House of Conundrum – Omaha Escape Room
YOU’VE HOT ONE HOUR
Our team recently took on a daring new challenge at House of Conundrum (www.houseofconundrum.com), an escape room center on 2564 Leavenworth St. that really redefines the escape room experience. With nine rooms in all—the biggest in the Midwest—House of Conundrum has enough variety to keep you coming back for different themes, difficulty levels, and sizes to suit your group (whether you’re on a date or a company outing). Whereas many escape rooms follow mass-produced scripts and setups that can be purchased by anyone, House of Conundrum’s rooms are all original creations from the mind of master puzzler, owner, and founder John Comstock, a man who fascinates our whole team with his ability to devise clever codes and riddles.
We weren’t quite sure if we’d be up to the task. For one thing, the Conundrum staff recommended we try Knight in the Museum based on the size of our group—their most difficult escape room with a success rate of only 2%. Though we were slightly intimidated by these statistics, we are a determined bunch! We made a goal to beat the one-hour clock and solve the challenge, all without asking for a single clue. We wanted to beat the record and get our picture on the wall with a “gold medal.” Bold move.
The first thing we noticed was how impressively decorated the Knight in the Museum room was with its beautiful suits of armor, sarcophagus, Garden of Eden (complete with fig-leaf-clothed Adam and Eve mannequins), and even an arc of the covenant, though the décor was anything but merely ornamental. A staff member gave us a quick briefing of our challenge, informing us that we were all members of WEST (“WE Steal Things”) and that our directive was to do the unprecedented and find the ultimate treasure. Unfortunately, our team of thieves had tripped the security system on our way in and the authorities had been notified. And so the clock began to run.
We found ourselves turning over just about everything in sight in search of clues and answers. We definitely broke a sweat when we saw the timer running! As intensely focused as we were, we still took moments to pause in awe as we pieced everything together. Our minds are still reeling by the ingenuity of it all! We also had several big moments when we all gasped because magic seemed to be happening before our eyes. We don’t want to give anything away, but we will say it was all pretty amazing.
One of the most satisfying by-products of our experience was how quickly it united us all as a team—especially those of us who were fairly new and unfamiliar with others in the group. The nature of the escape room broke down barriers and joined us through a common objective. We saw a whole new side of our teammates. We can’t recommend this experience enough as an awesome team-building, ice-breaking activity! Out of all the team outings we’ve done, this one stands out due to the high level of energy everyone in our group had when we finished. We were already talking about plans for a next visit and other people we wanted to bring for the experience.
In the end, we were glad we had a large group of 10 people for the particular escape room we chose. It took all of our concentrated efforts and the full use of our brainpower to unravel the tangle of clues all around us. With approximately 20 minutes left on the clock, we had an ultimate Aha! moment when all the disconnected pieces suddenly converged, and in an instant we were standing before the ultimate treasure. Yes. You read that right. Our Strictly Business team is officially comprised of bona fide treasure stealers.
If you’re looking for a new experience that will make you think outside the box and push you to work together with others, look no further! Everything you need is contained within the room. We promise, there really is a key to every lock, and if you hurry, you won’t get caught. You’ve got one hour.