Escape Key, Towson

In 2007, the Tim Tang Test set up shop in the hinterlands of the Internet. Its neon colors, clipboard-art imagery, and Geocities aesthetic may give the site an air of endearing simplicity, but it only serves to lull gamers into a false sense of security. To date, nobody has ever solved all of the logic, word, and math puzzles on the site. And it's not for lack of trying. Upward of four million puzzle masters, engineers, and hobbyists have attempted the gauntlet.

Consider this fair warning to anyone looking to best Escape Key, which uses puzzles from the Time Tang Test in its escape rooms. Updating the puzzles from 2-D to 3-D, engineers have created rooms full of mind-bending riddles that players need to solve in 60 minutes in order to win the game and escape. But the difficulty is all part of the fun, as long as you're prepared to stare down the real possibility of defeat—and get your picture taken holding a sign that says something like, "There is no esc," and "I lost ctrl."