The $10 escape room that made me build my own

Friday night my wife suggested a virtual escape room. We paid $10 for one. It was super confusing and not really interactive for us. It was mostly a wall of text, and the clues were buried in the text. We read a lot.

So I built one in the arcade instead.

Here’s the prompt, more or less as I typed it:

My wife is asking about online escape room games… I’m thinking this could be an addition to the arcade. Something fun and scary and difficult that would look good casted to my tv. Do.some research first then one shot it, you can use a sub agent team

Yes, there’s a typo. No, I didn’t fix it. Claude basically one-shotted a really fun, interactive game anyway. You have a flashlight, you pick between rooms, you find clues that unlock doors or other objects. I was genuinely blown away. The only thing I had to ask for as an add-on was letting other players join with their own flashlight and character. Without that it’s one person controlling everything and everyone else just watching, which is not an escape room, it’s a screen share.

The first room was parent themed. Think Smart House: the security system detects extra people in the house, you start in the nursery, and you find clues to unlock doors and get the extra people out. My wife said it was pretty much what she was expecting, which I’m choosing to take as a compliment.

Watching her play

The best part was watching my wife figure out the controls and gameplay. It was pretty comical. She got the controls down first, and then we had to figure out how to actually attack the rooms. Together or separately? Separately did not work at first. We had to find some clues together to get going, and after that it made sense to split up. So we earned the teamwork before we got to skip it.

We solved the room. Then I made more. Then I built a UI for creating rooms so we never run out. Then I added a library, so when someone makes a new room, everyone gets access. None of this was planned. The $10 game was just bad enough to tip me over.

What’s next

So far the rooms are grown-up only, but now I’m wondering what a kid-themed one would look like. I’m going to try a few. Bluey house first, to see what I get. The kids don’t know they’re about to be beta testers. It’s a surprise.

The rest of the weekend was normal and good: a local farm with a pony ride, train ride, hay maze and animals, then the town Halloween parade and trunk or treat. Pony ride was pretty good. Candy was a hit. Also, for no reason, I made a backyard football game. I don’t have a reason. It was there to be built.