out they have no idea. Their demise in horror films is often met with cheers. Remember: It’s not always the classically “smart one” who gets escape game clues first. It takes all sorts to solve Krakit’s puzzles.

The Clever Fool

The pal who’s a solid good time, but who isn’t really much help when it comes to getting work done—like dodging a savage serial killer, for example. Or, at least that’s what everyone thinks. More often than not, The Clever Fool offers up an unexpected epiphany that saves the day—or cracks the code.

The Final One

They’re the one at the centre of the story, the person featured on the film poster. Yet without the efforts of everyone else in the group—yes, even The Know-It-All—they’d never make it out alive. Happily, everyone at Krakit Escape Game makes it out alive, so everyone gets to be The Final One.

Looking to star in your horror flick this Halloween? Book one of our horror-themed escape rooms online here—before it’s too late!

Why Is Halloween So Scary?

Canadian actress Mary Pickford lights a jack o’lantern

We love giving a scare at our horror-themed escape rooms, so it should come as no surprise that we’re big fans of Halloween. But why is it an international scarefest?

The origins of Halloween are somewhat foggy. Though often thought of as a North American holiday, its origins come from across the Atlantic, in Ireland and Scotland.

Most people agree that Halloween is a melding together of the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, which marks summer’s end, and of All Saints’ Day, a day celebrating Christian saints, which itself might have origins in the ancient Roman feast of the Lemuria—a rite to banish vengeful ghosts from your home.

Though they come from separate cultures, Samhain and All Saints’ Day have two important things in common: they both take place October 31/November 1, and they both mark a time of year when there’s a particularly strong connection between the dead and the living. Coincidence? Probably not. Let’s face it: the dead hang about at the end of October, which is something we just need to deal with.

When you’ve got some potentially vengeful spirits hanging about, what do you do? You disguise yourself so they don’t recognize you, of course.

Another practice brought to North America by Celtic Irish immigrants is mummering, or guising. Mummering, as any good Newfoundlander knows, is dressing up in a disguise—any old burlap sack used as a mask will do—then knocking on your neighbours’ doors and asking for food and booze. Though Newfoundlanders mummer at Christmastime, kids in Kingston, Ontario, began mummering on Halloween at least as early as 1911.

Now, we’ve got ourselves some ancient rituals, combined with lengthening autumn nights, a thin veil between the human and spirit worlds, and disguised people knocking on your door asking for treats and threatening tricks. Creepy enough yet?

We’d say so. But that scariness is far from a bad thing. Being afraid makes us feel more present and alive, and rituals that force us to confront ghosts and demons (whether they’re just costumed children or not) is a good way to do just that.

Halloween, the day when the human and spirit worlds are closest, just happens to be the most appropriate day to scare the bejeezus out of ourselves.

Book yourself a good Halloween fright at one of Krakit’s three horror-themed escape games here.

The Three Most Ingenious Traps from the Saw Franchise

There’s a new room at our Vancouver escape game, which takes all the panic and urgency of the Saw films and gives you 45 minutes to escape a life-or-death trap. Think you could think straight under such intense conditions and make it out alive?

In celebration of Krakit’s new Saw Room, we’ve crowned some of the series’ best traps below. (Spoilers ahead!)

Best motivation for teamwork: The Sewer in Saw V

The five people trapped in a sewer in Saw V must pass not one, but four, tests. Each of the tests requires teamwork to escape alive—but unfortunately this group isn’t the best at putting their heads together (har har har). They have to dodge group decapitation, search through glass-filled jars for keys, drain their own blood, and climb into a coffin. No big deal, right? They all could’ve survived if they just worked together but, uh, they don’t.

Most likely to happen in the real world: The Bathroom Trap in Saw I

The scenario that originally captivated audiences is still one of Saw’s most powerful: Adam Stanheight and Dr. Lawrence Gordon are faced with cutting off a foot to escape death. This trap is extra simple compared to the traps later on, yet it’s still one of the most shudder-worthy—because it’s something we can viscerally imagine doing ourselves. Being forced to cut off one of your limbs to survive could actually happen—as Aron Lee Ralston, the inspiration behind the film 127 Hours, knows very well.

Worst game of “Would You Rather”: The Angel Trap aka The Rib Spreader from Saw III

Allison Kerry, a detective who has had the bad luck to have been working on the Jigsaw case, awakes in in a metal contraption hanging from the ceiling. There’s a jar of acid next to her, with a key inside. Billy the Puppet tells her she either has to unlock the contraption by reaching into the jar of acid, with her bare hand, before the key dissolves, or the metal straightjacket will pull off all her ribs. Unlucky for her, this game of “Would You Rather” makes her sample both options.

The 10 Creepiest Captivity Spaces in Film

The struggle to break free is what makes the countdown clock at Krakit tick so loudly—even though there’s no real danger, there’s still a lot at stake. There’s just something about being locked up, no matter the situation, that brings out our primal urge to get the heck out.

We previously covered the best cinematic captors to scare the dickens out of us, counting down “The 10 Best Alien, Beastly, and Supernatural Captors” and “The 10 Best All-Too-Human Captors” to ever terrorize the big screen.

Now we dive into the situations and places where the only option left is to escape—or perish.

10. The dome in the Hunger Games series

Twenty-four randomly chosen kids are forced into a dome of death constructed by sadistic adults for entertainment purposes, where the only escape is by murder. Not fun. 

9. The house in House

This late-’70s Japanese gem sees a pack of teenage girls trapped in a bloodthirsty house that boasts possessed appliances and other supernatural traps.

8. The maze in Cube

A grid of interconnected cubes leaves its prisoners wondering which is just a regular old cube and which is an instant death trap.

7. The pit in The Silence of the Lambs

You’re kept at the bottom of a mouldy well and the only thing to think about all day is when the crazed lunatic who put you there is going to use your skin for his next outfit.

6. The town in Groundhog Day

This may not be a scary movie, but Bill Murray does resort to suicide (multiple times) just to get out of Punxatawney. Here, charmingly, the only escape turns out to be love.

5. The serial killer’s brain in The Cell 

Not only does the serial killer in The Cell keep his victims in a Plexiglas case that automatically fills with water, but poor Jennifer Lopez spends the film desperately trying to escape his bizarro mind.

4. The panic room in Panic Room 

Nothing bonds a mother and daughter (who’s asthmatic, naturally) like being trapped in a concrete- and steel-encased panic room while a team of thieves do their best to kill them from the outside.

3. The Overlook Hotel in The Shining 

Tired of hanging out in a haunted and shifting hotel in the middle of nowhere in the dead of winter? Where you going to escape to, Danny? Oh, a snowy hedge maze? Good luck with that.

2. The coffin in Buried

As horrible as it would be to be trapped in a creepy sprawling hotel, waking up in a tiny coffin, deep underground, with only a lighter and a cell phone to save you, would be substantially worse.

1. The multiple traps of the Saw series

Nothing compares, however, to the many, many traps laid by the vindictive and philosophizing serial killer known as Jigsaw. Sorry, pal—there’s probably a really good chance you’re not getting out of that head-slicing machine.

Be sure to get a taste of Jigsaw’s house of horrors at Krakit’s new Vancouver escape room inspired by the Saw series.

Zombie Taxonomy: A Guide to the Undead

Madge Bellamy, the first zombie of cinema (United Artists, 1932)

There was a time when there was just one type of zombie: the kind raised from the dead by a voodoo doctor. Though it’s easy to forget these days, witchcraft is indeed the origin of the zombies we know and love today—virus-infected, fast-running things that they are.

Recognizing your zombie can all get a bit confusing, seeing as how the species has really fleshed out in the last few decades. Below is a guide to classifying your zombie—highly important for choosing your weapon and plan of escape.

Origins

Raised from the Dead: Zombies seemed to have to evolved away from this, but they still pop up from time to time. Look for suspicious-looking altars, emptied cemeteries, and religious apocalypses. See: White Zombie (1932), George A. Romero’s Dead series, Weekend at Bernie’s II (1993).

Infection: Whether created in a lab or carried by a monkey, viruses that make people want to eat other people are rampant. Evidence includes strange children randomly appearing in your bedroom and waking in an abandoned hospital. See: 28 Days Later (2002), Dawn of the Dead (2004), The Walking Dead (2010–).

Speed

The speed a zombie has is usually directly related to its origins. Raised from the dead? You’ve likely got a slow one on your hands. See: Night of the Living Dead (1968), Michael Jackson’s Thriller video (1982), Shaun of the Dead (2004). Overtaken by a rage-inducing virus? This zombie is probably super fast. See Resident Evil (2002), [Rec] (2007), World War Z (2013).

Remember, there are exceptions to this rule. See: The Evil Dead (1981), where witchcraft still makes for some pretty agile zombies.

Brains

Semi-aware: This is the most important zombie factor to identify quickly, because if there’s a bit of the person still left in there, you might be able to convince them not to bite you—at least momentarily. See: Day of the Dead (1985), Hocus Pocus (1993), Life After Beth (2014).

Blank slate: Unfortunately, most zombies don’t remember anything of who they were—including the very first voodoo zombies and the more modern virusy ones. Alas, it’d be best to place your bets on this type and just start severing brain stems. See: 98% of zombie films.

What kind of zombies lurk around Krakit’s Vancouverescape room? You’ll have to come and find out for yourself.

The Uncrackable Ciphers of the Zodiac Killer

At Krakit Escape Game we put you through the paces to solve your way out of a dodgy (but pretend) situation. But the type of thinking needed to crack our escape rooms sometimes has real-world applications …

In the late 1960s, in the San Francisco Bay Area, a serial killer known only as the Zodiac Killer murdered five people and seriously injured two. A further five killings are linked to the Zodiac, with the murderer himself claiming to have slain 37 people in total.

To this day, the murders have never been solved and the identity of the Zodiac Killer is still unknown.

However—being one of those truly annoying serial killers who taunts the authorities—the Zodiac claims to have revealed his true identity in a series of coded messages sent to San Francisco newspapers throughout the early ’70s. According to him (assuming it is a him!), the truth is out there.

It’s been more than 40 years since the Zodiac sent his last letter (in 1974), and still the ciphers of the Zodiac have yet to be solved. However, that doesn’t mean people haven’t been trying.

The Zodiac demanded that three major newspapers publish his three cryptograms, like the one below, on the front page of their August 1, 1969 editions, or else other murders would take place.

The police—along with FBI and navy cryptographers—were unable to solve the ciphers, leading the Zodiac to mock them (and, as it turns out, kill more people). However, local couple Donald and Bettye Harden managed to crack the code, starting with the basis that the Zodiac had a massive ego and therefore the message would begin with an “I.” It did, with the first line reading: “I like killing people because it is so much fun.”

Most of the ciphers remain unsolved, though—with the Zodiac’s identity contained somewhere in there.

One of the more recent attempts to crack the code comes from Ryan Garlick, a computer science professor at the University of North Texas, who led an entire class devoted to solving the cryptograms using an online tool. But, no luck so far.

Need a new obsession? See if you’ll be the one to finally crack the code.

Bring Out the Big Brains: Code-Breakers and Logicians

Alan Turing, owner of a big, big brain

As far as code-breakers go, there is none more famous these days than Alan Turing. The man who finally broke the unbreakable WWII code, Enigma, in secrecy at Bletchley Park waited a long time for his due props. The code-breaking operation wasn’t declassified until the 1970s—two decades after Turing’s tragic death.

Turing’s powers of logic and brilliant mathematical mind now rightfully sits in history as one of the most impressive the world has ever seen. But he isn’t the only logician to have wowed the rest of us with their humongous brain. Below are three others who sit in good—although incredibly rare—company with Turing.

Akṣapāda Gautama

Gautama, who lived in the 2nd century CE, was such a fan of logic that he just, y’know, founded logical philosophy in Indian. He wrote the Nyāya Sūtras, the founding text of this branch of philosophy, which sets out the steps to achieving “valid knowledge” through logical tests.

In a nutshell, Gautama created a path to spiritual enlightenment through cleverness. Not bad for a life’s work.

George Dantzig

This may sound like a familiar story: Dantzig, running late for class one day, enters the lecture theatre and sees two problems on the board. He copies them down for homework, and—after turning them in late—learns he just solved two “unsolvable” problems in statistics.

Matt Damon and Ben Affleck later nabbed Dantzig’s story for Good Will Hunting. But in reality Dantzig was indeed a student (a PhD at that), not a janitor.

Lewis Carroll

Yep—that Lewis Carroll: the one who wrote Alice in Wonderland. While there are many theories about the children’s book being a metaphor for a psychotropic drug trip, it isn’t a stretch to say that maybe Carroll just had one weird brain.

Though remembered as an author, Carroll was also a mathematics professor at Oxford whose pastimes included devising logic puzzles and riddles. He included one in Alice, which became one of the most famous unanswerable riddles of all time: “Why is a raven like a writing desk?”

Don’t worry though—While solving Krakit’s four escape rooms definitely takes some brainpower, you won’t need a Turing machine to crack them.

Five Things to Do in Vancouver before the Fall Semester Starts

Though summer’s not officially over until September 23, Vancouver’s postsecondary students are saying adieu to the season in just one week’s time.

The best way to make the most of what’s left of summer is to do. Recent science confirms that experience, not material goods, is what makes us happy. So get out there and have experiences that stick in your brain—and that you can pine for once the winter rains hit. 

Whyteliff Park. Photo: Ruth Hartnup CC BY 2.0

1. Go to the drive-in. The chance to attend an outdoor movie is coming to an end. Grab a carload of friends and hit the last River District Drive-In Movie Night. Which just happens to be a massive tribute to summer and friendship and the coming school year: Stand By Me on Sun Sept 6 at 8.30 pm.

2. Get into the great outdoors. Your butt is soon to be glued to a lecture hall seat, and visiting the “great outdoors” will mean the walk between classes. Do yourself a favour and finally conquer the Grouse Grind. Or, if you dislike sweating, jump across the rocks at Whytecliff Park instead.

3. Be a hero for a night. Bind your friendships, or even make some new ones, at one of Krakit’s four Vancouver escape rooms. The problem solving needed to save your pals from a horde of hungry zombies is also the perfect jolt to get your brain back in working order after a summer off.

4. Watch Willy be free. For a web of reasons, the whale pods around Vancouver have been extra active this year—but they won’t be around for much longer. If you’ve got some spare cash, grab a whale watching tour to get up close and personal. If not, the ferry to Vancouver Island has also given people quite a view.

5. Soak up the city. Vancouver really shines in summer, but its music and arts scene hums all year round. Get out to the annual Victory Square Block Party (Sun Sept 6 from 1.30–9.30 pm) to catch a huge line-up of local bands and get into the spirit of community that makes Vancouver more than just some pretty mountains and beaches.

Top Five Historical Labyrinths and Mazes

The concept of trapping people in a confusing space goes way, way back. But while escape rooms are all about a great night out, historical escape challenges—like mazes and labyrinths—haven’t always been about fun and games.

First designed for spiritual contemplation, it took quite a while for labyrinths to become the discombobulating entertainment we know today.

3000 BCE—Labyrinths of Bolshoi Zayatsky

Image: Vitold Muratov (CC)

The greatest number of ancient labyrinths still existing are found on remote islands in the White Sea of Russia. Made of boulders placed in spiraling patterns on the ground, there is definitely no danger of getting lost in these labyrinths.

Instead of being used to confuse and trap people, these structures were more likely used for religious contemplation or even potentially as traps to catch fish in low tides.

1800 BCE—The Egyptian Labyrinth

Image: Archive of Affinities

Ancient Egyptian pharaoh Amenemhet III was behind the construction of this gigantic labyrinth, which spanned 12 courts connected by crisscrossing corridors and shafts, with a few fake doors thrown in for good measure.

According to the historian Herodotus, the massive maze was made up of 3,000 rooms and housed the tombs of many kings.

1500 BCE(?)—The Cretan Labyrinth

Image: AnonMoos (CC)

Perhaps the most famous labyrinth of all is King Minos’s inescapable construction on the Mediterranean island of Crete.

Designed by Daedalus and his son Icarus (yes, that Icarus), the labyrinth was a site of sacrifice to the gods. Completing all these sacrifices was the Minotaur, a half-man/half-bull creature who was fed a stream of young kids every seven years.

1675 CE—The Labyrinth of Versailles

Leave it to French king Louis XIV, known for the decadence and splendour of his court, to take the religious and sacred labyrinth and turn it into a pleasure garden.

Designed with an Aesop Fables theme, the 5.6-acre labyrinth at the Palace of Versailles was constructed out of 5-metre tall hedges and included 39 fountains. Unfortunately, it was destroyed in 1778 by Louis XVI.

1880s CE—Gustav Castan’s Mirror Maze

Image: Dave Shafer (CC)

While the date and location of the first Mirror Maze is disputed, its creator is not: Gustave Castan.

Castan, who patented his invention in 1888, took a cue from the distorting House of Mirrors often found at fairgrounds, an attraction that in turn took inspiration from the famous Hall of Mirrors at—you guessed it—Versailles. Thanks, Louis!

You can visit Vancouver escape game Krakit seven days a week. We promise: no Minotaurs.

The Sleuthing Spectrum, from Sherlock to Clouseau

There’s more than one way to crack a case, and there’s more than one way to make your exit from Krakit’s four themed escape rooms. Each type of problem solver gets to the solution in their own way—the only important thing is that you get there.

Below we take a look at the different approaches of famous sleuths, to give you a little inspiration before your next game.

The Know-It-All

These types are what might be considered “classic detectives,” often portrayed as private investigators. The biggest one is, of course, Sherlock Holmes, whether it be Conan Doyle’s original smartypants or the antisocial version played Benedict Cumberbatch.

These investigators have a high degree of fluid intelligence, able to piece together a million tiny bits of information to backtrack through mysteries. They also have vast knowledge on seemingly every imaginable topic—just like kid detective Encyclopedia Brown—to help them crack the case.

The Unsuspecting

In this category you have your Veronica Marses, your Jessica Fletchers, your Nancy Drews. Yes, these are all women, and that (unfortunately) does have something to do with it. Especially back in Nancy Drew’s time, people just weren’t ready to believe that ladies could get the crime solving done.

However, sleuths like Veronica Mars are more than willing to play into people’s ignorance, duping them into thinking nothing out of the ordinary is going on—when really they’re stealing all the confidential files they need to get a solve.

The Techie

This type of sleuth is, like all of the above, extremely clever, but they really excel in one particular area. Veronica Mars’s sidekick Mac is a perfect example of this, using her technological prowess to hack the systems of countless evil businessmen.

Other investigators who fall into this category are television’s Dr. Quincy—medical examiner extraordinaire—and the geeky roles on forensics shows like CSI and NCIS. You know the ones: they always have a lab coat on.

Bonus: The Deadweight

Try as they might, these types just can’t cut it. Think of the classic Inspector Clouseau or the character Jonathan Ames in Bored to Death. Bumbling and incompetent, they more often cause crimes than solve them.

Whether you take the approach of a Sherlock or a Veronica at your next outing to Vancouver escape game Krakit, just remember one thing: Don’t be the Clouseau.

The Anatomy of a Scare

There are a couple reasons why we human beings are so addicted to horror films—but the thrill of a scare is definitely the most fun one.

That’s a thrill also on offer at Vancouver escape game Krakit. Not only are you put in a terrifying situation—a zombie apocalypse, a madman butcher on the loose—with limited time to save yourself, but live actors are prone to jump out at any minute.

All scare fans know and love that feeling: that mixture of dread and glee. Here’s how it works.

The Build Up

We step up to a scary movie or a horror-inspired escape game with some pre-existing knowledge: that is, we know something seriously creepy is going to happen. We don’t know when, we don’t know where, we just know that it will. The anticipation puts us on edge, just waiting for the moment when—

Something Happens

Though the build up is excruciatingly slow, the “something” is lighting quick. Whether it’s the sudden appearance of a menacing face in a window, the sudden cutting of the lights, or the sudden motion of something you didn’t even realize was in the room, it’s always, without fail, accompanied by a loud noise.

Involuntary Reaction

There’s always a noise, because that’s what jumpstarts your automatic nervous system, releasing a flash of fight-or-flight chemicals and making you jump involuntarily. Specifically, a loud noise activates something in our primal brain (aka the amygdala) called the Startle Circuit—which goes off with no conscious thought, taking you from “loud noise” to “spilled popcorn” in 50 milliseconds.

Giggle Fit

Because we know we’re ultimately safe—that the Krakit Butcher’s knife isn’t real—the next response is usually to laugh at ourselves. Once our lizard brain catches up and also realizes we’re not really in danger, the effects of the adrenaline pump we just received are reversed, slowing our heart rate—and preparing us for the next scare.

It’s Fluid Intelligence, My Dear Watson

You’ve only got a certain amount of time to beat an escape room (you get 45 minutes at Krakit’s Vancouver escape game) before the clock hits zero and the mission is failed—or conquered.

What are the skills that are going to put you on the winning side?

There are many factors that come into play when trying to crack an escape room, but one of the main ones is your big ol’ brain. In order to put together all the clues like a regular Sherlock and make a successful exit, you’ve got to use your noggin.

However, there are different types of thinking to consider, especially when you’re putting together your escape room team. Intelligence boils down to two main types: fluid intelligence and crystallized intelligence.

Fluid intelligence is used to solve problems. It’s the ability to take on new bits of information (read: escape room clues), see patterns, make connections, and think abstractly. In short, fluid intelligence is the ability to think logically, and to use inductive and deductive reasoning. Inductive reasoning means gathering different pieces of information until you’ve got a likely solution to your problem. Despite being famous for “the science of deduction,” induction is actually what Sherlock Holmes mostly uses—and what is most going to help you at your next outing to Krakit’s escape rooms.

While fluid intelligence is definitely going to be more useful as you’re trying to outwit zombies and evil madmen, you’re still going to need both fluid and crystallized intelligence to conquer an escape game.

Crystallized intelligence, in a nutshell, is knowledge. It’s the collection of facts in your brain: all those memorized song lyrics and facts about the lifecycle of a bean plant. Crystallized intelligence is what will set off your brain—ding, ding, ding!—when you need to know, say, a bit of literature to understand a clue.

Some people think that the Internet is making us lose our fluid intelligence, so actively trying to use it to combat the evil World Wide Web is a good thing. See? Krakit Escape Game is good for your health!

Love and Other Mysteries: Top 5 Sleuthing Couples in Pop Culture

In honour of mystery and romance, a favourite combo here at our Vancouver escape game, we take a look at five of the sleuthiest, mystery solving-est couples from pop culture.

5. Hannibal Lecter and Clarice Starling

There’s no way FBI agent Clarice would’ve caught serial killer Buffalo Bill in The Silence of the Lambs without some sage—albeit creepy—advice from Hannibal. It may be a bit controversial to call them a couple, but there are definitely some sparks between the two—and they eventually share a smooch in the 2001 sequel, Hannibal.

4. Nancy Drew and Ned Nickerson

A pure and innocent counterpoint to Lecter and Starling, Nancy and her sometimes beau Ned solve many a low-stakes crime together throughout the book series. Although Nancy takes the sleuthing lead, Ned never fails to be nearby when a rescue from a life-threatening situation is in order.

3. Fox Mulder and Dana Scully

It may take them seven seasons to finally lock lips, but the X-Files’ Mulder and Scully prove that extraterrestrial mystery solving and romance can go hand in hand. And who knows where the reboot (currently being filmed right here in Van) will take the duo’s love affair!

2. Daphne Blake and Fred Jones

Though their relationship isn’t always clear in the original cartoon (are they? aren’t they?), there’s no doubting the love between Scooby Doo’s Daphne and Fred in the 2000s live-action franchise. Yes, Fred may not always pick up on Daphne’s advances, but it’s clear she’s always his number 1 when it comes to busting faux ghosts.

1. Special Agent Dale Cooper and Audrey Horne

While all of the mystery-solving couples on this list seem intent on keeping their romantic feelings at bay, it’s Twin Peaks’ Agent Cooper and Audrey who may go to the greatest lengths. Nevertheless, their chemistry is undeniable, as is their shared desire to solve the mystery of Laura Palmer’s death, at any cost.

There's Something in the Air at Krakit Escape Game

Are you a Vancouver-area single? Are you on the quest for that special someone, or perhaps looking to get back in the dating game? Ever thought to yourself: “I wish I could find the guy/gal of my dreams—but I really need to know how they react in an emergency situation first?” Well, haven’t we all.

Lucky for you, this Wednesday (July 22) the first of four weekly Singles Dating Events goes off at Krakit Escape Game in Burnaby.

We’re all about the real, live experience here at Krakit. Instead of sitting you down in front of a video game or a scary movie, we drop you right in the action. It’s no different with our Singles Nights: instead of matchmaking online, getting you to fill out an endless form about your likes and dislikes, we throw you all in a room (two, actually) and give you a chance to mingle—while attempting to save the entire group from getting their brains eaten by zombies.

There’s nothing like a ticking clock and a bit of life-or-death pressure to bring out people’s true personalities. Will you fall for the hero? For the clever-clogs who cracks the first clue? Maybe it’s the lady who brings much-needed comic relief who’ll take your heart—assuming the Butcher doesn’t get it first, of course.

It’ll make a much radder story for the grandkids than showing them your matching dating profile checklists, right?

Krakit’s Singles Dating Events take place for the next four Wednesdays:
July 22, July 29, August 5 (LGBT), and August 12 (postponed until further notice)

Play two 25-minute games and meet 6 or 7 likeminded possible dates. Groupings are done by age: 19–24, 24–30, 31–38, 39–45, 45–58.

Pre-registration is necessary; there’ll be no walk-ins allowed, folks. Call 604-484-6552 to register a spot, or to find out more info.

The Great Vancouver Escape (Game)

You may have heard about some heinous happenings taking place near the border of Burnaby and Coquitlam. A few unlicensed surgeries and some mystery meat being served here and there.

Luckily these diabolical events in Metro Vancouver are happening in the safety of Krakit Escape Game’s loving arms. We’ve captured some of the suspenseful—and bloody—moments on film for your viewing pleasure. It’s just a little taste of what awaits adventure-seekers in Krakit’s four escape rooms:

If you dare take on our Butcher room, you’ll find yourself locked in a meat cooler with an insane knife-wielding butcher itching to get you on his chopping block. For those who find the idea of a lobotomy less than appealing, our Asylum room will give you the right motivation to solve the clues and make your escape.

Maybe you’ve been planning for the Zombie Apocalypse since you were a child (who hasn’t, right?). If so, then our Zombie room provides just the chills and thrills you’ve been hoping for.

For those who like to have the bejeesus scared out of them minus the gore, we’ve created the perfect stomach-dropping moment in our One Night Stand room: figure out what happened last night before the game is up.

No matter which challenge you choose, you get 45 minutes to crack Krakit’s escape rooms. Escape games require a mix of ingenuity, smarts, and determination to solve. Put together the perfect team, and you just might have a chance of escaping the clutches of a bloodthirsty maniac or your own drunken decision. Only time will tell.

Don’t forget to keep an eye out for our next room theme, which will be ripe for cracking closer to September. After all, we just want to keep you on your toes at Krakit Escape Game—and maybe get a scream or two.