Fredericton — A local man has found himself trapped inside one of Fredericton’s new escape rooms, and is pleading with friends and family not to let him out.
“I got myself into this mess and I’ll get myself out of it,” said Mike Vienneau during a phone interview with The Manatee this morning. The entrapped man’s cell reception began to cut out, but before it did, he uttered something like: “… I’ve been… a couple days now… friends got out… I got left… thought I’d get out right away… things didn’t… as planned.”
Vienneau and his friends scheduled their Friday visit to Decipher, located downtown on Mazzucas Lane, weeks in advance. According to Decipher’s site, the game goes as follows: “Imagine this, you and your friends or strangers are locked in a room and must figure out how to escape within 60 minutes. There are puzzles and clues hidden throughout the room for you to discover with your senses. Can you and your friends solve the clues and find your way out before time’s up?”
“We all worked together and figured it out in just under 35 minutes,” said successfully escaped friend Tanya Green. “Mike wasn’t too into it. He’s not much of a participator — I think he only wanted to go out for beers after — and he didn’t even notice how or when we all got out. I thought he was right behind us, but I guess not.”
Upon realizing their friend was no longer in the group’s company, Todd Peterson texted Vienneau, letting him know they were all on their way to the Lunar Rogue for drinks and wings. “I told him it was fine that he didn’t make it yet, and he should just meet up with us as soon as he escaped,” said Peterson. “He replied saying he hadn’t the slightest clue, but that he’s not one to back down from a challenge.
“Whatever — he can make his own decisions.”
Decipher staff offered to let Vienneau out after the 60-minute cutoff, but he flatly refused. “We announced via intercom that it was over, but he said he didn’t want to be known as a quitter,” said staffer Steph Murphy. “We’ve been giving him more and more obvious clues, but he just can’t figure it out. I basically told him exactly how to escape, but he misinterpreted even that as another riddle. I think we’re just going to have to work him into the game somehow.”