What is a belly button?
In many of my reviews, I mention a “belly button” or, in Bulgarian, “пъпче.” You might be wondering what on earth a belly button is and why it comes up so much in escape room reviews. Allow me to explain.
As the captain of our team, I always decide where we go and what games we play, keeping an eye on new rooms at cetera. I always disliked horror rooms with a passion. Not just the actively scary ones but anything that involves tension, be it through music, environment, or actors. Such games get on my nerves, make me tense, and lead to me yelling. Surprisingly, the team never complained, and through an unspoken agreement, we managed to steer clear of horror rooms. Whenever we received invitations to test horror rooms, we requested the “Nadia mode” – no actors and no jump scares. This continued until Chapels And Catacombs won TERPECA number 1 for 2022. An actively scary horror room. Right under my nose, in Greece.
Of course, we decided to play it since it was the number one in the world, for crying out loud. I immediately started negotiating: Can it not be dark? Can there be no actors? Can you not scare us? Can you not touch us? Can we play it without actually playing it? The team behind the room promised to accommodate us, but there would be actors because otherwise, it would be completely dull, as it’s not exactly a room but an experience.
Throughout the day, I swing between “heck, I’ll play” and “why should I put myself through this; there will be other number one rooms in the world.” Dimitar, being the smart guy he is, told me to look and imagine the actors in some funny situations. For example, when we get scared, we’ll show our belly buttons and shout “BELLY BUTTON,” and they’ll be puzzled about what’s going on, making it funny.
The photo is taken in front of the door. I’m still debating whether to enter or not. The guys show me a “belly button,” I laugh, and we play. It turned out to be a great experience.
Since then, playing in “belly button” mode has become somewhat of a Fury thing. We still avoid actively scary rooms for now. We take one step at a time, and so far, we’ve done a couple of those. With the thought of a belly button in mind, I can participate, but without the guys with me, there’s no chance I can do it with someone else.
Now, I use this in life. Every time I’m scared, I start repeating to myself, “belly button, belly button,” and everything becomes bearable. The power of suggestion 🙂
We have belly button emojis in our Discord server; I’m not even kidding …
