Colorado Springs: Games and Good-bye

Friday, August 14th, was to be our last day in our, "Luxurious 7,844 square foot, 5 Bedroom, 6 bath, 5 fireplace rental home situated on 3 acres in a gated community." We had only one activity scheduled for the day, a 1:00pm appointment to get locked in a room with a one hour window to figure our way out from a set of clues. More about that game, later.

In the morning we entertained ourselves by doing a 300 piece jigsaw puzzle. Frank and I had picked up two puzzles on one of our numerous trips to – you guessed it – Walmart Supercenter!

We also played some Swish and Set Cubed Friday morning and one of the evenings earlier in the week. Swish is a game of pattern matching using transparent cards printed with dots and rings. The players are challenged to flip and rotate the cards to pair up dots and rings to form solid circles. It is fun and fast. It is also a game that travels well but you do need a light colored table surface large enough to spread out sixteen cards at the same time. Do not try this on the lap tray of an airplane.

Set Cubed is a game of forming trios of cubes that either match or differ in the three attributes of color, shape, and number. The cubes are placed on a gridded board and build off a horizontal or vertical pattern much like in Scrabble. It is more of a pondering, thinking, and brooding slower-moving game with just enough luck filtered in that each player can find a good excuse when he loses.

The game we went out to Friday afternoon was not a competition. It was a team game where all six of us were to work against the clock to escape a locked room. The company offering the experience was called Escape the Place and was located just about 30 minutes away, not far east of the entrance to the Garden of the Gods.

Here is the puzzle on the board in their waiting room. See if you can complete the sequence.

O,  T,  T,  F,  F,  S,  S,  ?,   ?,   ?

They offered different room lockup experiences. The one with six open slots when we wanted to go was titled The Hangover. Lack of sobriety just referred to the premise by which you found yourself locked in a hotel room. Drinking was not necessary to be successful; being drunk probably would have made things harder to figure out. After we entered and were locked in, a sheet of paper was slid under the door – the bill for our room. Or was it more than that? Our first clue! Or one of our first clues anyway. The room was seeded with many more: keys to find, locks to unlock, puzzles to solve, hints at references to find hidden somewhere, and red herrings of clues that did absolutely nothing.

We had a great time and from that point of view we were extremely successful. We did not get the door unlocked in under an hour, though. But we took heart that the success rate for that particular scenario is 8%. Our host showed us what we had missed and assured us we had been very close to solving. Yeah, sure. I bet they tell all their teams that to make them feel better. He also said we worked well as a team, dividing up labor and exploring different interpretations. Escape the Place took our photo at the end and posted it on their Facebook page.

Did you figure out the last three entries for the sequence I mentioned earlier? Hint – I am counting on you that you can figure it out.

We went back to home base and starting gearing up for packing to leave the next day. We had pizza for dinner and then decided that each of us wanted to leave a memento of ourselves in that home. Where better to leave it than in that grand entry? The ladies of our group posed in the upper statuary niches while the gentlemen chose the niches on the lower level. The marble Grecian women were gracious in allowing us a fitting space to voice our fleeting farewell messages.

Frank stoically states "Once more we have gallantly faced the fracas, my fellow companions. My heartfelt thanks I extend for this year along with my deeply seated hopes that we may all be together again the year next".

I was speechless and merely struck a pose symbolizing that we'd had a strikingly good time in gold strike territory.

John say, "Duh, were we on vacation?"

Sue says, "Now John, you know it was beatific!"

Joe say. "What? Is it over already?"

Margaret says, "Toodle-oo. See you all same time next year!"

Joe & Margaret and Frank & I had flights close to noon on Saturday, August 15th and so the four of us drove to the airport together. John & Sue caught a red-eye later Saturday evening. Frank's quote summarizing the trip was "Tumultuous but Terrific".