Have Your Say - Should I stay or should I go?

An escape room about the future of the European Union

The Brexit debate in the UK since 2016 has made it clear: many citizens in the EU are poorly informed about what the EU is, what it does and how decisions are made in the EU. Distrust in the idea of international cooperation and recourse to nationalist doctrines are growing in many of the 28 EU member states, and populism has become a problem everywhere.

The team of Europahaus Aurich tried to tackle this by developing an escape game around the question "stay or leave"?

Should I Stay or Should I Go - an escape game about the EU that makes players start to think about reasons for remaining in the EU... or not.

Here is the story:

The non-party MEP Sofia Novak (statistically a common name in the EU, which does not allow any clear conclusions to be drawn about her nationality) will take part in a meeting today regarding Germany's possible exit from the EU. In the last few weeks she has collected all relevant information and has prepared two applications. In one, Germany's exit from the EU is requested, in the other, the dissolution of the body which should deal with a possible exit. Due to the volatile nature of the topic and her affinity for puzzles, the applications are well hidden and in some casesalso encrypted. Since she will not be in the office before this appointment and she does not want to carry these important documents with her beforehand, she has asked her intern to bring them to her shortly before the appointment. She gave them the combination of numbers to open the safe containing the documents, but they have forgotten them. Embarrased by not being able to remember even four numbers, the intern cannot call their manager and ask for the combination of numbers. But she knows that her boss always makes provisions for all eventualities and leaves nothing to chance. Therefore, clues for the numerical code must be hidden in the office. But the distraught intern is currently unable to think clearly. Urgently in need of help, and with only 60 minutes left before the documents have to be brought to the representative, the intern brings in a group of colleagues to assist them discover the combination. If the vault can be opened, the group could influence the outcome by just passing a motion to MP Novak, but that's entirely up to the group.

Escape Room, Area A - as set up at Europahaus Aurich. Everything visible in the room has something to do with the game.

How to play the game

Groups an visit Europahaus Aurich (Norther Germany, close to the North Sea) and play the Escape Room (registering in advance is mandatory). The escape room is constantly set up in one of the basement rooms of Europahaus Aurich.

Additionally, game instructions have been published (link to follow here) which allow everybody to recreate the escape room in their own venues. This, of course, requires quite some time and dedication.

A group of players solving a puzzle cooperatively.