By Aedan Richter
Guest blogger

As many of us know, it can get more than a little hot in San Antonio over the summer. This makes it hard to do any fun activities outside of the house besides going to the movie theater because going outside means melting in the heat. Fortunately, a new indoor activity has just opened up in San Antonio. It’s called Extreme Escape.

Last weekend, I had the chance to try it out with my friends. We all had very little of an idea of what to expect, but it was such a blast. The general idea of Extreme Escape is that you are locked in a room for an hour with your friends, and you use clues to find a way out of the room. There are four different themes that you can pick from: Superhero, Zombie, Magician and Pirate. I picked the Pirate-themed escape, which was called Mutiny.

The idea behind Mutiny was that we were locked in the brig, and we had to find a way to escape before a hurricane hit. The room we were in was impressively decorated to look like a ship’s brig. It was filled with old wooden chests, a skeleton, maps, and the only light to see by was dim lanterns around the room. We spent our time finding clues and opening up boxes that led to more clues that led to us finally getting the door open.

I’m not going to lie. Extreme Escape was much more challenging than anticipated, and after the half-hour mark, we started to panic. We worried that we wouldn’t finish in time and would be let out of the room after an hour, having failed to escape on our own. Fortunately, we did get two clues (three if you checked on Facebook) that aided us in moving along our search. We actually ended up escaping with 13 minutes to spare.

Overall, the experience was far more enjoyable than I anticipated, and I would enjoy going again and trying out a different escape. The experience was challenging and exciting, while being indoors in air conditioning. It was a nice change from going to see a movie, where all you do is sit there.

My friend, Linda, said, “Before we arrived, I expected Extreme Escape to be more akin to laser tag. It definitely wasn’t, which is a good thing, since I don’t like laser tag. The immersive puzzles were fun, and they did stump us at times, but not to the point of frustration. Overall, it made for a very enjoyable experience, but probably not one that I would want to do more than once.”

Another friend, Mercedes, thinks Extreme Escape is something everyone in San Antonio should give a try: “I had a really great time at Extreme Escape! It was such a fun and challenging experience to participate in with my friends. [We] were extremely motivated to figure our way out of the room before our time was up, and we did it with 13 minutes to spare! It was exciting to be with my friends and try something new that also challenged us to use our minds, as well!”

Extreme Escape is located at 9995 Interstate 10, just north of Loop 410 on the right-hand side. Take the Ramsgate exit. They are open daily: Mondays through Thursdays from 2:30 p.m. until 7:45 p.m.; Fridays from 2:30 p.m. to 10:45 p.m.; Saturdays from noon to 11:15 p.m.; and Sundays from noon to 8:15 p.m. Their phone number is (210) 641-2828.  You may book your experience online. The cost is $28.99 per person. Groupon is now running a $19 special.

Denise Barkis Richter, Ph.D., author of “San Antonio’s Passport to Fun,” has been blogging about San Antonio since June of 2010. Follow her at facebook.com/SanAntonioTourist so that you’ll never miss a post. Her love affair with the Alamo City began at Hemisfair in 1968. She moved to San Antonio in 1979 as an 18-year-old college student, and San Antonio has been her home ever since. Denise completed certification to become a professional tour guide in 2019. Please contact her at sanantoniotourist at gmail dot com if you’d like for her to curate a fabulous San Antonio experience for you!