By Molly Young

W hen my coffin lid was slammed shut and padlocked， I didnt panic. It was dark， and my wrists were chafing from the handcuffs.1 Nearby， I could hear my husband， Teddy， scrabbling2 about in his own coffin， testing to see if his lid was sealed securely （from the sound of it： yes）. The air smelled like a warm shoe. Teddy shouted my name， and I shouted back. Entombment3 did nothing to dull our communication skills. Which， I suppose， would be comforting if I believed in the afterlife.

The coffins were part of an escape game called“Boxed Up，” hosted by a venue in Brooklyn that offers a variety of such amusements. Escape games work like this： You enter a room （or coffin） and are given a limited amount of time to find your way out by solving puzzles and clues planted within. Its basically the 90s computer game Myst4， but in real life. Escape games come in all sorts of themes， most with a cinematic flair： crypt， haunted hotel， underground bunker， spaceship， sanitarium， zombie apocalypse， and archaeological dig.5

Like dreams and traffic disputes， escape rooms are scandalously6 dull to summarize. But try it once， and everything else will suddenly pale in comparison. Youll see. A perfectly nice friend will text to see if you want to grab a drink， and youll be thinking： You want to sip a beverage and chat when we could be jimmying open an armoire that contains a bloody doll with an anagram carved into her left foot that we have to chant three times holding hands before an amulet falls from the ceiling？7 Please！

Generally， the games begin with an employee gathering you and your friends at a door to give you a spiel8. （“Please do not use physical force to escape.”） Then a clock starts， and you start looking for puzzles： hidden compartments， trick mirrors， twoway radios， carpets woven with concealed messages.（The hard part isnt solving the puzzles； its figuring out what is a puzzle. One time I wasted eight minutes examining a bowl of plastic vegetables that turned out to be décor9.） Each puzzle leads to the next， which eventually leads to a key to unlock the door.

Think of all the ways you already insert pleasurable， circumscribed10 bursts of risk into your life. Maybe you watch horror movies， consume hot sauce， jaywalk. Maybe you steal Splenda11 packets from Starbucks or treat the speed limit as a cute suggestion. An escape game is like stacking these things atop one another and rounding out the itinerary12 with a medium-scary roller coaster. The panic is real even if the pressure is an illusion. You wont die or get stuck in the 1980s if you fail to escape； an employee will simply unlatch the door and let you out with a “Better luck next time.”

Because escape games are cheap to create and fairly lucrative to operate， theyve proliferated since their invention （apparently in Japan， where else？） around 2007.13 Theres probably one near you. And while they have a reputation as dorky14 corporate team-building exercises， I would urge you to approach them as a regular form of dorky recreation.For our bout of endangerment in the coffins， my husband and I paid little more than the price of a fussy restaurant dinner.15 We werent totally unsupervised； an employee of the venue listened through hidden microphones to offer hints and intervene if something disastrous happened. But still. What if there had been a fire？ What kind of twist ending would it be if we died after paying someone to entomb us for fun—the legendary kind of twist ending， or the horrifying kind？

Aside from moonshot calamities16， the risks are psychological. Escape games are a natural emetic17 for all your bad qualities. Are you bossy？ An escape game will turn you into a sickening tyrant. Are you meek？ Youll cower18. Anxious？ Youll freak. If you have a grain of self-awareness， the emotional purge will occur within the first minute of the game， and youll spend the rest of the time actively compensating for your worst instincts， surfing them like a wave and relishing the conquest.19 What Im suggesting is that escape games are a thrilling substitute for therapy. Theyre also a fine alternative to alcohol. Being trapped in a box with other adults replicates20 drinkings shortcut to intimacy， while working under a clock eliminates awkwardness （theres no time for it！）. Does it matter why your pulse is quickening as long as its quickening？

In the coffin game， Teddy broke free of his tomb first. Like a good and faithful husband， he helped loose me from my own before moving on to the next puzzle. After the game ended， we went home and did what we always do： drink tequila and go over every hint， maze， codex and red herring in lingering detail.21 What were our triumphs？ What could we do better next time？ What was up with that latex clown？

Most hobbies are enjoyable only if youre good at them， but Im mediocre22 at escape games， and Id still rather do them than eat or sleep. They reward sheer effort like nothing else. Escape rooms make a simple and beguiling23 metaphor for life. In the space of an hour， you dart through all the stages of human maturation， from bewilderment（infancy） to discovery （puberty） to reasoning （adulthood） to deliverance （death）.24 Its like starring in your own dumb biopic.25

当我的棺材猛地被关上并被锁上时，我并没有惊慌。里面一片漆黑，我的手腕也被手铐磨伤。在我旁边，我可以听到我丈夫泰迪在乱扒他的棺材，检查盖子是否密封严实（从声音来看是盖实了）。棺材里面的空气闻起来就像是一只暖和的鞋子。泰迪叫了我名字一声，我也叫了他一声。被埋葬并没有减弱我们的沟通技能——如果我相信人有来世的话，这一点是非常令人欣慰的。

这些棺材是一个叫做“装箱”的密室逃脱游戏的一部分，是由布鲁克林一家提供各种类似娱乐项目的场馆举办的。密室逃脱的流程大致是这样的：玩家会进入一个房间（或棺材），并在有限的时间里通过解谜发现其中线索，从而找到出路。这就像上世纪90年代的电脑游戏《神秘岛》的场景变成现实生活一样。密室逃脱有各种各样的主题，大多都拥有着电影一样的质感：教堂地窖、闹鬼的旅馆、地下掩体、太空飞船、疗养院、僵尸末日以及考古挖掘现场等。

像梦境和交通纠纷一样，密室逃脱总结起来的确没那么有意思。但是如果你玩一次的话，其他的娱乐项目就会相形见绌了。等着瞧吧。如果你的一个特别好的朋友发短信问你是否想去喝一杯，你可能就会想：你是想喝酒聊天呢，还是想一起撬开一个装着吓人的洋娃娃的大衣柜呢？而且洋娃娃左脚上还镶嵌着一个易位构词游戏装置，我们必须要握着手将其重复喊三遍后“护身符”才会从天而降。拜托，我们就别去喝酒了！……