May 21. Day 141. We butchered that

Seriously, this motley crew not only solved the puzzle but did so in record time

Jumping for joy to celebrate the win

Today I was blindfolded and abandoned in a locked room with no obvious way out. Although the light was very dim, the walls were clearly smeared with blood and there were severed limbs - lots of them. Ominous sounds piped out of nowhere. The clock was ticking. Well wasn't this going to be a bit of fun?

Enter if you dare

Puzzle rooms where you are locked in and have to work as a team to solve your way out are the latest must-do thing taking the world by storm. I've been to one before and we might still be there had we not begged for clues to bribe our way out. I was just waiting for my chance for revenge and redemption. And today it came. I took up the invitation to try out Escapism the latest puzzle room to be launched on the Brisbane market. My team was made up of my son Oliver, my niece Scarlett and her boyfriend Alex. We were allocated Butcher's Burrow, a game with a degree of difficulty of 8 out of 10 and a recommended age of 15 plus. This was not going to be for the feint-hearted especially since they took our phones and all electronic devices off us before we entered. That alone is enough to get my pulse racing. You have just 50 minutes to get out and the room is full of objects which may or may not be clues. You don't have a clue what's a clue and even then you're often not sure what to do with it. Your only contact with the outside world is a phone that's a direct line to your minder and the sure knowledge that by law they have to let you out eventually. It sounds macabre  and terrifying but it is in fact exhilarating. And what's more we escaped before the clock ticked down and better still we set a new room record (Okay, the attraction has only been opened two days but a record is still a record, right?). I can say no more in case you decide to try it (and you should). Beat our record if you can. I dare you.

They make you hand over and lock up your phones before you even start. This is no picnic in the park