We found out about escape games in spring 2015. I don´t know how but one day I find myself checking the details of escape room Murder in Hotel Le Marais by Lostrooms. Optimistic about our future behavior two friends, my better half and I book the game for Saturday early morning.

We of course start regretting it on Friday evening. But Saturday morning hangovers cannot stop us from experiencing something new. Slightly nervous about what to expect and whether or not we will prove ourselves unable to solve any quest, we make it to the Lostrooms address. Very friendly young lady greets us at the entrance and asks us whether we already played exit game before. She understands we are all newbies and takes a few moments to explain what it is all about, what is allowed and what isn´t (for example disassembling furniture into individual parts aka IKEA package is not allowed) and asks us if we are ready to start.

We all quickly visit bathroom as we don´t expect to escape the room earlier than in 60 minutes which is a maximum time allowance for the game. And we step in. Every one of us walks to a different corner of the room and we start searching for quest items or something that looks like a cue. After couple of not very successful minutes I start feeling as if others are deliberately hiding cues from me. I totally can´t find anything or figure out anything. (Author´s note: after the game we figured out that only quest I resolved within first twenty minutes was not actually resolved, but I accidentally destroyed the lock on the object).

Murder in room Hotel Le Marais

A few moments later the doom sits on my girlfriend as she looks at a decoration on a wall for 15 minutes hundred percent convinced there is a cue hidden in it. We try to attract her interest with actual quests that need solving but with little success. Once you put yourself on a certain line of thinking in an escape game, it is hard to change the direction. It´s like with love, once you fall into affection, you stick to it. (Well, it was just a wall for 15 minutes so I decided my ego could swallow it.)

So with two of us being an epic fail in the beginning, my hopes jump to our two friends and I turn around to check how they are progressing. Only to find that the hotel bed in a room was too compelling to ignore and one of our friends is already enjoying himself there. Judging from the deep breathing, he has been at it for a quite while already.

However, we have a guardian angel in attentive young room-master lady who gives us a little piece of advice every here and there. And with this little push from room-master even our seemingly hopeless team starts picking up pace. Half an hour later I proudly resolve final riddle and we successfully win the game just about within 60 minutes.

Escape room Hotel Le Marais

Escape game Hotel Le Marais is a perfect choice for beginner teams. There are not any difficult ciphers or mathematical brainteasers. It is more about being observant, connecting the cues and deploying your instinct of a detective. It turned out to be an amazing fun, which gave us a lot of funny stories to discuss over lunch later that day.

Are you potentially worried you could embarrass yourself in an escape room? We already did so and it was great fun. Escape rooms are not about being smartest or fastest, but about enjoying the experience as a team. It is liberating to pause for a moment, have a look what others are doing and how happy they are when they figure out a solution to something. It´s about escaping from reality for an hour, putting your worries aside and sinking deep into captivating story.

Focusing on real tasks at present is a psychologically proven way to to relax your mind. You release all the burden and daily stress from your head for a while. You engage your mind with real objects and tasks at present. We all agreed it was amazing to focus on investigating a mysterious murder at Hotel Le Marais. The time spent in Lostrooms was something new and fresh. We all enjoyed it.