BangHistory Escape in JB
We’ve still got a couple of months left before the 7th month and Halloween hijinks haunt the Little Red Dot, but if you just can’t wait for spooky szn, perhaps a trip to JB can quell your hunger for frights.
Cue BangHistory Escape, an escape room facility across the Causeway. It not only has immersive experiences featuring scare-actors who might be a tad too committed to their roles, but also a unique childbirth simulator that invites all to take on the agony of labour pains. Here’s all you need to know before adding it to your JB day trip itinerary.
How to get to BangHistory Escape?
BangHistory Escape is located in Taman Mount Austin, further north of the Causeway. Should you be driving yourself there or opt to hop in a cab, it’ll take you around 24 minutes by car.
If you’re not driving in, we still recommend booking a private hire vehicle to get you there. Taking the public transport will entail a journey of at least 1.5 hours – time that could be spent kicking back at JB’s many cafes and massage parlours. For reference, a Grab ride from the checkpoint costs around RM43 (~S$13.94), potentially lower if you’re splitting the fare with friends.
What to expect at BangHistory Escape?
Horror fans and adrenaline junkies, you’re in for a treat when you take a gander at BangHistory Escape’s offerings. Almost all of their escape rooms dabble in supernatural themes and are filled with suspense and more importantly, jump scares.
On our visit, we got to take a sneak peek at 2 of their rooms: Quiet Floor (from RM98/pax, ~S$31.76) and Forbidden School (from RM98/pax, ~S$31.76). The former is set in the decaying North City Hospital, where you’ll play as interns who’re on shift going about their “routine work”. For extra immersion, don the medical scrubs and staff passes before heading in.
After some time-travel shenanigans, you’ll find yourself transported 20 years into the past, where a raging fire ravaged one of the hospital’s wings – patients and all. After receiving a spine-chilling warning from a dead doctor that the fire was no accident, you’re tasked with exposing the hospital’s 2-decade-old secret that was buried in the ashes.
You can turn back the years too with their Forbidden School experience. In this thrilling number, players will take on the roles of students of ShiChen High School, which in present day has been sealed off for many years, and for good reason.
No dilly-dallying – there’ll be scare actors who’ll chase you as you go probing around to keep you on your toes.
There had been murmurs of a “Man-Eating Library”, and of course, you get to relive what it’s like to be a student at the school in its harrowing heydays. Following the disappearance of 5 students and a mysterious principal who seems to be linked with said vanishings, see if you have the guts to escape from the grasp of this hellhole.
We also got to give their Childbirth Experience (RM33/pax, ~S$10.69) a go. As its name suggests, you’ll be hooked up to a machine with electrodes pasted onto your abdomen to simulate what period cramps and what women feel during labour
As a dude, I went into it thinking that it’d be a walk in the park, but was swiftly humbled 3 minutes in. Once you’re strapped in – you’re even given a mould of a pregnancy bump to embrace – the machine sends electrical pulses to contract your abdominal muscles, and boy was it a doozy.
The staff will even allow you to increase the intensity while your friend is squirming away, with consent from all parties, of course.
There are 10 levels of intensity to conquer, and I barely made it to level 2. The feeling was akin to having one of those excruciating calf cramps that you get mid-sleep that jolt you wide awake, but in your stomach. I was hooting and hollering the whole way through; on the other hand, my female colleague sat through level 4 before tapping out, and not a single scream was scrumpt.
If you’d like to experience all these yourself, you’ll be glad to know that BangHistory Escape is running an ongoing promotion where you can enjoy 10% off your total bill on weekdays. Also, they’re slashing the price of your 2nd escape room booked on the same day by 20%.
Pay a visit to BangHistory Escape the next time you’re in JB
When the rides at amusement parks won’t cut it, raise your heart’s BPM with one of BangHistory Escape’s experiences. Whether it’s a hair-raising chase down a haunted school’s hallway or seeing if you’ve got what it takes to tough through the turmoil of childbirth, it’s got everything you need for a fun day out.
Book an escape room experience at BangHistory Escape
For more things to do in JB during your day trips across the border:
- Guide to taking Grab’s new cross-border taxis
- Things to do in SKS City Mall
- Guide to taking the KTM train from JB to Kulai
Photography by Wani Khan.