By David Johnson
As the centre of government, Ottawa was a prime target during the Cold War. To prevent a decapitation of the federal administration, John Diefenbaker commissioned the construction of a bunker to protect key members of the government in the event of a nuclear war. The bunker now hosts the largest escape room in the world, with an area of 25,000 square feet. I recently visited the Diefenbunker for a thrilling experience inside a piece of Cold War history.
We arrived at the Diefenbunker late afternoon and saw a massive snow-covered hill overlooking the parking lot. There was a small, unassuming steel entrance with a radioactive symbol. As we walked inside, we stared down a seemingly endless metal tunnel through which Canada’s top political and military brass would have traversed to escape the conditions of a nuclear holocaust.
We descended the stairs until we were 75 feet below the surface, with an entire floor to ourselves. We were taken to a conference room where the prime minister, governor general and members of the privy council would have met. There, we were presented with the mission: solve a series of clues to access the communication room and stop a nuclear launch sequence started by an enemy spy organisation.
Given a pencil, paper and first set of clues, my friends and I raced from room to room, solving puzzles as the timer counted down. While I cannot reveal the details of these puzzles, they integrated seamlessly with the functions of individual parts of the bunker.
In our journey, we got a glimpse of what post-apocalyptic life would’ve looked like for the most powerful people in Canada. From the operating room that may have seen the most gruesome effects of a nuclear blast to the prime minister’s private chambers, touring the Diefenbunker offered an intimate look at a dystopian world that was, for decades, a very real possibility.
With a few minutes remaining, we got the last key to open the communications room. Once inside, we solved the final puzzle to disable the launch sequence and save Canada. It was close, but we managed to beat the escape room and left with a deeper understanding of a history that thankfully never was.
For the highest-intensity museum tour of your life, check out the Diefenbunker escape room. Along with Covert Ops, the escape room also offers the mission of “Radioactive”. Covert Ops is available Thursday through Sunday in the evening, and Radioactive is available Thursday and Friday evenings and all day on weekends. Both missions last 60 minutes and have a maximum of 12 people.
To book your own Cold War-era escape or for more information, click here.
