My husband, Steve, and I started off our date night downtown at Connect Games. We were greeted by a table holding a locked box, a timer and a sign reading “1 FREE Escape Room Game if you can open this box in 5 minutes or less…” Challenge Accepted! We worked on the box for about 10 minutes before finally handing it over to the next group who walked in. The owner shared with us that this box had been out for about a week and no one had solved it at all, much less in the 5 minutes. Don’t think we won’t be heading back soon to give it another shot though!
While we waited for our reserved game time, we wandered around the lobby, which is covered in an exciting and fun décor. There are a variety of tables containing various mind teasers and games to play while you’re waiting for your turn to break out.
Once the previous players, who were there celebrating a birthday (great idea!), finished their game it was our turn to tackle The Secret of The Blue Ridge Mountains.If you have never been to an escape room, let me give an idea of how it works. The host starts off by taking you in to a room and telling you the background story - In this case the story of the mysterious Beale Papers containing the information on how to find millions in treasure in the Virginia Mountains. Being that we are trespassers snooping around in the hills, we only have 45 minutes to find the clues and get the treasure before we’re captured and tossed in jail.
Once the host left the countdown began. Since there were only two of us we decided to start by looking at everything in the room to see what was there and then taking a count of all of the different locks that we would need to solve. We walked around the room, talking out loud about what we saw until we thought we had something that might work together. Sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn’t. Often times we were close but needed another part of the puzzle to complete it. We eventually decided we needed a clue and then we were back on track. Steve and I found the treasure and escaped with 26 seconds to spare!
Connect Games had some very innovative clues, puzzles, games and props in their room. I don’t want to give away the good stuff, but I can say that you need to be very perceptive. Look around, don’t take anything for granted, and be sure to work as a team. There is a monitor in the corner of the room counting down the time you have left. If you get stuck and you just can’t figure out the next step, you can always ring the bell and a clue will pop up on the screen.
Do you have what it takes to escape? Be sure to post your picture on the Mac Kid Facebook page and tell us how you did!
You can find Connect Games at
1011 Caroline Street, Fredericksburg VA 22401.
Call 540-371-1800 for reservations or book online at www.Connectgames.com
More about Connect Games and its owner:
- Connect Opened its doors in downtown Fredericksburg February 16, 2018.
- The owner, Kristen, has a team of 6 people who help her – they design, build and create all of their own escape rooms!
- All of the escape room themes are based on real Virginia stories/events.
- A new room is coming soon! Rumor has it there is a ghost involved – I can’t wait!
