Throughout the month of October, Moorpark College students and citizens of the Simi Valley area can try their luck at the area’s first ever escape room.

Escape rooms have become extremely popular in recent years offering fans of the mystery, detective and horror genres an immersive one-of-a-kind experience where teams of players are locked in a room and challenged to solve complex clues and riddles with the goal of escaping in the time allocated.

Most of these escape rooms exist in Los Angeles or Hollywood, leaving Ventura County residents to drive themselves down in order to check out these unique experiences.

However, with this new Simi Valley attraction, The Outpost, presented by 48 Hours Theatre Inc., running every Wednesday through Sunday during the month of October, students can experience this thrill just a few miles from campus.

Taylor Bradley, president and founder of 48 Hours Theatre, a non-profit theatre organization based in Ventura County, discussed her crew’s desire to contribute to the prevailing escape room craze.

“We have never done anything quite like [an escape room], and we really wanted to because its just such a great idea,” said Bradley. “We are all very big video game fans, and so we really wanted to give people an opportunity to play, kind of, in real life.”

Any escape room worth the sweat and tears must have a great plot to go with it. The Outpost’s backstory is as follows:

A group of 6 finds themselves in a remote arctic outpost amid a blistering storm. Having been sent there to retrieve the lost doctor Morgan Danforth, the team must make quick use of the bloody and haunted remnants that lie in the eerie research station in order to repair the radio and call for help.

There’s just one catch. The longtime-stranded Danforth has since lost his mind due to isolation in the horrid tundra environment, turning him uncooperative and irate as the team tries desperately to get out alive.

Escaping The Outpost is no simple task and, just so, creating and designing the escape room was a challenge all in itself. Alongside Bradley, The Outpost team includes Elliot Rodriquez, Kyle Duncan and Nick Powell, who worked together to overcome the challenges of bringing this theatrical interactive experience to life, from developing the story line to constructing the physical set.

“There’s so many keys and locks and making sure it makes sense logically for people who go into this room to follow this train of thought and to be able to get out of the room,” said Bradley. “Building a puzzle that is actually a [sequence] for people logically…has been quite a challenge.”

Despite the initial obstacles, The Outpost has received positive responses by Moorpark College students since its grand opening last Wednesday.

“The amount of effort that went into designing this escape room was really clear, because of how impressive and intricate everything looked,” said Jeffrey Kotake, an 18-year-old business major who attempted the room Sat. Oct. 8. “There was so much detail, from the numbers and symbols written in blood, to the messy notes pinned on the wall.”

As an avid escape room attendee, Kotake noted that The Outpost was unique compared to any escape room he attempted before.

“This was different because there was an actor in the escape room with us,” said Kotake. “He occasionally gave us hints and clues.”

Although receiving 3 clues from Danforth, the insane doctor portrayed by Dave C. Wright, Kotake and his crew were unable to escape the room in the 45 minutes given. However, they are not alone. As of Oct. 11, no group has been able to solve all the puzzles and make it out of “The Outpost” alive.

“To a fellow Moorpark student, I would totally encourage them to give it a try,” said Kotake. “Go out there and try to be the first to escape!”

The Outpost escape room is located at 1555 Simi Valley Town Center Way, Unit #830. Tickets are $25 per person and must be purchased 48 hours in advance, with a minimum of 3 people per party. Use the code “MPC5” for a $5 discount on tickets. For more information and to purchase tickets, please visit www.48hourstheatre.com/store.