Breakout Birmingham, Homewood

Escape-room games are inherently adrenaline inducing. With 60 minutes on the clock and a mystery before them, teams use their critical thinking skills to uncover hidden items, crack codes, and solve puzzles to escape before time is up. The real allure of Breakout Birmingham isn’t the challenging detective work, though. Rather, it’s the thrilling narratives behind each escape room. Read on to learn about the mysteries facing players.

This is the scenario in Hostage, one of five themed escape rooms at Breakout Birmingham. Each one places groups in dire scenarios with just 60 minutes to get out. No matter which room you and your group choose, though, the key to success remains the same: work together and rely on your collective ingenuity to solve puzzles, uncover clues, and crack codes. Read on to learn about the other hair-raising situations players might find themselves in:

• The Kidnapping: This is Breakout Birmingham's most intense scenario, in which players have been abducted and handcuffed inside an unfamiliar room. Using hidden messages from the previous victim, the team collaborates to escape before the kidnapper returns.
• The Museum Heist: The night before its opening, an illustrious art showing’s masterpiece disappeared and several other pieces have been replaced with phonies. The players must work together to find the artwork and culprit before the gallery opens and is declared a fraud, much like the 3-year-old who convinced the world he was famed artist Jackson Pollock.
• Casino Royale: While investigating the disappearance of an MI6 agent, the team is trapped in a room of the Casino Royale. In just an hour, its members must follow clues to locate the missing agent and determine the kidnapper.
• Island Escape: Players are stranded on a tropical island whose previously dormant volcano is now rumbling. The group must flee the island within the hour before the volcano’s lava reaches them.
• Do Not Disturb: A recent string of kidnappings has awakened old fears in the people of Breakout City. The team has tracked the Kidnapper to a rundown motel on the seedy outskirts of town. Unfortunately though, he's one step ahead, and now you're all entrapped in his web of twisted games. It's an investigation gone wrong that'll send your mind reeling as you try to save his next victims before you become one yourself.

Escape Room Tips from the People Who Design Them

We asked Bryce Anderson of Breakout Games what advice he'd give to beginners. Then we asked him what he'd say if he had money riding on it.