Historical clues and artifacts are the keys to solving escape game

Teams of adults will sort through clues and artifacts while trying to escape capture when playing Trapped: Escape Fort Nisqually.

A collaboration between Metro Parks Tacoma and Labyrinth Escape Games, Trapped is the first interactive experience of its kind on the West Coast, said Anne Winters of Metro Parks.

A suspense game drawn from history, Trapped challenges teams to explore a trapper’s hidden secrets while uncovering clues, solving puzzles and trying to escape capture, Winters said.

Team members will sort through documents and artifacts in one of Fort Nisqually’s historic buildings, then race against the clock to piece together the information they’ll need to unlock the door and re-emerge into the 21st century, Winters said.

The game comes to Fort Nisqually in Tacoma’s Point Defiance Park through Andrew Lind’s connection with the Fort Nisqually Living History Museum. Lind was a volunteer at the fort for several years while he was a home-schooled student in the area.

After founding Labyrinth, the former military intelligence analyst reconnected with the fort when he learned that the museum’s event coordinator, Allison Campbell, wanted to bring a unique offering to visitors.

“Both organizations have a passion for innovating ways of teaching history, and it was a natural fit,” Lind said in a prepared statement.

The game uses no modern technology and is unique because it is time-period-appropriate. Among scenarios developed by the Portland-based company are the search for a mysteriously vanished archaeology professor, a secret underground World War II bunker and an astronomer’s exotic observatory.

An escape room is a physical adventure game in which participants enter a live scenario filled with puzzles and riddles that need to be solved to reach the ultimate goal, according to the company’s website. Games often are based around the idea of escaping from a locked room, thus the name. Lind’s company opts not to actually lock its guests into a room, instead giving them a goal to achieve while playing. In another difference from other escape-room games, Lind said their game includes a “game host,” unique to the game’s time period. .

The game will take place over three days in January, February and March. Each session of Trapped can accommodate 8 people per game and lasts about one hour. If you do not have eight people, your group might be added to others, Winters said.

This story was originally published December 30, 2016 at 5:26 AM with the headline "Historical clues and artifacts are the keys to solving escape game."