Symbol image: Young people in an Escape Room © Viacheslav Nikolaenko (shutterstock)
Something mysterious lies in the basement of the church – so precious that it will be transported to Cologne Cathedral. But: What is it about? Young people in Oberberg can track down the answer in an Escape Room.
Interviewer: An Escape Room in a church – how did you come up with it?
Christina Duster (Youth Officer): Our department at the Catholic Youth Agency is responsible for the various youth groups in the parishes – i.e. for the associations, for the parish youth groups or for the altar boys and girls. We always want to provide materials that groups can borrow for trips or events.
Then, some time ago, we had the idea of taking up the trend of Escape Rooms and developing such a game ourselves. This is what a colleague did – and this is how the "cellar secret" came into being.
Interviewer: The Escape Room will have to be played in the basement of the church?
Gloomy: Basically you can play everywhere. We thought about making an offer especially for young people together with the CulturKirche Oberberg and then setting up the Escape Room in the church. Where exactly this will be in the church, we have to see. Then it will be set up and the young people will have the opportunity to experience the church in a completely different way – if they have ever been to church at all or however long ago that was.
Interviewer: In your case, it's a little different than in other Escape Rooms: the participants are not locked in, but there is a story in the foreground, which even leads to the Cologne Cathedral. What exactly is behind it?
gloomy: Correct.The participants are not locked in, but they go to the basement room voluntarily because they are very curious. They overhear a conversation between the parish secretary and the sexton. There's a mysterious thing in the basement and it's so valuable that the next morning at five o'clock it's picked up by staff of the cathedral chapter because security in the basement of the parish is not guaranteed.
Being curious, the youngsters sneak there at four in the morning and have an hour to find this mysterious thing and figure out what is supposed to be transported there.
Interviewer: How to find out? Should you be Bible literate?
Bleak: It definitely doesn't hurt, but the puzzles are designed so that anyone can solve them with or without knowledge of the Bible. It does help if you know how to find Bible passages. But when in doubt, we are there to give tips.
Interviewer: Do you play against time or is there another opponent??
Bleak: It's not that anyone appears or is frightened or that the "evil sexton" appears all of a sudden. Above all, you have to work together as a group and think about how to deal with successes or failures. That is then perhaps still the largest opponent.
Interviewer: How can you participate?
Gloomy: Whoever wants to participate can contact me via e-mail or phone number. We still have a few free play times in the next week – and they could still be given away.
The interview was conducted by Verena Troster.