love life, love... hint hunt

a few months back i was contacted by the team over at joe's bloggers network to see if i'd be up for a laugh. a laugh? yeah, i love a laugh, but what did you have in mind? previously they'd been trying to get me down to a singles night they were planning to run, and... no. i mean, yeah ok, i'm single and maybe getting a bit close to the winter boyfriend deadline for comfort, but a speed-dating singles event is something i am pretty... pretty keen to steer clear of. i think... we'll see how desperate i get.

then they came at me with the concept of hint hunt. a four player team game a bit like crystal maze and a bit like cluedo, and a bit like... well, like nothing i'd ever heard of before, and you lot know how much i like random london things. so, yeah. with an invite extended to laura, and knowing katy and haydyn would also be in attendance, i agreed with vigour and headed down after work last wednesday to see what the fuss was all about.

of the twenty odd bloggers in attendance, we were split into teams of four and ushered off to five separate rooms. there, we were issued with the standard house keeping rules, and then... our mission; once you're inside your game room, the only way out will be via a locked door. to unlock the door, you must first solve a series of clues, piece together puzzles and uncover passwords to find the final key. did i mention there's a time limit? well there is. you have to do all of that in sixty minutes.

sounds easy, huh.

at first, we thought it was a bit... lame. then, we realised ten minutes had passed, and we'd accomplished nothing. then, the help started arriving. up on the tv formerly keeping time, clues and hints started to be fed to us to help us head in the right direction. once the first puzzle was unlocked, and new clues were provided... we were hooked. the adrenalin of opening locked boxes and working out safe codes was the drive we needed to get our game on. after that, we were on fire.
the last fifty minutes passed in a flurry. we were getting closer and closer to the final clue, but we were running out of time. with more and more hints being fed over the tv and us running around like headless chooks, it was becoming clear we weren't going to win; we were going to be locked in this game room 'forever', and have to face our captures defeated. not ideal.

except. something happened. we saw the time counting down to the final two minutes, and we resolved that we could do this. the last clues were in our hands, and it was a matter of brain power after that. we ignored the clock and worked together to come up with the right answer. first attempt; wrong. fools! calm down, try again. second attempt... success! sirens rang, lights flashed, and the door flung open with 45 seconds left on the clock! we'd done it, we'd solved the puzzle!

we spilled out of the room and ran into two of the other groups - both whose times were less than ours, making us... the hint hunt champions! the hour had flown by in the blink of an eye, and we'd had an absolute ball while we were at it. at times it was so frustrating and pointless, at others, totally euphoric and tones of fun. all in all, it was a great way to get the heart racing that totally didn't include too much exercise or anything extreme, and the best way to spend some quality time getting to know new(ish) people. laura and i had so much fun that we're going to go back in a few weeks and try hint hunt's other clue-based game for a team building exercise for work... i can't wait!

what do you think about the idea of hint hunt - are you a clues and puzzles kinda gal?

thanks to l v = and joe's bloggers for the chance to play the game.