We dig into the #RedBullMindGamers World Finals – event logistics, Enoch and what’s in the escape room

There’s been plenty of discussion about the upcoming Red Bull escape room event – this week we delve into what awaits players in Budapest via some internet sleuthing.
 
 
How the event will be organised
Two new infographics were released this week on the Red Bull content pool website which reveals some new details – check out infographic one here and infographic two here.

Infographic two reveals March 23rd and 24th are locked in as semi-final days for the competition. With twenty four teams heading to compete in Budapest, the assumption is twelve teams will battle it out each day. Having so many teams competing each day, we can’t imagine a 60 minute escape room game for each team to play – perhaps a 30 or 45 minute game instead.

And the most revealing piece of information the infographic tells us –

“The best 2 teams battle it out at the world finals on March 25th”.

Could this mean that only the top team from each semi-final day will proceed to the finals on March 25th? And furthermore as the finals will be streamed on the internet, viewers will only see two teams compete via the Red Bull app.
 
 
What players are really competing against – Enoch
We already know from the Red Bull website that for players (or mind gamers) the mission is to Unlock Enoch. Upon digging further through the website – Enoch is revealed to be a name for the world’s most powerful quantum computer.

Not much information is known about Enoch but check out this quote from a recent Red Bull article –

“But in a gaming environment that’s half-analogue, half-digital, the Red Bull Mind Gamers finalists won’t only have logic puzzles to deal with. Enoch – the brainchild of Canadian Scott Nicholson … will actively manipulate and drive them crazy. … It will be exciting to see if Enoch can be beaten”
– The Great Escape, p.80

We’re getting a GLaDOs / HAL 9000 / Pony Island type of vibe here – Enoch seems to be a very smart (and manipulative) computer that will challenge teams by getting in their way. It seems teams will not only have to solve puzzles but also deal with a challenger that will work against them and potentially sabotage them in the competition.

A/N: Professor Scott Nicholson has been in contact and has also pointed out Enoch is part of the Mind Gamers movie.
 
 
What’s in the game … and not in the game

“It’s the first escape room based on quantum logic, and is designed to challenge 4 problem-solving skills: creativity, logic, visual thinking and strategy. Players are encouraged to communicate frequently and divide tasks efficiently in order to solve all the mysteries and challenges before time runs out. It has physical and mental aspects to many of the challenges, inspired by challenges on reality television.” – Red Bull FAQ

Teams will benefit from nominating a clear team leader and then dividing tasks between team members. Despite time pressures in the game, teams with good communication and the ability to work well together will stand out above the pack. As the saying goes – you’re only as fast as your slowest person. Stick together.

“Nicholson explains that the World Finals takes inspiration from modern escape room design, with an emphasis on team-based challenges: “Our goal was to create challenges that made sense within the world of quantum computing, combine physical and mental elements, convey a consistent story, reduce dependence on a specific language, and be engaging for viewers,” says the designer, who was a visiting professor at MIT, and is a Professor of Game Design and Development at the BGNlab at Canada’s Wilfrid Laurier University in Brantford, Ontario. “We de-emphasized the typical searching elements and quiet cerebral puzzles, avoided padlocks and black lights, and instead thought about ways to embrace the concept of challenging the body and mind.”” – Red Bull Article

It’s interesting to read that padlocks and blacklights will not be seen in the Red Bull escape room – two things commonly found in a typical escape room. Plus we can’t wait to see what “engaging for viewers” will mean when the Red Bull escape room finals are streamed! Will viewers be able to influence the escape room? 😀
 
 
Additional – Red Bull Vlog
There’s a couple of short videos with Professor Scott Nicholson talking about a range of topics in relation to the Red Bull Escape Room Finals. Well worth a peek into.

1. History of Escape Rooms

2. About the Red Bull Mind Gamers project

3. The Design Process

4. The Team

5. Creating a Team for an Escape Room

6. Bringing the design to life

Also the last wildcard team will be determined soon as the Red Bull competition for the DxM wildcard competition closes at midnight PST tonight.

– Essa 🙂

TV shows to binge watch on Halloween: Dracula – Escape the Castle and Hellevator

Happy Halloween! If you’re looking to binge watch some creepy tv shows that will test your undead brain power, look no further –

Dracula, Escape the Castle (TV Show – 2016)
Who can survive a night in Castle Dracula? The tv series takes place at night in an old Romanian castle where two teams are trapped for the night. Creepy challenges await the teams as they need to move from room to room, solving three rounds of challenges before they can make their escape. Catch up on the series – eleven episodes – on the insight.tv website.

Horror Level:

Hellevator (TV Show – 2015)
Teams of four people step into a haunted elevator that drops down into a gruesome slaughterhouse and must overcome floors filled with horror challenges to move to the finale, The Inferno. In Season 2, each episode has a different challenge inspired by one of the Seven Deadly Sins such as pride, envy, gluttony, lust, wrath, greed and sloth. Are the players doomed once they enter the Hellevator? Catch up on the series – via Youtube.

Horror Level:

 

//Other Escape Room News

Escape Room Addict – Ask the Expert Contest
Have a burning escape room question and want to win tickets to an escape room? Enter the contest with any escape room related question and be in the running to win a prize pack of four tickets to an escape room. Contest is opened to residents of the USA and Canada with entries closing on November 3rd.

Ask the Expert Contest

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Fall Porch – INscape
Check out this escape room that was created on a person’s porch! Before entering the party inside the house – the creator’s friends had to solve the puzzles located on the porch and find four digits to unlock the front door.

Imgur Link

 

Escape the Night! When a bunch of Youtubers get caught up in a murder mystery game created by Joey Graceffa

The house doesn’t allow its current owner to sleep. As a result Joey Graceffa invites over his friends for a 1920s dinner party but an evil is brewing within the house. Escape the Night is a new Youtube series created by Graceffa and involves a group of Youtubers being caught up in a murder mystery game over the course of a night.

When the guests start dinner, one of them becomes ill as a result of poisoning and receives a message – “There is an ANTIDOTE hidden on the first floor of the house. If your friends are wise enough they’ll be able to solve the clues and save you. It all begins with the last dish of the night” – Youtube.

The dish reveals a series of clues that lead to a storage box and locked inside are three antidote vials with a message. The guests split into smaller groups to search for three keys hidden within the study, the library and the foyer of the house.

Each location needs to bring back their key to the storage box and unlock a vial, as the poisoned Youtuber needs all three antidote vials to recover. The Youtubers don’t work well together and the unfortunate guest gets “poisoned” in the game.

The guest’s jacket is searched for clues and his notes reveal the house is possessed by an ancient evil trapped in the 1920s. The Society Against Evil has been trying to destroy this evil by finding four hidden artifacts. These artifacts then need to be joined together in a ritual to lock away the evil forever.

For every journey, there’s a cost involved. For the final test of each artifact, the group must get two guests to undertake the challenge and in turn one of them will “die” from the Youtube series.

All the guests have until sunrise to beat the ancient evil otherwise they will be trapped in the 1920s forever. The first episode of Escape the Night is free on Youtube and definitely worth a watch here. There’s six episodes out now with a new episode coming out this Thursday but to watch the whole series you’ll need a Youtube Red subscription.

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Bonus Part – Since this blog was posted up late, I decided to scribe the library riddle that gave three of the Youtubers a headache and which they couldn’t solve in time. Can you solve it? I’ll post the answer in the comments section below.

Two devils: Wormwood and Asmodeus cross paths in the lower levels of Hell. Asmodeus implores Wormwood as to how many souls he has perverted this week. Wormwood replies, “three young ones”. Asmodeus is furious with the lesser devils failure to bring in more souls and asks their ages. Wormwood realizes this is his chance to confound the King of Devils and avoid his fiery wrath and gives him a riddle instead of a straight answer.

“If you multiple their ages you will get the number 36”

Asmodeus seethes for a moment trying to solve the riddle and then bellows, “It is not enough to determine their ages I need more information.” Wormwood replies without hesitation for the telling of riddles is his best skill.

“If you add all 3 ages together you will get the number of devils on the grand council” A/N: There are 13 devils on the grand council – it was on the book’s cover.

Asmodeus stews on the new information as the fires burn around him but he cannot derive the answer and remarks so Workwood replies, 36 is enough.

{The rest of the riddle is too blurry to read from the video but there should be a mention about an eldest child.}

Determine the ages of the 3 corrupt children.

– Essa 🙂