Virtual Escape Room recap

Harrison Gee provides a clever newspaper-style recap of Young Actuaries Program (YAP) Victoria’s recent Virtual Escape Room event, in line with the bank heist theme of the session.

BREAKING NEWS – A bold virtual bank robbery was perpetrated on Thursday 3 December 2020 in broad daylight. Actuaries Institute personnel reported that several members of the group known only as ‘The Young Actuaries Program (YAP) Victoria’ staged a series of daring heists across the state at around 5:30pm that evening.

Eyewitnesses described how YAP members were broken up into teams and were presented with a series of tasks during the heists. Providing solutions to problems yielded each team huge sums of virtual money, with more difficult tasks providing more substantial rewards.

Investigators have determined that the accomplices were able to communicate with each other through Zoom breakout rooms, whilst receiving instructions from, and feeding information back to, the heist organisers using WhatsApp.

Based on evidence collected at the scene, tasks required a high level of teamwork, communication and problem solving from all participants to crack the many layers of security utilised by the virtual banks.

Indeed, state of the art computer passwords, door pin codes, and combination locks appeared ineffective at preventing virtual money from being looted from the virtual vaults in the face of these determined individuals.

Surveillance footage suggested that time was limited, so teams had to balance seeking more virtual money with allowing for enough time to make a clean getaway. 

By all reports, no team was apprehended, with the most successful team ‘Ocean’s 4’ managing to steal over $5,269,000! As investigators have not yet been able to ascertain any identities, this team is likely enjoying their generous virtual winnings at this very moment.

Though no actual money was stolen, it is this reporter’s understanding that all participants appeared to enjoy the event, with the challenging and immersive experience provided by virtual escape company Experios being a fun way to wrap up a long year.

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