The Escape Room

Gabby and her friends were headed to The Escape OKC for a fun Friday night adventure! Gabby had never been to The Escape OKC but her friends have and told her that she would have a blast. Gabby and her friends arrived just in time for their scheduled escape time. Gabby's group along with another random group of people all had the 8 PM reservation and would experience the heart-pounding game together.

One of the workers, a man named Alex, appeared and introduced himself to the two groups. Alex cleared his throat and said, "Good evening, everyone, and welcome to The Escape OKC!" Gabby and her pals cheered and applauded Alex with excitement. After Alex went over the rules and expectations, he said, "Now, I am going to tell you guys a story that describes your scenario and you all will have an hour and a half to escape."

Alex cleared his throat again and began, "Once upon a time there was a prince named Yudhishthira who had an archenemy named Prince Duryodhana. Prince Duryodhana came up with a devious plan to get rid of Prince Yudhishthira and his family; however, Prince Vidura, who was the uncle of Yudhishthira, heard of the evil plan and warned Yudhishthira and his family. When Yudhishthira arrived at the palace at Varanavata with his beloved family, he noticed a couple of red flags that solidified and confirmed the bad inkling his uncle told him about. Yudhishthira noticed that the palace was made of wood that could easily burn, and that all the gorgeous and expensive pieces of furniture were covered in oil as to easily start a fire. When he noticed these red flags, he gathered his family and told them what Vidura said to him and the red flags he witnessed throughout the palace. As Yudhishthira was conversing with his family, a skillful miner showed up before them. The miner told the Pandavas that Prince Vidura sent him to help them escape by digging an underground passage. The underground passage started from the floor of the palace until it reached the green grass of the forest. The miner worked diligently and was careful not to let the evil captain, Purochana, find out about the underground passage. After many long days and nights, the miner finally finished his masterpiece. The Pandavas successfully escaped during the still night. However, Prince Bhima wanted to go back and get his revenge on Purochana which Prince Yudhishthira agreed to. Prince Bhima set Purochana's house on fire but quickly found himself in the midst of the fire as well. Can he escape? Does he escape? It is up to you guys to finish the story."

Gabby was fascinated by the story that Alex told and got extremely excited for the escape game now. As soon as Gabby and her friends entered the doorway to the large and pitch black room where the escape games were being held, they were beating the opposing team and cruising through the challenges. However, they became puzzled at the very last challenge in which they had to escape a burning house. The other group caught up to them at this point, but Gabby eagerly wanted to win. As Gabby's friends were frantically figuring out how to win the game, Gabby remembered that she had a potential secret weapon that she had sneakily snuck in that was inside her purse. Gabby decided there was no harm in attempting to use her secret weapon, therefore, she offered the opposing team the boozy desserts that she and her friends made before coming to The Escape! This ultimately lead to the victorious and successful win and escape from the fire, just like what the Pandavas had accomplished.

Author's Note: In the story I created, I wanted to take a modern approach to the Indian epic. The main goal of Queen Kunti and the Pandavas was to escape the evil plans of Duryodhana; the word "escape" stuck with me and from it I came up with The Escape Room idea. An escape game has the similar fundamental concept as the Pandavas story, therefore, I decided that my story should follow the original storyline but should have a different and modern setting. It was in Alex's story to the escape game participants in which I incorporated the original Pandavas story, but it was the escape room theme and ending that I tweaked and shook things up. In the original story, it was the low-caste woman and her sons who took the place of the Pandu family in the house fire. Gabby, her friends, and the other group of friends could not physically die because of the escape game in my retelling. Therefore, it was the boozy desserts that acted like the scapegoat necessary for Gabby and her friends to win the game and came out victorious. In my version of the Indian epic, I did not truly have specific and set characters that were the wise Prince Vidura and evil Prince Duryodhana. Instead, I had Alex, the storyteller, represent Prince Vidura because he was the one who's story allowed the wheels to turn in Gabby's head on how to win the game. The evil Prince Duryodhana was the opposing team who also wanted to win the escape game. The rival team was not evil per se, but acted as the obstacle between victory and defeat.

Bibliography: The Indian Heroes by C. A. Kincaid (link).

Header: Metal Lock on the Entrance Door of The Escape Room. Source: Pixabay.

Link to Comment Wall: Comment Wall (link).

The Escape of the Pandavas. Source: Wikimedia Commons.