MuggleNet Staff Members Take on “Harry Potter”-Themed Digital Escape Room

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, fans of the wizarding world have found no shortage of ways to get creative. One challenge that has become popular is a digital escape room, and a group of fans from the University of Technology Sydney (who also happen to be a Muggle Quidditch team, the UTS Opaleyes) has created a Harry Potter-inspired digital escape room.

Naturally, some MuggleNet staff members decided to give it a whirl. The creators of the escape room noted that the challenge might take some real-world searching and that the experience would take about an hour to an hour and a half to complete, so we assembled a team of three people and got to work.

First, we can tell you that we made it out of the escape room in one hour and 26 minutes, although the game wasn’t without its challenges. The biggest hint that we can give is to follow the instructions closely and to keep a note of the information available. The escape room was organized well, and some of the puzzles took some effort to complete.

Here are some of our team members’ reactions.

Helene Karp, MuggleNet’s Marketing Manager, is “a seasoned veteran” of in-person escape rooms but found this one to be just as enjoyable.

Overall, I really enjoyed it! I think the creators did a great job creating fun and challenging clues and puzzles that took some serious critical thought. There was only one puzzle that I felt was too hard, but everything else was just the right amount of difficulty so that we weren’t blazing through it but didn’t spend too much time being stuck either.

The content itself was also very fun and had the perfect amount of nostalgia and callbacks to the original ‘Potter’ series. The experience really does pull you in with a good story and makes you feel like you’re in Hogwarts, seeing what the characters we love had seen themselves during the series. All of that coupled with the fact that it was very well organized made everything cohesive and a guaranteed fun time for both escape room beginners and veterans alike.

Sarah Wylde, MuggleNet Social Media Promoter and Journalist, is a newbie to the escape room world and was not sure what to think, expect, or even how to prepare.

I had never done an escape room in any form before, so this was a completely different experience for me. I did not know what to expect: I had heard from people that have done them in person about the levels of difficulty, them being timed, and that there were lots of puzzles and clues to solve. That had my nerves going mixed in with the excitement of finally being able to try one, albeit virtually, and it was ‘Harry Potter’-themed.

It was gratifying. I am thrilled I got to have the chance to complete one. The puzzles and clues you had to solve did vary in difficulty. I liked that there was no time limit, so you were not rushing to beat the clock. You could take the time with your team to figure out the answers. The plot and storyline fit and move smoothly. I want to do another one virtually and, once we can, do an in-person one.

Mary Wojcicki, Senior Reporter on MuggleNet’s News Team, is somewhere in between.

I am by no means a Ravenclaw, so I don’t know if I would have been able to get myself out of the escape room in the suggested time frame without a group. I have done a few escape rooms in person, but I didn’t know what to expect from a virtual one. Most wizarding world trivia tends to fall a little flat for me, so I was relieved to see that the creators of this escape room really put in the effort to make it a fun challenge. The ‘feel’ of the escape room also felt similar to the way that one would progress in person, and the added magical twists didn’t hurt!

Want to try the escape room for yourself and attempt to beat our time? You can find it here on Google Forms.