Reality gaming in Dubai: solve a murder mystery for your chance at escape

Don the detective cap for HintHunt Dubai, a new live escape game that puts your mental skills to test as you try to solve a murder mystery within an hour.

A chalk outline at a crime scene HintHunt Dubai. Courtesy HintHunt

I grew up on a weekly dose of the television game show The Crystal Maze, smugly considering myself superior to the contestants who struggled to complete tasks even with a seemingly straightforward set of clues. So it was with unwavering confidence that I accepted a challenge of a similar nature at the newly opened gaming zone HintHunt Dubai. My five-member team was "locked in" for an hour to try to solve a murder-mystery using nothing more than the cryptic messages concealed in various corners of an office, which looked like something out of a detective film from the 1940s.

How to play

HintHunt Dubai, which opened in June at Times Square Centre, is largely modelled on HintHunt London and has three identical detective offices set up for three- to five-member teams. We are informed of some basic rules to follow. Clues are within arm’s reach and we can move things around, but must avoid force when handling furniture. We note down codes and messages that seem important and listen to the game master, who feeds us hints frequently on a large screen to help us get through the game. The orientation includes the mention of a team in London that foolishly ignored one of the game master’s hints and only achieved 25 per cent success.

Work the clues

We enter detective James Murdock’s brightly lit office and discover it’s a crime scene. A chalk outline of a body catches our attention. The room is sparsely furnished – a chest and a study table with an ageing typewriter and an address book. The images of a few suspects, random photographs and playing cards are pinned to a canvas bulletin board. Our task is to narrow down the list of suspects and find the criminal, which is our only hope for freedom. The countdown begins. The first few minutes pass by in bewildering fashion as we scan the room for clues. We each take a corner and start snooping around, peeking under the chairs and prodding the wall hangings. At this point, even the empty dustbin looks suspicious. We get on all fours, scramble around and turn the room upside down. We unlock chests, doors and vaults.

Each time one of us recognises a possible clue, we shout and wave, causing the rest of the team to stop and huddle, all talking at the same time. Every combination of numbers that is cracked is celebrated with a high five before going back to fret about the next code at hand.

The final countdown

With 10 minutes to go, our brains go into overdrive and some panic is evident as it gets down to the wire. Our game master keeps posting hints on the screen to help us crack codes. We finally admit defeat, no thanks to some of the red herrings thrown our way. The game master “unlocks” us and walks us through the remaining 20 per cent of the clues we hadn’t found. We let out a collective disappointed sigh, mentally kicking ourselves for not being able to do what half of the gamers before us had managed within the allotted time.

Revealing too much would risk giving away the solution, but, having been unable to finish on time, I leave feeling slightly dimwitted and with new respect for all those contestants on television I had mocked in the past. Working under pressure as part of a group was a great bonding exercise, but sit this one out if you’re claustrophobic.

• Tickets to HintHunt Dubai in Times Square Centre Dubai cost Dh110 and can be booked by calling 04 321 2242. For more information, visit hinthunt.ae. Children can participate, too – the minimum age is 9 (when accompanied by parents)