PURE ESCAPISM

Toby Hart was gone in 60 minutes at Virtuocity’s latest escape room.

If you want a quick getaway during November, Virtuocity has a brand-new escape room experience called The Final Match that will take you just over an hour, keep you and your friends working as a team and provide a truckload of fun while you’re doing it.

I headed north on the Al Shamal highway searching for escapist adventure, and found it in spades at Virtuocity, Qatar’s Gaming Capital, located in Doha Festival City. I took along Mohanad and Saahil, combining what we hoped was the best of British, Lebanese and Indian intellect, in a quest to get out in time. Time would prove how clueless we actually were. Don’t know how escape rooms work? You and a group of friends (maximum seven) are locked inside a themed room, from which you must find a way out within 60 minutes.

The room is populated with myriad clues, which you are prompted to find through occasional interventions from your Big Brother-esque gamemaster via video screens. In our experience, a referee’s whistle gave shrill blasts whenever we needed cues and clues. The aim was to solve the sequential puzzles and secure the codes to open the main exit door and ‘escape’. We started our visit with a briefing session where host Marc mansplained how locks and code systems work.

We then watched an orientation video and were asked to leave our phones in a secure safe before heading into the lion’s den. It’s a google-free zone where only teamwork will save you. During the live experience, our game-coach Ali was on hand to help out whenever brainpower and logic failed us, which was often. I’m reluctant to reveal any game mechanics. Mystery is paramount. Suffice to say, you will find yourself unlocking clues in a locker room that evolves to something else. That’s all I’m giving you.

You and your mates will need to work cohesively, communicate effectively and abandon your egos at the door. The clues are tough but not unsolvable. Work well, and you will get out. Take along a good mix of minds – you’ll be surprised who might shine in this environment. You don’t need to know any football facts. This is a game of lateral thinking and practical problem-solving.

The Final Match escape room is the perfect football-related excursion, ideal for a fans’ night out, a corporate team-building exercise or a fun adventure for the entire family (from age seven upwards). Find it at the Enigma sector of Virtuocity, among their multiple escape room experiences. Virtuocity also hosts immersive experiences such as ‘virtual football’ where motion sensor boots and headsets take you onto a virtual pitch for six minutes of cyber soccer. They’ll also be screening all the big football matches in their massive multipurpose eSports Arena.