Escape games were all the rage in Germany when we spent the summer there three years ago. I tried my first one in Dubai with some friends in 2015, another one in Turku in 2016, and then three (!) in the US this summer.
The last one in the US that we did was in Portland, with my parents, siblings, and their spouses. There came a point in the game where we tuned an antique radio to the correct frequency and could hear a message being broadcast in Morse code. Now, maybe YOU don't have Craig Walker as your dad, but I do. And he knows Morse code. So he wrote out the letters according to their dots and dashes and got...nonsense. It was not a word. We tried it anyway on a few of the locks with no luck. So we put it aside and kept working on other clues in the game.
Then later, we came across a bespoke Morse code legend, with a different way of matching up the letters with their dots and dashes. When we deciphered the Morse code that way, it gave us a clue we could use. So my dad's knowledge of Morse code had actually been a disadvantage.
After the game, the employee who checked us out of the game (and who had watched our progress) said that it was rare for people to know Morse code. My memory is that he said only one other person had known Morse code by heart and used it during the game, an ex-military type. Then there's my dad, HAM radio enthusiast!
Escape games are tons of fun. I love them and only wish they weren't so expensive!
