Zero Escape RPG

The Nonary Game is an escape room-like game played with nine people. Each player wears a bracelet with a number shown on it, and players are not allowed to remove them. Originally a life-or-death game by Cradle Pharmaceutical, it has been repurposed as a family-friendly escape room franchise with various themes, the most common being the "Gigantic" theme, as reference to the Second Nonary Game.

In order to win, players have nine hours to discover a Numbered Door with a 9 on it. This is achieved by going through several sets of doors. The first set consists of Door 4 and Door 5, the second of Door 3, Door 7 and Door 8, and the last of Door 1, Door 2 and Door 6. Door 9 is placed after this last set, but there are two doors labeled 9: a big one with double doors and a small one with a single door. The latter is the one players need to enter in order to escape.

To enter a Numbered Door, there must be at least three players and at most five players forming a group and scanning their bracelets on a RED, but only if the sum of their bracelets forms a digital root equal to the number on the door. After they enter, their bracelets will start an 81-second second countdown, during which players need to find the room's DEAD and scan the same bracelets they used on the RED to disarm them. Failure to do so will detach the bracelets from the players as a sign of their elimination.

Anyone who didn't scan their bracelet on the RED cannot enter the room. Likewise, any players who did scan are obligated to enter the room they scanned the RED at. Disregarding either of these rules consists an automatic disqualification.

Once a Numbered Door is entered and the RED correctly triggered, players inside need to solve an escape room puzzle in order to progress. If even a single player is inside the room and alive, the RED at its entrance will show "ENGAGED" on the monitor, preventing anyone aside from the current group to enter.

Bracelets cannot be removed, instead requiring an elimination or a successful escape to detach them. REDs and DEADs only scan the bracelets, meaning that if a player is eliminated or escape, then the bracelet can be reused by another group.

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Numbered Doors are central elements in the Nonary Game. Players need to find a Numbered Door with a 9 on it in order to escape. The Numbered Doors were first used in the First and Second Nonary Games and developed, alongside the REDs and DEADs, by Teruaki Kubota from Cradle Pharmaceutical.

There are eleven Numbered Doors in a standard Nonary Game, divided into several sets: the first consists of Door 4 and Door 5, the second of Door 3, Door 7 and Door 8, the third of Door 1, Door 2 and Door 6 and the last of two doors marked 9: a big one with double doors and a small one with a single door. The latter is the way out, which also has a "Door q" as the escape route.

In order to access a door, three to five players need to scan their bracelets on the door's RED to form the door's digital root, marked in front of it by red paint. Once the digital root is correctly inputted, the door will remain open for nine seconds, and any player that scanned the RED is required to enter the door, otherwise they will be disqualified. Once inside, players have 81 seconds to deactivate their bracelets by finding the door's DEAD and scanning their bracelets there.

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REDs and DEADs are important aspects of Nonary Games. REDs are beside all Numbered Doors, and DEADs are found on the wall just behind the door. Both the REDs and DEADs have been built by Teuraki Kubota for the First Nonary Game. Replicas thereof have been built for the Second Nonary Game and its non-lethal family-friendly successor.

RED stands for "Recognition Device" and is bolted next to every Numbered Door. It is a small elegantly designed box-shaped device with a large circular "Scanner Panel" on its body. Above the scanner is a small rectangular screen displaying one of four possible states:

• "VACANT" in green: Nobody has verified or the group that previously entered the door is eliminated. More commonly, it is shown when the room is devoid of any players.
• Asterisks: Each player that scans their bracelet on the RED while in its "VACANT" state adds one asterisk on the screen, with a minimum of three and a maximum of five.
• "ENGAGED" in red: A valid combination of players is entered. Also means that the room is currently occupied to prevent anyone else from entering.
• "ERROR" in red: The bracelet combination is invalid. In order to access a Numbered Door, players must scan their bracelets on the RED's Scanner Panel so that their digital root matches the number on the door, then pull the level on the right side of the RED to confirm. An invalid combination will make "ERROR" in red appear on the RED's screen.

DEAD stands for "Deactivation Device" and is usually bolted onto the wall just behind the Numbered Door. They look just like REDs and function exactly the same, but in blue with white decor. The function of a DEAD is to deactivate the bracelet's countdown after entering the Numbered Door. It only works, however, when the Numbered Door is closed and all players who scanned at the RED enter the room. Entering without verifying or without the correct number of people is seen as breaking the rules and eliminates the concerning player.

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Digital Roots are an important element of the Nonary Games. This is how players can enter Numbered Doors by scanning their bracelets on REDs, but only if the digital root matches the number on the door.

Digital roots work by individually summing up the digits of a number, then summing up those from the result until there is a single digit remaining. Examples include:

• 1234: 1+2+3+4=10, 1+0=1. The digital root for 1234 is 1.
• 678: 6+7+8=21, 2+1=3. The digital root for 678 is 3.

Most Numbered Doors have a numbered marked on them with red paint. These Numbered Doors can only be opened if the bracelets scanned on the door's RED match the digital root equal to the number on the door itself. It the digital root is the wrong one, the RED will read "ERROR" and the screen will clear.

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Bracalets are worn on a player's left wrist during a Nonary Game. They enforce the game's rules and eliminates anyone who breaks them. They were invented by Teruaki Kubota, a member of Cradle Pharmaceutical, for the First Nonary Game.

Bracelets are thick and are a reddish pink color, having two buttons on the side and an LCD display similar to a digital watch. Each bracelet's LCD display has an unique number, 1-9, that serves as each participant's ID. In order to access a Numbered Door, players need to form the digital root of the door they wish to go through. There must be at least three and at most five players entering a Numbered Door, which forms restrictions players need to keep in mind.

After going through the door by registering the bracelets on the door's RED, players have 81 seconds to find the door's DEAD to deactivate their bracelets, as indicated by a magenta skull shown under their bracelet's number. Failure to do so detaches the bracelet from the player's wrist as a sign of their elimination. Once the DEAD has been found and the bracelets deactivated, the skull will disappear and the room's puzzles become available.

The buttons on the side have two functions: pressing both at the same time once announces the current time, pressing them at the same time twice tells players how much time they have left to escape, and pressing them in the order "right, left, right, left, right, left" reveals a code to unlock various things, depending on what Numbered Door players went through.