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Beat the Blast: Escape Room aboard USS Lexington

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The escape room craze, a worldwide phenomenon, has come to the Coastal Bend.

These rooms are adventure games in which teams of friends, family or colleagues work together to find clues and solve puzzles to escape a simulated danger before time runs out.

When does an entertainment reach critical mass? Arguably, when it’s found on a aircraft carrier.

That is the case with escape rooms, in which players in a locked room filled with clues try to escape before time runs out, usually in 60 minutes.

The USS Lexington Museum has partnered with an Austin company called Magnigadgets and has taken some historic events and turned them into a fictional story that’s going to guide you through the entertainment of the game.

The Lexington was part of the US Naval blockade of Russian ships trying to reach Cuba to build nuclear missiles. The scenario in the “Lockdown on the Lex,” the escape room on the Lexington, is to diffuse a nuclear bomb armed by a Russian terrorist out for revenge. The scenario is named “Beat the Blast.”

The attractiont opened Jan. 18 and plays throughout the day in 90-minute intervals. Guests are given safety briefings before lockdown and a debriefing after.

Mission #1: Beat the Blast is the museum’s first escape room experience that promises to be full of adventure and excitement as teams have one hour to complete their assigned mission or face the threat of nuclear annihilation.

Beat the Blast transports thrill seekers to the heart of the Cold War, challenging them to seek clues and solve perplexing puzzles in order to find and defuse a nuclear bomb hidden aboard the ship.

Visitors to their escape rooms are monitored by the onsite Game Master via live-feed video cameras at all times. Their escape rooms have been inspected and approved by the fire marshal.

The USS Lexington escape room experiences are designed for adults and recommended for visitors age 12 and older. Visitors aged 12-15 must be accompanied in the escape room by an adult, and all visitors under the age of 18 must have a parent or guardian sign a waiver at check-in.

Because their museum is on an aircraft carrier, visitors should expect to climb ladders and navigate narrow passageways in order to participate in the escape rooms. Visitors who have limitations including claustrophobia, epilepsy, stroke, or anxiety issues may want to consult their doctor before participating in an escape room experience.

The surest way to “escape” is by sharing information openly with everyone else in the room. Talk to each other and work together to solve the puzzles. If you discover new information, be sure everyone in the room knows about it.

Using state-of-the-art technology programmed into historic naval equipment, Lockdown On The LEX  is sure to intrigue and entice even the most experienced escape room enthusiast. High-tech and high-intensity, this new adventure is sure to be a crowd pleaser for groups large and small.

The USS Lexington Museum on the Bay is located at 2914 N. Shoreline Blvd. on North Beach in Corpus Christi. Cost is $35 per person, which includes free museum entry. For more information, visit the website here or call (361) 883-4873.