What started as a project, Outbreak Manila (zombie run), expanded to another fun game: Breakout. The country’s first escape room game, Breakout Philippines was founded in May 2014. Recently, Breakout’s second branch in Katipunan opened a new escape room for the thrilling hearts of our Filipinos: The Clown House.
A few friends and I decided to take on the few perks of spending weekends to try it out. Given that it was our first Breakout experience, we all had the same mindset–proving that escape room games are easy, and the Clown House is just a cheap joke meant for kids. We were even readying ourselves to see our group photo in the hall of fame beating the top escapees of around 29 minutes. We wanted to win…
And so we dared.
Their Game Masters were all kind enough to accommodate and orient us on what we needed to know despite us coming almost closing time. Soon after, we were all destined to be locked in the infamous clown house.
Inside, with some minutes passing and our hands bare with no single clue, I jokingly told them, “Kanino bang ideya tong pagpunta ha?!” (Who’s idea was it to come here?!) Because, frankly, it was not as easy as I thought it would be. Nope. Definitely not.
Moving on as we go, we had a good mix of emotions: frustration, confusion, and overthinking; fun, excitement, and the adrenaline of a challenge (and a bonus dose of LSS to the accompanying music through the 45 minutes in there); and rush, for our impending and hopeful goal of affixing our faces to their wall.
Breakout lived up to its tagline: “Plan. Solve. Escape.”
Tik tok tik tok.
It wasn’t long till the time limit came. We were already in synchronized declamation of Game of Throne’s “Shame” scene since the 10-minute countdown. Failures we were–we entered with our heads up and mind set for the goal but left slightly upset from our loss.
But, truth be told, the Clown House experience made us want to try another all the other rooms (we’re actually planning already). The challenge it brought was not the same as when we study math…with our foreheads creased. It was a frustratingly fun experience and a nice social bond for teams in one mind-boggling setup. It was definitely worth all the thinking.
Are you looking forward to being locked inside the Clown House too? When in Manila and looking for a different experience for you and your friends, visit Breakout!
Breakout Philippines
G/F Paragon Plaza, Reliance St., cor. EDSA, Mandaluyong City / 315 Katipunan Rd., Loyola Heights, Quezon City
www.breakout.com.ph
www.facebook.com/breakoutphilippines
support@breakout.com.ph
