Welcome to the $50 Date, where a broke university student takes his girlfriend on a date with a budget of $50, and rates the activities accordingly. The rules of this exercise are simple; Whatever we do, we can only spend $50. Each, or total, I hear you asking? Yes. After the activity, we have to rate it based on how much we needed to prepare, how much we enjoyed it, whether the activity was affordable, and whether or not we’d go on a second date.
For this installment, I’m joined by my girlfriend’s best friend and fellow Nexus writer, Chloe Caddy, as both of our partners are in other countries right now, and we got bored.
Initially, we decided we were going to hit up the minigolf course at Centerplace, but we noticed something intriguing across the hall; Funzone has their own escape rooms! We looked at each other and immediately agreed that this sounded way more enjoyable, and waltzed right on in.
Walking in, we immediately realized that there was a Game of Thrones and a Harry Potter themed room- being nerds, we were overjoyed. Even better than that, entry on Thursdays costs $25 per person, and $28 for students every other day of the week. Compared to Confinement just down the road, which costs $40 and has no student discount, this was an absolute steal!
Unfortunately, we weren’t able to enter the HP room as another team was already using it, so we settled for the GoT room instead. Which was expert level. Well, shit. One hour later, we had almost figured our way through the entire room, only running out of time with three or four steps to go.
Proud of our achievement, given neither of us believed we’re very good at escape rooms, we then wandered down Barton street to my favourite store in Hamilton; Fossick. This vintage and antique store has some items of clothing, old video game and movie discs, with the occasional instrument and other knicknacks for a household, but its main attraction is the extensive collection of books and vinyl records they own. The two of us ended up keeping them open well past their closing time of 5PM as we fossicked (hence their name) through movie posters and records. While this store is technically free to enter, I can almost guarantee you’re going to end up spending money here if this is something that interests you; we spent about $49. This is why the budget line is blurry.
So, how did we rate our day out?
Firstly, there was no preparation needed; while booking the specific room you want may come in handy, you’re also more than welcome to just walk in and take an empty escape room if one is available. Since Fossick is open from 10am-5pm every day, you don’t need to prepare for this either. 4.8 out of 5.
We enjoyed ourselves immensely, though Chloe did reason that you have to be cautious with the escape room. Since you’re on a timer, there’s real pressure to win, and this could easily turn sour with bickering, critical judgement, or poor communication. Both parties need to participate fully, and so it earns a 4 out of 5.
It was also fairly affordable, especially if you go on a Thursday. Our total combined spending was $99, almost the maximum allotment for the day before breaking the budget; skipping the trip to Fossick and going on Thursday still would have meant a perfect $50 spend, burning the entire budget in just one hour, only scoring 3 out of 5.
Finally, Chloe and I agreed that assuming we went with an agreeable and enthusiastic partner, we would gladly go on a second date after this one, and that it makes for a great date idea; again, assuming both parties are enthusiastic, and make the most of their time. 4 out of 5.
And so, we’re giving the Escape Room and Fossick date an average of four stars out of five. The risk for things to turn sour and the full budget expenditure knock the day down a peg, but we both still highly recommend.
