When invited by Trapped to review its escape room themed attraction, I tried to find the bravest and smartest pals to join me. Together with 3 of them, I made my way to Trapped at 42 Kandahar Street, near Arab Street. This escape room concept came from Japan, and it basically involves solving puzzles and searching for clues and that elusive key in order to escape from a room within an hour.
There was a choice of two rooms: Hostel themed or Alice in Wonderland themed. I chose not to scare the guys with the Wonderland one, and settled for Hostel.
The Experience: It was my first time being trapped in an “escape room”. It was a bit unnerving because it was eerily dark (we were given two small torchlights which weren’t very bright and we were not allowed to bring our handphones into the room), there was a slightly scary soundtrack being played, and there was fake blood, body parts and scary paintings. Definitely not for those who are claustrophobic or who freak out in dark places. We went in at about 12.45pm so there was still some sunlight coming into the room. We were told that after 7pm, it would be pitch dark, so, question is “Do you dare?”
I guess most people really hate being trapped so there is a natural tendency to want to break something in order to break free. However, brute force will get you nowhere in this game. You just have to stay calm and work through those puzzles. The lack of sufficient light can be really irritating for some. It CAN get quite frustrating when that combination lock just won’t open. But you get some cool numbers to buy 4D with later. 😉
Even though the room is hostel-themed and supposed to resemble those in horror movies, there was no one jumping out at us, for instance. If you need help (a clue or the answer), just use the phone provided and the friendly staff will either provide you with a clue or even come right in to help. On one occasion, I was so spooked when he knocked on the door that I leapt off a locked chest I was sitting on and pounced on my friend, Steven. 😀 Scaredy cat, yes, that’s me.
[*Trying not to include any spoilers here] The boyfriend was much more fearless. He took the lock off a metal cabinet, reached in calmly and extracted *something* as though it was no more than cabbage and passed it to my photog pal, Jiahe, who was like… WOAHHHH! Apparently, he should have alerted us before passing around the random objects he took out of locked cabinets. 😀
We did not manage to solve the puzzles without help – I think we made 5 calls for help! LOL! But after we emerged from the rooms into brilliant, BRILLIANT sunlight, we had some comic relief in the form of a hilarious group photo:
[Group Picture courtesy of Jiahe from Hearted Moments Photography]
Could it have been even better?
When I do reviews, I like to wonder if anything can be improved. For this escape room, I think more interaction with the ‘props’ would have been better. Perhaps, instead of chaining that fake body part to the bed frame, how about handcuffing one of the participants to the bed or gate, and we have to find the key to free him/her before locating the key to open the gate?
Also, having to solve similar puzzles to open two similar chests seems a little repetitive.
For first-timers though, I think it was a great experience. I did manage to scare myself silly. 😀
Essential information:
Address: Kampung Glam Shop Houses, 42 Kandahar Street, S198896
Opening Hours: Mon to Thurs 11am to 11pm, Fri to Sun 11am to 2am
Time Limit: 60 minutes to escape; Your Choice of 1 of the 2 rooms
Contact: 62922177, enquiry@trapped.sg, http://trapped.sg/
Fees: Off Peak Hours S$20 per pax, Peak Hours S$24 per pax
Map from StreetDirectory.com:
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