Ingenuity, Charm, and Mystery: The Greatest Codes in History

The history of codebreaking isn’t just filled with mathematics and ciphers. And neither is it populated only by spies in trenchcoats and trilby hats. It also involves a whole lot of ingenuity, charm, and surprise—and even a whole bunch of regular, non-spy folks, who just happen to have a thing for brainy puzzles (much like us here at Krakit Vancouver Escape Game!).

Below we look at some of the most fascinating codes in human history, whether they have been long solved or are still keeping us guessing.

Edward Elgar's Dorabella Cipher

The Enigma

The reason that the Enigma code from World War II—recently recounted in the movie The Imitation Game (2014)—is such a famous cipher is not because it is unbroken, but because it has been solved. And by no easy means. The amount of ingenuity required by Alan Turing and his Bletchley Park team to crack the code was astounding, with the very real goal of saving human lives and ending the war.

The Dorabella Cipher

The stakes of cracking the Dorabella Cipher are nowhere near as high as they were for the Enigma team. In fact, by comparison, the story of the Dorabella Cipher is positively charming.

English composer and code-enthusiastic Edward Elgar is the cryptographer behind this 87-character message, written for his friend Dora Penny (who he called Dorabella). Penny claimed never to have been able to solve the message, and its contents remain a mystery to this day. However, some codebreakers say the reason for this is because it’s not a message at all, but a coded composition. (Makes sense!)

Cicada 3301

Not strictly a code, the mystery of Cicada 3301 instead involves a set of puzzles that have been unleashed upon the public once per year since 2012 (or, almost once per year: there was no puzzle in 2015). According to Cicada 3301, the reason for the puzzles—which heavily feature cryptography and computer programming—is to recruit codebreakers from the general public. Recruit them for what, exactly, is not clear.

For more codebreaking hijinks, check out our posts on the Kryptos Sculpture at the CIA, the mysterious Voynich Manuscript, and the ciphers of the Zodiac Killer.

Or, even better, get your very own brain in code-cracking mode at one of our four escape rooms by booking here: http://bookeo.com/krakit

Crack Team Assemble! Corporate Team Building in Vancouver

With the huge number of hours we spend with our workmates, it makes sense that a lot of workplaces are putting tons of energy into creating good environments for their staff. Sure, we can’t all offer the perks of the Google campus, but there are plenty of ways of perking up a team that all businesses and workplaces can engage in.

Getting groups of co-workers to bond over an interactive activity is something we’re highly familiar with here at Krakit Escape Game. Below we share our top places for team building in Vancouver that are both fun and effective.

Krakit Escape Game

We are have no doubts about the fun factor at our four Vancouver escape games, and we’re also have no doubts about the bonds solving an escape room builds among team members. When you’ve only got 45 minutes to save you and your officemates from lobotomization, people quickly put on their cooperation hats.

Grouse Mountain Zipline

Heading out for a day on the mountain’s zipline is definitely high on the fun factor. But not only does it get everyone’s adrenaline pumping and allow workers to interact offsite, it also offers opportunity for any scaredy cats to step up to the plate and any hidden leaders to shine.

Sunshine Coast Rafting

We live in one of the most beautiful places on the planet, so why not take advantage of it and head out into nature on the Sunshine Coast. Nothing spells teamwork like trying to keep your boat afloat, right? There are plenty of companies that cater to groups, including training for any novices.

City Scavenger Hunt

If you’ve got a crack HR team, then perhaps a self-devised scavenger hunt is what the team-building doctor ordered. Splitting co-workers into small teams and then having them race to win is a great way to see how your company’s workers both cooperate and compete.

6Pack Archery Tag

Forget paintball or laser tag—times have moved on to archery tag. 6Pack Indoor Beach in Richmond will let you rent out their whole space, and then you just have to let organized chaos ensue as the entire office takes out their frustrations by launching foam-tipped arrows at one another.

The Voynich Manuscript: A 600-Year-Old Mystery

In the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University lives a mysterious and ancient book, catalogued as MS 408 and known more commonly as the Voynich Manuscript.

Though it has been around for six centuries, it remains one of the human world’s greatest mysteries. Written in an as-yet-unknown language (plus a few lines in Latin script), it contains 240 pages that include both text and illustrations. Many amateur and expert codebreakers have taken a stab at it—including some famous codebreakers from the First and Second World Wars—but it has yet to be cracked.

However, we do have some hints as to what the Voynich Manuscript contains.

The illustrations reveal the book is largely about the natural world, with images of plants and animals as well as astronomical and cosmological diagrams. Some pages even appear to contain recipes.

The manuscript’s name comes from one of its more recent owners, a Polish antiquarian book dealer by the name of Wilfrid Voynich, who acquired it in 1912 and who attempted to decipher its pages and determine its mysterious origins for the better part of a decade.

He had no better luck than anyone else who has attempted to crack it. The Voynich Manuscript has, in fact, been a mystery since the 16th century, with one of its early owners, Georg Baresch, describing it as a “Sphynx.”

Some think the manuscript is a complete fake, and that Voynich created it himself to guarantee himself (or at least his name) a spot in history. As a rare book dealer, Voynich would’ve had the knowledge and means to fake such a document, wouldn’t he?

However, thanks to advances in science, this possibility has been all but eliminated, since the carbon dating shows the materials to be from between 1404 and 1438 CE.

Some think the book is not in an unknown language at all, but is actually written in cipher, a code meant to obscure the book’s contents. Perhaps it contains alchemical recipes that the author wanted to keep secret? However, other experts suggest the writing doesn’t appear be coded at all, as it flows smoothly and there are no corrections.

Whatever the case may be, we know one thing for certain: we don’t know much. Whether in an unknown language or a complicated cipher, the process of determining the key to the Voynich Manuscript is ultimately the same.

However, 600 years on, it is a code we still have yet to crack.

If you, like us at Krakit Vancouver Escape Room, love a good old-fashioned mystery, then book a game in one of four themed escape game here: http://bookeo.com/krakit.

Tips for Solving Escape Room Puzzles

Whether it’s your very first time or your sixth visit, the moment the timer starts to tick down on an escape room is an exhilarating feeling. You’ve got 45 minutes to solve a series of puzzles set up to tantalize your brain—and maybe the future of the human race or the safety of yours and your friends’ brains is on the line.

It’s easy to get off to an energized start, with everyone pumped and ready to outsmart the escape room designer! But sometimes your team can hit a lull. That next clue or puzzle just isn’t materializing—and you start to feel at a loss.

You can always ask for a hint (more often than not, one is needed!), but what if you’ve run out?

If you find yourself in that situation next time you’re playing one of Krakit’s four Vancouver escape rooms, just take into consideration some of the tips below.

1. Scour your environment for hints

This is the most basic step when it comes to an escape game. Not just a Sudoku puzzle on a sheet of paper or a Rubik’s Cube you can hold in your hand, the entire room is a piece of the puzzle.

Remember that even if an element isn’t an actual clue, it still might be subtlety pointing you in the right direction. It’s easy to focus intently on the details and miss the big picture. So slop, slow down, and take another scan of the room, looking for larger patterns and anomalies in those patterns.

2. Gather all of the clues in one spot

Whether you do this physically or on a piece of paper, keeping all of the clues you find in one spot is helpful. Even if you don’t know how an element fits just quite yet, by having everything side by side, you’ll be able to piece it together when the time comes.

Plus, when you’re playing on a larger team, you want to make sure everyone has a chance to investigate each clue, so that no one is missing out on a vital element.

3. Take a second look

Maybe you found one of the later clues very early on in your game, and you didn’t even realize it. In the hustle and bustle, it can be easy to forget about such clues. And after just a few more minutes of gameplay, you may view that original clue entirely differently. Don’t forget to periodically turn your attention back to unsolved clues, reshuffle and review them, and see if they are now fitting differently into the puzzle narrative.

The Fascinating World of Alice in Wonderland

There are few people out there who don’t know something about Alice in Wonderland. Even if you haven’t read the book or seen the classic 1951 Disney film or Tim Burton’s more recent live-action version, you at least know about Alice and her trip down the rabbit hole.

And what a strange trip it is. Though written as a children’s tale, there are some seriously sinister aspects to Lewis Carroll’s tale. Like Roald Dahl, with his great number of equally off-kilter children's stories, Carroll knew that kids don't want perfect shiny bubblegum stories.

This more realistic picture of childhood imagination is what gives Alice in Wonderland its staying power. In fact, the story has even reached beyond the realm of film and literature, into the real world.

The Mad Hatter, illustration by John Tenniel

The Rabbit Hole

First things first: that rabbit hole. Alice goes on and on about how her own ideal world would be a “wonderland.” It’s a nice thought, but then the next thing that happens is she stumbles into a rather terrifying free fall after innocently following a cute white rabbit.

It doesn’t take long for us to realize that Alice’s Wonderland isn’t going to be quite what we expected from its name.

Alice In Wonderland Syndrome

Next up, Alice has to go through an ordeal during which she’s required to drink unidentified potions and tonics that do strange things to her body: make her big, make her small, stretch her neck, and so on.

Turns out this sensation isn’t just confined to children’s novels. Alice in Wonderland Syndrome is a real neurological condition in which people feel like different parts of their body change size and shape. In fact, Lewis Carroll is said to have suffered from this condition himself.

Mad Hatter Disease

Another part of Alice in Wonderland that reaches into real life is the character of the Mad Hatter. Most likely based on an eccentric furniture dealer Carroll knew, the Hatter also displays symptoms of erethism, otherwise known as mercury poisoning or "mad hatter disease."

In the 19th century—when Alice was written—hat makers used mercury to help shape the chapeaus they made, leading, unfortunately, to hallucinations, excessive excitability, muscle spasms, and suicidal tendencies.

The Cheshire Cat

Equally parts frightening and friendly, one of the most memorable parts of Alice in Wonderland is the Cheshire Cat. Ostensibly her friend, the Cheshire Cat is still a bit too creepy to trust fully (what with that disappearing grin trick). The mixed feelings we all have about the Cheshire Cat offer an excellent lesson to children while offering up a few thrills.

To undertake your own trippy adventure, you can book a go in one of Krakit’s four Vancouver escape rooms here: http://bookeo.com/krakit.

Top 5 Jump Scares in Film History

Here at Krakit Escape Room, one of our favourite things in films and in our escape games is the jump scare. Why? Because it’s the best part of being a horror fan—it’s what we’re all waiting for and simultaneously what we’re all dreading.

The music starts to get all intense and screechy or, alternatively, everything drops dead silent. And then—WHAM. It’s got you. Because there are two essential parts to any good jump scare: the build up and the actual scare. One just can’t exist without the other.

Below we list our top five perfectly built up and perfectly executed jump scares. (Spoilers ahead!)

5. Alien (1979)—Dallas’s death in the air vents

In Alien, it’s the ping, ping, pinging of the motion tracker that builds much of the suspense the franchise is known for. And this scene is no exception. Nostromo captain Dallas crawls into the pitch-black vents in an attempt to force the xenomorph into the airlock, and then out into outer space. We watch, breathlessly, as the pings of his tracker getting ever more frequent.

Unfortunately, the alien has the upper hand in the dark, cramped space of the air vents, popping up out of the blackness to end it all for Dallas, in one of cinema’s classics jump scares.

4. It Follows (2014)—The bedroom scene

A primary reason It Follows has been named one of the best horror films in recent years is it’s perfect use of music to build up tension. It uses a classic screeching horror score in combination with dead silence to pull off some masterful scare jumps. This scene, where a tall man suddenly enters Jay’s bedroom, is one of the film’s best.

3. Mulholland Drive (2001)—Diner dream scene

Though more of a thriller than a horror, David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive has one of the most perfectly controlled jump scares out there. The very simple yet incredibly eerie build up—during which a man tells another man of a strange dream he had about the very diner they’re sitting in—is what makes this one of the best.

The slow switch from reality to dream and the two men’s incredibly tense walk from the diner to the alleyway behind it—to see if the dream holds true—means that absolutely anything that awaited them at the end of that walk would have the audience jumping from their seats.

2. The Descent (2005)—The night vision scene

The Descent doesn’t just have a few choice jump scares, but actually employs the jump scare formula throughout the entire film. The “atmosphere” comes courtesy of the labyrinthine and claustrophobic cave chain the protagonists are stuck in, and the “scare” comes courtesy of the creatures that are down there with them, just waiting to pop out.

The creatures’ first appearance, in the night vision scene, is just the cherry on top of a perfectly nerve-wracking film with several acutely scary moments.

1. The Shining (1980)—Danny’s tricycle ride

This granddaddy of all jump scares has an incredibly long build up and a flawless payoff.

We watch little Danny Torrance take the most terrifying bicycle ride in history, with every corner he turns becoming more and more stressful. With one major false start at the middle that makes the audience drop its guard too early, the scene’s grand finale—the sudden appearance of the Grady twins—is almost more than a viewer can take.

At Krakit, we employ live actors to spice up our eerie atmospheres with a right good scare. But remember, the jumps you get at Krakit Vancouver Escape Room are all in good fun! There’s never any real danger.

Johnny Ramensky: The Gentleman Safecracker and Great Escapist

The path to cracking an escape room is to use your wits, employing logic to figure out passwords and codes and locks. This is what will take you down the breadcrumb trail to escape game success. But out in the real world, sometimes beating a series of locks needs a much more physical approach. That’s where safecrackers come in.

Though a staple character in heist movies, safecrackers aren’t always necessarily bad guys. Sometimes people just forget the combinations to their super high-security safes—and someone needs to rescue those precious jewels from an eternity spent in a little metal box. But, it’s true: a safecracker, otherwise known as a peterman, is often up to no good.

Then there’s the peculiar case of Johnny Ramensky, perhaps the most famous safecracker that's ever lived. He even has his own folk song:

Ramensky was a Scottish safecracker who used his skills for both good and not-so-good. Born in 1905 and raised in a rough area of Glasgow, Scotland, the young Ramensky’s first work experience came as a coal miner—which is when he first came into contact with dynamite.

Explosives would be a key component to Ramensky’s future career: cat burglar. Using his knowledge of dynamite in combination with some serious ninja-like dexterity, Ramensky quickly became known as an expert safecracker. He also became known as a non-violent gentleman thief, who also never robbed individuals but only businesses, earning him the nickname “Gentle Johnny.”

His life of crime led to many years spent in prison—which he broke out of no less than five times, thanks to his skill at lock picking

However, when World War II arose, the use of Ramensky’s particular set of skills changed.

In 1943, after being released from prison, he joined the army, where he turned his abilities into an asset for the Allies. Over the remaining years of the war, Ramensky acted as a safecracking commando, who would often parachute behind enemy lines to retrieve vital documents. Now, in addition to being known as one of the best safecrackers in history, Ramensky is also a legendary Scottish war hero.

Not bad for one lifetime.

Following the end of the war, Ramensky returned to his life of crime, leading to a total of 45 years spent behind bars. He died in Perth Prison in 1972.

Though we don’t have any explosives or stethoscopes for you to use, you can get a taste of the safecracker life by taking on the challenge of one of Krait’s four Vancouver escape rooms. Book here.

Top 10 Pint-Sized Private Eyes

“What question can you never answer yes to?”

It’s a riddle kids will almost always get correct and many adults will struggle over. Why? Simply because adult and kid brains function differently. Children don’t have as many years of experience to guide their judgment—and it also isn’t clouded by experience, which can lead adults off on completely misguided tangents.

That’s why playing an escape game with a kid can be full of surprises. The adults on the team may get seriously stuck on a clue, while the youngest of the group solves it in no time flat. Sometimes it just takes a different point of view to see the answer clearly.

Below, we pay tribute to some of the cleverest kid detectives on the block. They’d definitely have our escape rooms cracked.

10. The Bobbsey Twins

They may be a pair of mostly boring goody-two-shoes, but they can’t be left off the list. With their first mystery adventure published in 1913, the Bobbseys are the godfathers of kid detectives.

9. The Ghostwriter Crew

The adolescent gang from this 1990s TV series never failed to impress (and seemed so hip!). However, their mystery solving abilities were greatly aided by a ghost who pointed them in the right direction... So they definitely don’t deserve to top the list.

8. Hardy Boys

Though they’re the straight-laced, muscle-bound counterpart to Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys haven’t had as much cultural staying power. However, they’re also part of the original gang of kid detectives—with their first mystery published in 1927—so there’s no forgetting them either.

7. Nancy Drew

She has a name as synonymous with mystery as Sherlock. However, despite spending her spare time doing something super cool—solving crimes—she just seems so boring. (Although, being born in 1930, we have to forgive her propriety.)

6. Shirley Holmes

She’s the great-grandniece of Sherlock Holmes and her series The Adventures of Shirley Holmes was pure CanCon gold—and even had a few Ryan Gosling cameos. What else is there to say?

5. The Goonies

The Goonies never meant to be sleuths—it was a role thrust upon them. But they nevertheless solve the mystery of One-Eyed Willy’s hidden treasure with aplomb and save the day through teamwork. Well done, lads!

4. Veronica Mars

To be a truly great private investigator, you need a great deal of sass. Veronica Mars, though still a teenager, has a great deal of sass. And determination, and stealth, and wit. A model all kid detectives should aspire to.

3. Harriet “the Spy” Welsch

Harriet the Spy: the archetypal weirdo outsider who just wants to see the world for what it really is—and maybe collect some much needed intelligence along the way. She just records it like she see it, folks. She’s definitely now working for the CIA.

2. Encyclopedia Brown

Detail-oriented and methodical Encyclopedia has solved literally dozens of crimes and hasn’t aged a day past ten. Plus he gives a chance for his readers to figure out the solutions themselves. What a guy!

1. Penny from Inspector Gadget

Inspector Gadget’s pigtailed niece is an incredibly overlooked kid detective. The classic '80s cartoon was probably such a hit among kids because it was always Penny and her dog Brain—not her uncle—who solved each episode’s mystery.

Be outplayed by your clever kids at our Vancouver escape rooms this Spring Break by booking a family-friendly game at Krakit here: http://bookeo.com/krakit.

Oh, and the answer to the riddle at the start? “Are you asleep?”

Haunted Hospitals and Cruel Fates: The Asylum Escape Room

Have you tried the hardest escape room at Krakit yet? That’d be the Asylum room—where you find yourself sentenced to life in a psychiatric institution, with only 45 minutes before you’ll be put into a permanently sedated state. Unless, of course, you can crack the room and escape.

Insane asylums have long spooked us—and for good reason. They were places where some truly terrible medical cruelties took place and where people were locked away for their entire lives, often with no real medical reason by today’s standards. Though a relic of an earlier age, the psychiatric hospital still haunts our cultural psyche, appearing in everything from X-Files to Buffy the Vampire Slayer to American Horror Story.

But these places aren’t just in pop culture—they really existed, and over the last few decades many have been simply abandoned. Unsurprisingly, plenty of these institutions come with tales of tragedy, haunting, and other supernatural phenomena.

Riverview Hospital, Coquitlam, British Columbia

Located right in the backyard of our Vancouver escape room is Riverview Hospital, an abandoned facility in Coquitlam that shut down in 2012, nearly a century after it first opened. It’s often used as a spooky setting for filming, from Supernatural to Watchmen, but it has its own real-life haunting tales. People claim to have heard laughing, snickering, whispering voices on the top floor, when no one else was around.

Liff Hospital, Dundee, Scotland

Westgreen Asylum, 1897 (CC-BY 3.0)

Called the Dundee Lunatic Asylum at the time of its construction in the late 1800s, this hospital saw thousand of patients pass through its halls before its closure in 2013. People have heard footsteps on its staircases—with no one to be found when they sought the cause. Many of the hospital buildings have now been turned into private housing. (No thanks!)

Rolling Hills Asylum, East Bethany, New York

Rolling Hills Exterior (Photo: Paranormal Skeptic CC-BY 3.0)

Established in early 1827, this now-abandoned asylum is known for some extreme paranormal activity, including apparitions involving voices, footsteps, touches, and more. No wonder, since there’s a reported 1,700 bodies buried on the property. It shut down in 1974, and now it’s the scene of ghost tours, horror movie nights, and ghost hunts.

Aradale Mental Hospital, Ararat, Australia

Ararat Mental Asylum, 1880 (CC-BY 3.0)

Definitely one of the most massive mental hospitals ever constructed, Aradale is made up of more than sixty buildings. Constructed in 1867, the hospital had tens of thousands of patients, and more than 13,000 of them died on the premises. The hospital complex, decommissioned in 1998 and turned into a college campus, is said to have several haunting hot spots, from patients who never left—even after death—to inexplicable cold winds blowing through its halls.

Get thrills and chills as you try to escape the Asylum at Krakit Escape Game, on the border of Burnaby and Coquitlam, by booking here: http://bookeo.com/krakit.

Escape Games: Corporate Team-Building with Flair

In today’s workforce, creating a strong and inviting team environment can be not only what makes your employees work better, but what might make them stick around for the long haul. According to Forbes, 88% of millennials prefer a collaborative work culture to a competitive one and definitely don’t want to be an anonymous cog in a faceless machine.

Luckily, escape games can help with that. No, really!

Escape games are only becoming more and more popular, especially among the millennial generation, precisely because of the reasons that also make escape rooms great team-building exercises.

1. Escape games force communication

It’s the rare person who can get through an escape room on their own, so putting your team into an escape game situation means they have no choice but to work collaboratively and—gasp—even speak to each other in person, rather than over email.

2. An escape game will put your team under stress—without any real consequences

Want to see how your employees work when they’re under the gun? Krakit Vancouver Escape Game’s ticking 45-minute clock will definitely give you insight into how your team behaves and works together when the pressure is on.

3. Scary escape room themes put everyone in a giggly mood

Though the 45-minute escape room countdown can put people on high alert, the scary themes of some escape rooms (including three of Krakit’s own) give people just the right dose of adrenaline to put them in a silly and playful mood. Bottom line: at the end of a creepy escape room, everyone is in a good mood—just what you want for a good team-building session.

4. Cracking clues—or the entire escape room—together builds camaraderie

Nothing builds feelings of trust and goodwill like making it through a zombie apocalypse or busting out of an insane asylum together. Solving any clue in an escape room comes with a sense of accomplishment, but if your team manages to solve the entire room—which isn’t easy—then the sky’s the limit for more corporate-minded collaborations.

5. Escape rooms are actually fun, and no awkward trust falls necessary

Corporate team-building events can have employees groaning, but escape rooms are bonafide fun. Most people want to try one if they haven’t already, so team-building at an escape room is sure to be a win in the eyes of even the most unconvinced of employees.

Looking to do some team-building in Vancouver? Why not book some time in Krakit’s four themed escape rooms, located right next to Lougheed Skytrain station. Visit our website or give us a call at (604) 484-6552 for more information.

When it is a Board Game Kind of Night.

Photo GinnyRobot. (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Unfortunately, you may not be able to come to play with us at Krakit Escape Game, every single night, but we have come to know one thing about you (beyond the shadow of a doubt): you enjoy playing games with your friends. Here are the most bomb board games for you and your friends for raucous nights in:

Cards Against Humanity.

This game tops my list of funnest, and funniest, games to play with close friends; for a second or third date (we recommend a Vancouver Escape Game room for an impressive first date); or, as an icebreaker with new neighbours, friends, colleagues and acquaintances. Beware! This game is R-rated, capitalizing on raunchy humour and tasteless jokes. Worst person wins!

Monopoly.

An oldie, but a goodie. Unless you have been living under a rock for the past century, you have played at least one game of Monopoly in your life. Collect cash, set up a neighbourhood, and charge your friends exorbitant rental fees. Fun fact: monopoly was created in the United States in 1902 and sold to Parker Brothers during The Great Depression.

Settlers of Catan.

I have had it on my agenda to ‘settle’ down and play this game; I’ve heard only praises of its worthiness in the gauntlet of friendly competition. Here’s what the Financial Times had to say about Settlers: “Settlers has its own elegant economy, in which the supply and demand for five different commodities are determined by tactics, luck and the stage of the game.”

Come have a killer time with us at 4035 North Road in Burnaby! It’s a treat for a night out. And, remember, the first Monday of every month is Singles Night! Between 7:00-8:30 singles will be grouped together to play. Oo-lala…

Oak Island: A Good Old Canadian Treasure Hunt

Richard McCully, McCully Nova Scotia Archives, 2012-010/004

Sure, Canada may be known internationally as sort of a boring place—some people think not a lot goes on here beyond snowstorms and the occasional bear in a swimming pool. But did you know there’s a centuries-old Canadian mystery involving buried treasure, which is still yet to be solved?

We’re sure most people, like us here at Krakit Vancouver Escape Room, would agree that a mysterious treasure hunt is pretty exciting.

Back in the day, a small island just off the coast of Nova Scotia—Oak Island, to be exact—was a favourite stopover for pirates, including the famous Captain Kidd. On this island is something known as the “Money Pit,” first discovered by 18-year-old Daniel McGinnis in 1795. After gathering some friends to help him, McGinnis began to dig down into the strange-looking pit, discovering layers of flagstones and log platforms every 10 feet.

They also found a stone inscribed in a secret code. The most commonly held solution of this code reads: “Forty feet below two million pounds are buried.”

An island, pirates, a money pit, and a code telling of buried treasure? Yes, please.

Unsurprisingly, this discovery caught the attention of more than just McGinnis and his friends. Since their eighteenth-century excavation—during which they did not find the two million pounds—several attempts have been made to dig down deep enough to find the treasure.

However, as several unlucky treasure seekers have found out, the Money Pit is booby trapped, with channels of water directed into the pit, which flood the dig in order to keep out raiders. At least six people have been killed during attempts to excavate the Money Pit.

Today, Oak Island is privately owned, but thanks to the Oak Island Treasure Act of 2011 (yes, that’s a real legal act), treasure hunters are still allowed to access the island in pursuit of solving the mystery. If you want to give it a go, you’ll just need to apply for a treasure hunting licence from the Minister of Natural Resources.

But, beware, for many have failed before you.

If you’re the type who looks for much safer—but equally mysterious—excitement, book a round in one of Krakit’s Vancouver escape rooms here: http://bookeo.com/krakit.

Dynamic Duos: Escape Games and the Power of Two

The first Vancouver escape games opened in late 2013, which means Vancouverites have had more than two years to fashion themselves into escape room superstars. If you’re one of these escape game connoisseurs, have you ever thought about how to give yourself a greater challenge? What about scaling down your team? Think you could pull off the solve with just two people?

Generally speaking, the more people you have playing an escape room, the more brainpower you’ve got to help decipher all the clues. But sometimes, less is more. After all, there are plenty of mystery-solving duos who pull it off all the time.

Below we look at some of the greatest mystery-solving duos out there, and examine what it is that makes them such a great team. 

1. Sherlock and Watson

Where we would we start but with the greatest mystery-solving duo in history. While Sherlock is undeniably the brains of the operation, Watson is there to keep Sherlock on course, triggering new trains of thought and most importantly keeping Sherlock tied to the wider human world.

2. Mulder and Scully

A close second for most revered mystery duo out there is The X-Files’ Fox Mulder and Dana Scully, who rock a believer vs. skeptic dynamic. Scully sticks firmly to what science can tell her, while Mulder is more willing to go off into bizarro land. Between the two of them, they always find the answers.

3. Rust and Marty

With the two protagonists of the first season of True Detective, here again we find the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Rust’s edgy, left-of-center character is complemented by Marty’s easygoing, steadfast personality, creating a powerful mixture of abstract and concrete thinking.

4. Rosemary and Thyme

The dynamic between the “gardening detectives” of Rosemary & Thyme is completely different from those previous listed. These two are more like peas in a pod than yin and yang, knowing how to play off one other to foil others’ expectations of their capabilities and to misdirect attention. All the while, they’ll calmly piece together all the clues to solve the crime at hand.

5. Jamie and Adam

Here we have a real example of a dynamic mystery solving duo: MythBusters’ Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage. The two trained special effects artists use critical thinking to try, try, try again, until they find the answers to the (literally) burning questions at hand, in their effort to prove or dispel myths of science and the natural world.

Feeling confident? Book one of our Vancouver escape rooms for you and just one friend here: http://bookeo.com/krakit/.

Play the Game of Love: The “One Night Stand” Escape Room

Photo: web4camguy (CC BY-SA 2.0)

We had a lot of fun in Halloweentown for our Nightmare Before Christmas escape room, but now that the season is over, it’s time to move on. Which, coincidentally, is the theme of Krakit’s next room: the One Night Stand room.

The aim of the game is to move on from the night before, which you and your pals can’t quite remember all that well. You find yourself in a strange bedroom. You get the feeling someone else was with you, but now there’s no one else around. Unfortunately, neither is your phone. The most strange thing of all is, you’re fully clothed. So, what happened?

That’s what you need to figure out before your 45 minutes are up. Find out where you are, how you got there, and what the what went on the night before.

Instead of finding yourself in the middle of The Walking Dead or American Horror Story like in our other three escape rooms, this room takes a page out of The Hangover’s playbook. Which is perfect for any squeamish or jumpy friends! However, these squeamish/jumpy friends will be required to have a great sense of humour, as there are some adult themes.

The One Night Stand escape room: the best time you can have with two to eight people—some even strangers—with your pants on! (And, yes, you must keep your pants on at all times. Sorry.)

On that note, it should be obvious, but the One Night Stand room has been created for adults. However, we can dial the theme to “PG” on request, and we can also adjust the “scary level” on our other Vancouver escape rooms.

The One Night Stand room at Krakit Vancouver Escape Game reopens in February (just in time for Valentine’s Day!). Keep your eyes on our website and social media for updates.

Krakit's website: krakit.ca

Krakit's Twitter: https://twitter.com/BuzzKrakit

Krakit's Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/krakitescapegame.ca

"Pride and Prejudice and Zombies" and the Zombie Period Film

What’s better than a classic Jane Austen flick? A Jane Austen flick with zombies, of course. Ever since the book Pride and Prejudice and Zombies came out in 2009, we’ve been waiting for the film version. Finally, our wishes have been fulfilled: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies the movie opens in cinemas Friday, February 5. 

Krakit Vancouver Escape Game wants to share our excitement with you, our clever and scheming escapees. So, we’re offering passes to a screening of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, with every Krakit winner entered into a draw for two passes. Plus there are some hidden movie codes in our escape rooms. 

In honour of the zombified version of Jane Austen’s classic tale set in 19th-century England, we’ve compiled a list of our other favourite Zombie Period Films—a niche genre, to be sure, but a good one.

1. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1994)
Sure, there’s debate whether Frankenstein’s monster even counts as a zombie, since he’s sewn together from many different beings. But, he’s reanimated dead flesh—which means, in our books, he’s in. Set in the late 1790s, Frankenstein is one of the first philosophical think pieces of the plight of the zombie.

2. Dead Snow (2009)
This Norwegian horror-comedy may be set in contemporary times, but the zombies the cast encounters are straight out of the 1940s: evil undead Nazis, still in trench coats and helmets.

3. 300 (2006)
Zack Snyder’s wild tale of an outnumbered Spartan army may seem like a surprise entry on this Zombie Period Film list. But then you remember that the Persian Xerxes army is made up of immortals who are referred to the “undead elite royal bodyguard.” And there you have it: a heavily costumed battle between humans and zombies in 480 BCE.

4. Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (2003)
Speaking of undead armies, the second installment of LOTR features its own set of zombie troops: the Army of the Dead. Sure, Middle Earth might not be a real place, but given the amount of costumes and the olde timey feel, it deserves a spot in the Zombie Period Film pantheon.

5. Abraham Lincoln vs. Zombies (2012)
It’s the 1860s, and America is in the midst of its horrendous Civil War. But things take a turn for the much worse when the Confederate soldiers begin rising from the dead. Luckily, President Lincoln is a badass in more ways than one.

Book your spot at our Vancouver escape game before the premiere of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies for your chance to win passes for you and a pal.

Best Escape Room–Themed Game Shows on Television

It’s far from a secret that escape rooms are getting more and more popular and landing on more and more people’s lists of things to try. So it’s not really all that surprising that television networks are getting in on the escape room action. 

At last count, there are three currently airing TV shows that not just feature escape rooms—like Big Bang Theory, Conan, and Two Broke Girls have done—but completely focus on them. Like escape games themselves, this sort of puzzle-rific television has deeper roots.

To help escape game fans catch up on this essential TV viewing, we’ve rounded up the best escape room–themed TV out there.

1. The Crystal Maze (1990–95)

One cannot talk of today’s puzzle- and escape-themed TV shows without first mentioning The Crystal Maze. Hosted by Richard O’Brien (aka Riff Raff from Rocky Horror Picture Show), The Crystal Maze was one of the biggest and most beloved UK game shows ever to air.

Many Canadians may have missed out on the craze, so luckily there’s quite a few episodes on YouTube to catch you up. And, if you’re heading to London any time soon, it’s even coming back as a “live and immersive interactive experience” (aka, a sort of escape game).

2. Takeshi’s Castle (2002–04)

From the other side of the world—Japan—comes Takeshi’s Castle. The premise is that contestants are trying to make it through a trap-filled castle in order to reach the count, aka actor Takeshi Kitano. More physical than puzzley, Takeshi’s Castle is nevertheless a forebear to today’s escape room–themed television shows. Plus, it’s by far the zaniest—what else would we expect from Japanese TV?

3. Race to Escape (2015–)

Race to Escape is the brainchild of the folks at the Science Channel. Their inspiration comes directly from real-world escape games, with contestants trying to solve clues and bust out of the various themed rooms. Though perhaps not as exciting as actually playing a game yourself, it’s definitely some useful viewing for anyone preparing to take on the Asylum room at our Vancouver escape game—the hardest room we have.

4. Hellevator (2015–)

Another new addition to the genre is Game Show Network’s Hellevator—but this one comes with a twist. Like our own Krakit team, the people behind Hellevator know a good scare when they see one—or make one, rather. This is unsurprising, as the show’s hosts are Vancouver’s own Soska sisters, the directors behind American Mary.

Contestants of Hellevator are challenged to escape an abandoned warehouse, which just happens to have a haunted elevator. Unsurprisingly, screams abound.

5. Code (2016–)

This show has literally just hit the airwaves, broadcast by Korean network JTBC beginning this month. To spice up the format, Code has celebrities as contestants (it was only a matter of time!). The group starts eight floors underground, with the winners advancing one floor per week by solving puzzles and unlocking doors.

Try out the real thing at our Coquitlam escape room by booking here.

A Short History of Escape Games

The history of escape games may be brief in the grand scheme (as compared to, say, tennis), but this entertainment favourite has been moving and shaking at an impressive speed, growing fast in a little time.

Escape room legend has it that the first of these rooms opened in 2007 in Japan: the Real Escape Game. It’s not surprising that escape games have their start in Japan—a country known for some seriously innovative thinking—but escape room history actually goes even further back than that, to PC gaming.

We all remember being completely defeated by Myst back in the ’90s, right? Logic puzzle games like this are where we find the origins of the first “real” escape game. Because what’s better than pretending you’re in a mysterious room with your own brain as the only key to escape? Actually being in one, of course. As generations grow up with gaming consoles and the Internet, spending great chunks of their lives in virtual worlds, there has come a great hankering for something more tangible, something more real.

Back to 2007: Takao Kato attempts to satisfy this hankering, and translates PC room escapes into the Real Escape Game. Fast forward five years to 2012, and the first escape room opens in the US. Meanwhile, more than 100 others have popped up across Asia.

Escape rooms have now spread to every continent (except Antarctica probably—although it’s really just one giant escape room, isn’t it ...). The first Canadian escape games, including the first Vancouver escape rooms, opened in late 2013 and early 2014, with Krakit bringing some dedicated horror fun to the Coquitlam escape game situation in September 2014.

The trend toward bringing some hands-on reality to entertainment isn’t just visible in the rise of escape rooms. Immersive entertainment has also infiltrated cinema (like London’s Secret Cinema) and can be seen in the steadily increasing popularity of city-sized ziplines and slip-and-slides.

What does this tell us? That the history of escape games is only just beginning. Because you can’t beat the real—no matter how fancy your 3D animation may be.

Jan Baalsrud and His Wintertime Arctic Escape

Photo By dokaspar

It almost feels like it’s threatening to snow here in Vancouver, and while other Canadians might say we never get any “real” cold here on the West Coast, it’s sure plenty chilly enough for us at Krakit Vancouver Escape Game. And hey—it’s a wet cold here, all right?

It’s gotten us thinking about people who have been forced to make escape attempts in the dead of winter, into icy banks of snow and freezing cold waters. There is one particular wintertime escape—a story of ingenuity and perseverance—that stands out above all the rest: that of Jan Baalsrud, a Norwegian resistance fighter in World War II. 

After the Germans invaded his home country in 1940, Baalsrud fled Norway, eventually landing in Britain, where he was trained in combat. He and eleven other Company Linge men undertook an operation in early 1943, with the goal of destroying a Nazi control tower in the extremely northerly town of Bardufoss.

To say the least, things did not go as planned.

Baalsrud and company approached the tower by fishing boat (laden with explosives), but they were detected—and forced to bail out into the Arctic waters. Baalsrud was the only soldier to escape the clutches of the Germans. However, he now found himself in enemy-occupied territory, in the depths of winter, in wet clothes, and with no provisions.

He spent two months (two months!) evading capture in the Arctic environment, taking shelter with sympathizers when he could. In his weeks-long escape, Baalsrud suffered frostbite, snow blindness, and more than one self-operation (to alleviate what he thought was blood poisoning and to get rid of several frostbitten toes).

Finally, on April 8, 1943, Baalsrud made it to a resistance-operated house, near the Finland border. But his ordeal was not over: because of German patrols and weather conditions, to avoid detection a sickly Baalsrud was placed outside, in the snow, on a stretcher, for weeks. Then, finally, on May 30, two Sámi reindeer herders smuggled Baalsrud across Finland and into Sweden—neutral territory. 

Following his two-month escape ordeal, Baalsrud spent seven months in a Swedish hospital. Then, he went straight back to the UK to help train other members of the Norwegian resistance.

Though our Nightmare Before Christmas room has a frosty theme, we can assure you it’s nice and toasty inside. Book your freeze-free winter escape at our Vancouver escape rooms here: http://bookeo.com/krakit.