Page 39

BM102016

Escape rooms are growing in popularity, popping up all over the country and around the world, but Locked, at 22-56 31st St., is the first to come to Astoria. It opened in August and offers two challenges: Vendetta and Spooky Room 479. In the mafia-inspired Vendetta room, your team is part of a mob family trying to break into a secret bank account before midnight, when the $300 million kept in the account will be lost to you forever. It’s open to kids as young as 8 (with adult supervision) and has an escape rate of 38 percent. One of the owners, Sandra Anagnostos, who was born and raised in Astoria, said that kids actually do better than adults on some of the clues. “Kids sometimes find the obvious clue, where adults will tend to overthink it,” she said. Spooky Room 476 is “more immersive” than Vendetta, Anagnostos said. “In Vendetta you know what your goal is, while in Spooky Room it’s more of a storyline; you’re trying to figure out what happened to Sarah,” she said. “It’s more of a mystery.” Spooky Room 479 isn’t scary, per se (OK—I’ll admit that something made me jump), but with the dim lights and bloody handprints on the walls, it is a bit creepy. That, in addition to its increased difficulty level, is why it’s for ages 14 and older. About 25 percent of groups make it out of Spooky Room 479 before the hour’s up, but teams have fun no matter what, Anagnostos said. “We found that no matter if you get out of the room or you don’t solve it within 60 minutes, the feedback has been tremendous,” she said. “People have a great time and they absolutely love it. Our main concern is for the cus- ENTERTAINMENT UN BY KATRINA MEDOFF @KatrinaMedof @katya_m22 OCTOBER 2016 I BOROMAG.COM I 39


BM102016
To see the actual publication please follow the link above