Boda Borg

Last weekend I did one of the most fun activities of my whole life! It was right up there with Great Urban Racing.

It's challenging to describe Boda Borg so I'll let their website do it: "Guests are transported into a real-world gaming environment; an experience we call Questing. Teams of 3-5 literally move through our Quests tackling a variety of mental and physical challenges. Success in the first challenge means entry into the next challenge and so on… Failure in any challenge means starting over or selecting another Quest. No video games, no virtual reality, no special clothing or equipment....real people, real Questing, real adrenaline and heart-pumping excitement."

Boda Borg started in Sweden and opened its first U.S. location in Boston (well, Malden) in October. As soon as I heard about it I knew I wanted to try it out, so I was thrilled when someone on my volleyball team brought it up. Our group of 4 went last Sunday (on Valentine's Day...ha) and had a BLAST.

When you first enter the facility you register then are given some quick instructions. Basically, there are no rules, hints, or help. Quests are split into three categories: Green (purely mental challenge), Red (mental challenge with some physical elements), and Black (very physical challenge with mental elements). You choose your Quest -- each quest had a theme like "Farm", "Alcatraz", "Platoon" -- enter the room, then try to figure out what to do. Usually it's not so obvious. Once you figure out the first room, you move to the next, and then the next, until you officially solve the Quest and add a stamp to your "passport". If at any point you fail (you may not know the reason, but will be alerted by a computer system in the room), you have to exit and start over.

We were there for almost 5 hours and solved 6 Quests (Farm, Coach, Tough, Roll & Rock, Step Up, an Dansa Pausa). There are about 15 Quests in this location. We completed a few of the Quests after 2-3 tries, some took 5-6 tries, and some we tried almost 10 times before calling it quits. I'm still frustrated by a few that we just couldn't figure out! At least I have an excuse to go back. One of my favorite parts about our visit was that we all locked up our cell phones in advance. When's the last time you spent 5 hours without anyone stopping to look at their phone? So since I didn't take any pictures, here are some photos I found on the internet that show a couple of Quests:

The physical challenges were seriously physical, and I have the bruises and sore muscles to show for it 3 days later.

There are many more that would be inappropriate to post on this blog :-)

Boda Borg was so much fun and I'd recommend it to most people, but not all. You definitely need to be into puzzles and games, ready for a physical challenge (if you want to try the Red/Black Quests), and able to work with a team. One of the greatest parts about my group was that while we all know each other pretty well, no one is comfortable enough to yell or get extremely frustrated. We saw a lot of arguing couples, families, and friends while there and I'm glad I wasn't part of those teams!

I can't wait to go back and try to figure out the Quests we failed!!!