The Escape Game, the Heist Solution

Lockdown is well and truly in full swing, with schools and individuals all starting to feel the strain. It's essential now, more than ever, for every member of the organization to communicate effectively so that every member will feel less isolated and lonely during this pandemic. That is why during these more challenging times where we are all working in different environments, the Society of Applied Mathematics of UPLB (SAM-UP) introduced an intra-organizational virtual team-building activity that aims to help keep the bonds and boost the morale of the members of the organization.

The organization was invited by an unknown host to a Zoom meeting, and the only way to escape it is to solve the mystery behind Joker's identity. To catch Joker, they needed to get clues that were given after winning a game. Fifteen participants dared to solve this mystery, and they are randomly divided into three teams without knowing that Joker will be joining one of those teams.

Last August 31, the first day commenced. The first game prepared by Joker is Mafia. Before the game started, the host assigned roles to each team: either a wolf, police, or citizen. This game aims to identify and kill 2 wolves for the police and citizens to win. Otherwise, wolves win. The winning team for that day was given a clue of an active member of SAM-UP for s/he has been part of the executive committee.

The clue given on the first day was vague; teams proceeded to play on the second day (September 2) a challenge left by Joker: a game Bingo. All participants generated a random Bingo Card online (all of them did not share the same bingo card). The host drew numbers, and each participant's task was to form a pattern (i.e., blackout). Each time a participant won, s/he received points which were added to the team's accumulated points. The team who got the highest points won the game.

Joker was seriously enjoying the game. That is why he left another clue for the winning team saying: S/he, at least once, became an Executive-in-Charge. Participants were being hooked by Joker's challenges as Charles, one of the participants, said that "Sino' tong joker na ito? Ang daming p’wede sa amin e, mga impostor!"

On September 4, Joker wanted to challenge members' creativity by playing a virtual charade where everyone needed to draw a word which the other members should guess. Every team needed to accumulate the points that they got. The team that had the highest point was considered the winner of the game. In the blink of the eye, Joker left the app and left a clue: S/he studies BS Applied Mathematics.

"This game is getting tougher," Joker silently whispered.

The host announced the final game for this challenge (September 07), the Whisper Challenge. Each team was asked to pick one representative and tasked to mute his/her microphone. The said representative drew a category (i.e., Food establishments in UPLB) that contained five words. The remaining members of the team were given two minutes to guess the words. The team who got the most terms was the winner.

And this concludes the challenges of Joker, but before s/he finally reveals him/herself, the final clue was given to the winning team: S/he takes operation research as his/her specialization in college.

All three teams were called and asked to guess who they thought Joker according to the clues they gathered. Group 1: Jonathan Kyle Monzon, Ken Yñigo, Raissa Arevalo, Emerald Faganilag, and Christian Sigua correctly identified who the Joker --- Crystal Jean Natividad.

To celebrate their victory for revealing the identity of the Joker, every member of Team 1 enjoyed a 50% semestral fee discount as set by the Finance Committee.

These four-day virtual team-building activities with a theme Escape Zoom were hosted by Ms. Raizen Estoque and Mr. Daryl Lara (both Executive-in-Charge).