The doors are shut, the alarm is blaring and the clock is ticking. Can you make it out of Canada’s oldest national museum alive?
Thanks to a recent partnership between the Canadian Museum of Nature and Ottawa-based Escape Manor, residents can now have an exhilaratingly educational experience at the Centretown natural history venue — two themed escape room challenges located in the museum’s Earth and Mammal exhibits.
The two challenges, “The Heist” and “Framed,” involve groups of seven to 15 people in an after-hours race to solve cerebral puzzles, codes and locks in order to escape a contained area within 45 minutes.
Assuming the roles of a cat burglar or a nighttime security guard, participants must interact with actual artifacts and other historical objects within the museum galleries in order to find the correct clues and make it out within the time limit.
“It’s an emotional rollercoaster. It’s fun, it’s interactive, it’s getting out of the house and from behind your screen,” said Escape Manor co-founder Steve Wilson.
Originating in 2014 as Ottawa’s first escape room experience, Escape Manor now has five locations across the area. Among the locations is the world’s largest of its kind, “Escape the Diefenbunker,” at Canada’s Cold War Museum in Carp.
The trend of escape rooms has increased in popularity in North America since 2013. The concept stems from an online game called “The Crimson Room” and had its first real world application in Asia in early 2009.
Wilson said the rooms are most often used by friends and families or by businesses as a teambuilding exercise or corporate retreat.
The partnership between the two might seem strange upon first glance, but museum officials believe it can entice a variety of Ottawa residents into spending a thrilling night at the museum —and maybe more.
“Anything that ties into our subject matter is really good because it can get people interested and hopefully they’ll think of how they can interact with nature further, beyond having just done the escape room,” said John Swettenham, the museum’s director of marketing.
“To be able to link an escape mystery into the mystery of natural sciences is a real win for us.”
The museum said a key reason for the partnership is a recent goal to expand upon the facility’s core family audience to attract more millennial visitors and young couples.
Other “after dark” events include Nature Nocturne, a 19-plus party, and natureTASTES, a botanical beverage tasting. Both occur monthly.
Angeline Laffin, the museum’s director of visitor experience, said that the new rooms allow for a learning opportunity for participants.
“These games are specifically designed for those galleries and this building. So when people go in there they’re playing a game but they’re also visiting the exhibits at the same time, maybe kind of unwittingly,” Laffin said.
“It’s kind of a unique experience. The lighting is down, there’s a different vibe going on. You get a different perspective when you come in here.”
The museum said that the additions have been incredibly well received. The rooms are 80 to 90 per cent sold out into 2017.
“When (people) escape they just go nuts,” said Wilson. “There’s just that total exhilaration you get when escaping with your friends from doing something that’s like being an actor in a movie.”