He locks us in a tiny room illuminated by black light and infested with demon spawn. Naked, disheveled Barbies hang with care, dangling upside down from string. Drawings of evil school kids plaster the walls, the perfect complement to the creepy stuffed animals littering the ground. A headless porcelain doll holds the only light bulb in the room. And when I look closely, I see the word “help” smudged onto a mirror. We have 45 minutes to escape ... or we’ll die.

Just kidding. This isn’t Saw. But, this is how I celebrated Valentine’s Day. It was really romantic.

The haunted daycare-themed “Peek-A-Boo” room is one of four you can choose to be trapped inside at Live Game Escape (there’s also a kidnapping mystery at a motel, a mansion swarming with ghosts and a treasure grab on a pirate ship). This particular real-life puzzle allows you to experience that feeling you got while watching Oldboy for yourself—and it’s even in Chinatown.

My man and myself, total newbies at this game, and a Texas couple, who were escape-room connoisseurs, had to go through several unique puzzles to discover the room key. Since I don’t want to reveal all the room’s enigmas, I’ll share a glimpse into my most shocking revelations.

One: The sprawling demon-child drawings actually have a real-world purpose in the room. The technology aspect to this part of the puzzle is awesome. I just hope your hands aren’t too clammy if you embark on this supernatural quest. And two: I felt like a fool placing my hand on a strange book and chanting “Demons be gone!” when no one else would do it, but let me tell you, I now know that I didn’t watch all those horror films for nothing.

We survived the room and escaped in under 45 minutes. I might have inadvertently cheated by opening a cabinet prematurely, but in the end, the craft behind the puzzle was genius, and no one died. Hopefully they let us come back to solve the other rooms, but now that our mug shot captioned “Cheated by accident!” is hung with pride inside the attraction, I’m not so sure.

Live Game Escape Daily, 4 p.m.-midnight. 3300 S. Jones Blvd. #201, 702-237-4164.