DEVILS LAKE - The room is small, but the cavernous walls are built of rough-chiseled, paper-thin rock. As a full orchestra bellows her theme song in the background, Hedwig rests her snowy-white feathers quietly in the corner.
She shares the space with glass-front shelves stacked with heavy, dusty tomes and topped by a pointy hat, a flying Quidditch broomstick and a magical wand - its core stuffed with a phoenix feather. Without speaking a word, the owl greets her guests as a mysterious letter beckons before them on the table.
It's the aura of another world and all who dare enter are quickly lost - for no more than 45 minutes, if they are wise and lucky.
It's all part of the crazy-popular Harry Potter-esque Escape Room created by the Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society at Lake Region State College in Devils Lake.
No so-called Sorting Hat is smart enough to help participants sort these clues. And it will take far more than the yellowed 16-fold Marauder's Map to survive these deathly hallows.
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"We wanted to do something to raise awareness on campus for Phi Theta Kappa and also get people to use their minds for critical thinking," said PTK President Harvey Barr, who also is the Royals' 7-foot-1 center from England. "We really wanted to challenge students."
So far, it definitely has accomplished that. In just the first week, only seven of 17 groups were able to successfully unravel all seven puzzles in the mind-bending game. And as many as 40 more groups were waiting for their chance to test their logic. Tickets cost $10 for a group of four.
"It's all Harry Potter-themed, but it's all critical thinking and putting two and two together," said Evan Stack, a Saskatchewan student who serves as co-vice president of PTK. "I haven't seen all the 'Harry Potter' movies myself, but we made it out. It just goes to show you, you don't have to be an expert."
Fun fundraiser
Barr says it was PTK adviser and English professor Teresa Tande who first suggested the idea for the event. The group talked about it as a fundraiser, and Barr jumped right on board. He gave a Grand Forks escape room a test run and then immediately got busy.
It so happened he already owned plenty of Harry Potter props, so the puzzle building was the difficult part.
As Barr took a moment to explain the game to guests last week, Stack cut in with a laugh: "You can tell Harvey is the Harry Potter nerd. He knows everything about Harry Potter."
That's a good thing, of course.
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"It's because of Harvey we now have a new class on campus, 'Mythology in Harry Potter,'" Tande said.
The plot of the escape room begins with the letter addressed to Gryffindor students:
Lord Voldemort has returned, and I need your help in defeating him. I have discovered Lord Voldemort's greatest secret. He has split his soul into seven pieces, making horcruxes. He has attached his soul to these seven items.
The letter goes on to list the items participants must find as a large TV monitor ticks off the time.
That, along with the Harry Potter music, add to the suspense.
"It's so nerve-wracking, you really can panic," Tande said.
If participants get stuck, they can opt to text a PTK member for a clue. But that's not nearly as much fun as solving it on your own and landing your picture on the Hall of Fame right next to the pictures of the losers on the Hall of Shame.
Tande said that genius idea from Stack helped spread the craze across campus and beyond.
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"I didn't want them to leave with nothing," Stack explained. "So I thought why not dress up with all the props from the room and get a picture in front of the brick wall."
Word spread like a Firebolt on social media, too, and soon all sorts of people were signing up for their chance to solve the game.
"We've had a lot of really different demographics," said Australian Nicholas Fassos, another LRSC basketball player and co-vice president of PTK. "A lot of events we have done have been school-based or in the dorms. It's good to do something more community-based."
The escape room inside LRSC's Learning Commons was intended to be open through today, but PTK members extended it a week because of its popularity.
"It really isn't about the money," Stack said. "We sit out there and listen to the people yelling and screaming when they find something or figure something out. It's really pretty cool."
And no offense to Hedwig, Tande says the whole project has been a hoot.
"This is genius. This group is so energetic, innovative, funny and caring. They're leaders here, and they're amazing," she said. " It's been so good. I served as the PTK adviser for 10 years, and if I could have a group like this every year, I know I would advise for another 10."
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