Pamela Gordon - Escape Room Kenya

Have you been to Escape Room Kenya in Karen yet? It is a new adventure team game with a simple goal; solve clues, riddles, puzzles and break out in 60 minutes. Don't believe me if I make it sound straightforward - it's not. But what it definitely is, is a lot of fun!
Escape rooms are a hot trend globally right now, and they are still a fairly new form of entertainment, having gained popularity in North America in the mid-2000's. This is where Canadian native Pamela Gordon who established Escape Room Kenya first experienced them. "This is a product that's for everybody," she says, "families, kids, friends, and colleagues."
Pamela and our bubbly game master Tracy King'e (who'll be watching our every move on CCTV!) usher our 6-person KenyaBuzz team into the Escape Room, a converted home that shares a zen-inducing compound with the Talisman Restaurant. We are going to be taking on their intermediate room, The Jail House. (They also have the simpler Secret Gallery room and the recently added, and notoriously difficult Inventor's Workshop room.)

Courtesy: Facebook/EscapeRoomKenya

After a quick briefing by the game master, we each sign a waiver (don't literally break a leg), pick out a team name (the cleverer, the better), and off we go - to jail. The prospect of being a prisoner has never felt so thrilling. But then again, that is the appeal of these escape rooms. "You get to exercise your mind and use inventive problem solving skills in a challenging, but fun way," says Pamela.
It is also an exercise in trust which favours teamwork over an individual approach. This makes it a perfect activity for office team building - which, unsurprisingly, is the market that Pamela targetted when she opened up last November.
For the Jail House, the story goes that you have been wrongfully convicted but an opportunity has opened during the 1-hour window that all the wardens have gone for lunch. Using clues left by a previous escapee, you and your fellow inmates will attempt a breakout. Your options are to get out in time or risk being locked inside forever!

Pamela and our cheerful game master Tracy

As the door clanks shut behind us, we are transported to a Kenyanized 1971 English prison (there is nothing that's not discernible to a Kenyan, or expat audience). The countdown begins on our menacing timer - there's no turning back!
We run around, we huddle together, we go off in pairs, we stare emptily at props - a map, a telegram, desk drawers, cabinets, blank papers, books, photographs, an old telephone (which, by the way you can use to buzz for a free clue from the game master - remember, it will cost your team a minute). All the time we're racking our brains hoping a light bulb goes off. Distinctive folk and British country radio music plays in the background, almost like our soundtrack. Our philosophy: Ignore nothing. Even the most innocuous item could bring us closer to freedom. Tick-tock...
They may have set their eye on corporates when starting out, but Escape Room Kenya has become an unexpected hit with kids and teens. "I think it appeals to them because they are unsupervised," says Pamela. And being left to their own devices in these rooms, she tells me, has potentially great life lessons for kids. "It improves their problem-solving skills and outside-the-box thinking." Clues and riddles are simpler for kids but the rooms are the same. They even added at the reception a Wall of Fame, just for kids, for the quickest escapes. It stands alongside the adults' ones. You can now book for a birthday party.

The Kids Wall of Fame

Eventually, our team falls short. Time expires on us. Our game master is kind enough to not let us spend the rest of our days in The Jail House. Only 40% of all bookings for this particular room have successfully escaped. But 100% of the fun comes in experiencing the room.
To book, visit escaperoomkenya.com. Advance booking for team of 2-7 is recommended. Price is per person (Ksh 2,000 for an adult and Ksh 1,750 for a kid)

Team KenyaBuzz (aka The Intruders)

*Image Credits: Carole Tuimur