Trappy Hour

Trapped in the office. It’s a familiar feeling.

Though usually metaphorical. Not like, you know, actually trapped in an office.

Until now, anyway — at Escape the Room, an interactive, real-life game of wits in which you and a group of friends are challenged to extricate yourself from a sealed space via a series of elaborate clues and puzzles, all in the space of an hour.

Less than 20% of groups manage to accomplish this, so you’ll need to work together (Ed. note: as such, ETR makes for an excellent office team-building exercise).

ETR actually offers three different challenges, including their original trapped-in-an-office scenario, a covert spy-themed “Agency” mission, and a murder mystery in a locked Victorian mansion.

While details of the games are (quite understandably) under wraps, you can expect stuff like cryptic phrases written in unexpected places, seemingly innocuous objects that turn out to be of paramount importance, and secret passageways revealed by Scooby Doo-esque mechanisms.

Win or lose, you’ll be debriefed afterward on all the game’s hidden esoterica and items you may have missed.

Finally, an office you’ll enjoy being trapped in.

Meet your guide

The Editors

Sometimes our crack team of editors collaborate on stories. Given that our crew has written for the likes of The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Vice, Men’s Journal, the New York Daily News, The Paris Review and countless other outlets, this is a good thing.