Escape the cold this weekend with "Escape the Bong" in Superior

Richard I. Bong Veterans Historical Center is hosting the 4th Annual “Escape the Bong” event this weekend.

“It’s super fun to come and figure out your way out,” said Executive Director John Gidley. “We put you in and theoretically lock in, and you have to figure your way out.”

The Bong Center partners with Escape Room Parties, who put together the rooms.

“We have our ‘Escape the Prison’ or ‘Escape Alcatraz’, which is one of our original games,” said Escape Room Parties Co-Owner Thomas Atwood.”It’s fantastic fun and it’s great for teams and a lot of good communication skills building between two elements of your team.”

Another Escape Room set-up at the Bong Center this weekend is based on President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New York residence.

“He actually had a bunker in New York City that you kind of snuck in and out of the blue and you have to escape,” explained Gidley.

“This puzzle is the very first puzzle that we ever did,” said Atwood. “We had it at our stationary facility and we’ve been told that we were one about the first 30 or 40 escape rooms in the country. So that’s one of the classic puzzles that people are into playing. It’s been around since almost the beginning of escape rooms in the US, so that’s a fun one.”

For those looking to find underwater treasure, “Dead Man’s Chest” is an under the sea adventure. Last but not least, “Survive Your Parent’s Prom” is new this year.

“It’s kind of a timed combination of time travel and retro,” Atwood explained. “It’s been a lot of fun, lots of laughing and giggling and reminiscing for some of us folks that were around during those decades past.”

“If you’re a seventies and eighties trivia buff, it’s for you,” added Gidley. “You’re thrown back to your parents’ prom and you have to figure out how to find a piece to repair your time machine, and you kind of go through the room and different locks and puzzles and things to decode, and you eventually uncover the piece and then you have to plug it back into the machine to get you home.”

Presented by Heritage Window & Door, “Escape the Bong” will run 9 am to 9 pm on Saturday and 9 am to 6pm on Sunday. A new game will begin at the top of each hour, and each Escape Room is designed for an hour of puzzle-solving fun.

A maximum of ten people are allowed per game, but smaller groups may be combined to complete a group of ten. Guests 21 and older can purchase an adult beverage after 5pm to go along with their experience.

Tickets can be purchased at this website and cost $25 per adult and $15 per child for each game. All proceeds from the “Escape the Bong” event will go towards education programs at the Center.