Chapel & Catacombs (Game duration 70-80 minutes)
Fury team: Velina Tomova, Hristo Tomov, Dimitar Smilyanov, Ivan Minchev and Nadezhda Danabasheva
Date: September 16, 2023
Our time: 110:00 minutes
I’ve said more than once that I can’t stand scary rooms; I dislike them with a passion. They get on my nerves, I get tense, and start yelling. So, you can understand my dilemma when the number one room in the world for 2022 according to TERPECA turned out to be a scary room. Moreover, in Greece. Right under my nose. If only next time it could be somewhere in Latin America, so I wouldn’t have much choice and WOULDN’T PLAY IT.
So.
We go to play it. I start negotiating immediately. Can it not be dark? Can there be no actors? Can you not scare us? Can you not touch us? Can we play it, but without actually playing it? They, of course, say they will accommodate us, but there will be actors because otherwise, it would be completely dull since it’s not exactly a room, but an experience (which turned out to be true afterward).
All day I’ve been swinging between “heck, I’ll play” and “why should I put myself through this, there will be other number one rooms in the world, right, RIGHT?”. Dimitar, being the smart guy he is, tells me to look and imagine them in some funny situation. 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, and it’ll be funny.
The first photo is in front of the door. I’m still whining about whether to enter or not. The guys show me a “belly button”. I laugh. We enter.
We played the room. There were a few belly buttons. Whether it deserves to be the Top 1 in the world is debatable for me. It’s beautiful; a lot of time, money, and effort has been invested. But to be number 1… we’ve played more beautiful and better ones. Sorry. However, I MUST note that this was my first such room, and they were very considerate of me and my fear. They gave me a panic button; I could enter and leave whenever I wished (I didn’t use it). When we had to split up, they told me to stay and promised that no one would come to me and nothing bad would happen. I’m sure that somewhere in the hard drive of the room there’s a file showing Nadia, who’s pressed her back into a corner, holding a candle in her hands, and singing for 5 minutes “BABY SHARK DO DOO DO DO DO DOOOO” while imagining them funny.
Dimitar, thank you. Let’s do that again.
