I understand that the title might sound strange but let me explain;
A few days ago, I got invited by my friend from university to go along to a game testing event near our university. I had no idea what to really think of this. I’ve never been a fan of going along to something if it’s not a few days in advance and if it’s something I don’t know about. But my other friends seemed keen (and had also been invited), and seeing as they were all excited, as well as my friend is a pretty trustworthy dude, I decided to go along with them.
I got slightly suspicious as we entered the beginning playing area; a graffiti covered tunnel, like something you’d see out of a modern day crime TV show. “I thought this was a video game testing studio or something! My friend lied to me!” I thought. But then the person in charge came up to us and introduced himself. This wasn’t testing a video game at all; this was testing a real life game where teams of 2 or 3 would walk around the streets finding clues and working out what they had done the night before. It suddenly became very intriguing. I had just been getting into puzzle games, so this seemed like it would be fun.
Once we were in our groups, we were tasked with finding locations on a map and figuring out clues that related to the location and other parts around it. I was paired with my friend who is a very big puzzle enthusiast so I thought she would enjoy it the most. However, as the game went on, I started to get into it more and more, asking questions to the characters who were posted at some of the locations, trying to figure out more of the story and the puzzles as we went.
After an hour and a half, we got a notification on our phone, telling us to meet at a “secret location” which was given to us. Once we made it, we found out our ending; it was the good one! (even though we ended up getting arrested in storyline). Our ending was better than our other friends however. One group ended up as test subjects for experiments while the other group got locked away in an insane asylum.
Overall, the experience was different and a lot of fun, more than I first expected! I would definitely try out that experience again (as long as it’s not horror), and I recommend everyone reading this blog entry try out experiences like that as well in the future. They might not be what you expect, but sometimes a little bit of mystery makes the event a lot more exciting.
Until next time!
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