As I approached the Excido building in central Moorpark, I was still uncertain of what was awaiting me and the three other Student Voice editors that joined me.

“I thought it was going to be scary, like a maze or Halloween horror nights,” News Editor Frank Ralph said.

I was half-expecting the same, a room filled with jump scares and hidden entrances, like a scene from one of those cheesy 1950’s horror films. After walking into the building, the simplicity and strange eeriness of the entry room gave me the chills.

I introduced myself to Leo Bui and Jeremy Zeller, the co-owners of Excido, who began the business after unsuccessfully attempting to solve an escape room themselves.

“We got the idea after trying a game in L.A.,” Zeller said. “We didn’t even escape, but we still had so much fun that we sat down and thought that this was something we could bring to Ventura County.”

After the last of our group signed the waivers, Zeller walked us down the only hallway in the building and into a room accurately-named ‘Studio.’ Zeller wished us luck and left us with a short video, briefing us on what we were about to do.

After the video ended, the 45 minute timer began, the others and I furiously began searching for clues. However, after about 10 minutes we were becoming frustrated with our lack of success. By this time, we had found several of the clues, but somehow couldn’t piece everything together, causing most of us to eventually lay on the ground in an attempt to think a bit clearer.

We were able to think our way into the next room, which was littered with even more clues and puzzles. This room was very different and gave us the feeling we were in some kind of horror film.

The final puzzles proved a bit trickier to solve, so Zeller escorted us out of the rooms and back into the hallway. Feeling fairly low on intelligence, we were relieved to hear that we weren’t alone in our failings. Of the several other groups that came before ours only one managed to correctly think their way out of the room.