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🚀 Scenario 05 — The Docker Escape Room Challenge

🎯 Scenario Goal

Transform learners from Docker users into Docker HEROES through:

✅ Real-world puzzles ✅ Gamification and fun storytelling ✅ Live problem-solving ✅ Hands-on Docker commands ✅ Hilarious and unforgettable learning

🧩 The Storyline

You and your workshop friends have been kidnapped by Dr. NullPointer, the evil villain of the cloud.

He’s locked you inside the Docker Vault, a high-security digital prison guarded by containers.

To escape, you must:

  • Solve five Docker puzzles
  • Discover hidden secrets
  • Hack your way through broken networks
  • Outsmart containers with memory issues
  • Master multi-stage builds to save your digital life!

Fail…and you’ll be trapped running endless hello-world containers for eternity.

🏆 The Escape Flow

✅ How It Works

  • You’ll see a clue in the web browser.
  • You’ll have a live shell to run real Docker commands.
  • Enter your answer in the browser.
  • If correct → next door unlocks.
  • If wrong → Dr. NullPointer taunts you mercilessly.

✅ Game Mechanics

✅ Time challenge: Solve all puzzles before Dr. NullPointer triggers a CI/CD pipeline apocalypse.
✅ Score system: - +10 points for each puzzle - -3 points for failed attempts ✅ Leaderboards → bragging rights! ✅ Funny taunts → randomized villain insults ✅ Real consequences: - Containers running - Logs filling up - Resource exhaustion

🕹️ The Five Docker Puzzles

⭐ Puzzle 1 — The Secret Vault (Volumes)

Dr. NullPointer’s Message:

“Mwahaha! I’ve hidden the Escape Key inside a secret volume.
It’s buried in: /secret/code.txt Inside a Docker volume called: vault-volume Find it… or you’ll be stuck in /dev/null forever.”

What Learners Must Do

Run:

docker run --rm -v vault-volume:/mnt busybox cat /mnt/secret/code.txt
````

✅ Copy secret code → paste into web UI

---

### Dr. NullPointer Taunts:

* “That’s adorable… you think you can just `docker run` your way out?”
* “Even my cat knows how to mount a volume.”

---

✅ Insight:

> “Volumes persist data across containers. They’re like hidden treasure chests in Docker.”

---

---

## ⭐ Puzzle 2 — The Broken Bridge (Networking)

---

### Dr. NullPointer’s Message:

> “Your precious app can’t talk to its database!
> I’ve trapped them in **different Docker networks.**
> Fix it… or your packets will wander the void!”

---

### Scenario:

* Redis running in `networkA`
* Flask app running in `networkB`

---

### What Learners Must Do

Run:

```bash
docker network connect networkA redis-server

✅ Test connectivity:

docker run --rm --network networkA redis redis-cli -h redis-server ping

✅ Enter “PONG” into web UI → unlocks next puzzle

Dr. NullPointer Taunts:

  • “Packets? Lost. Like your hopes.”
  • “Network errors are my love language.”

✅ Insight:

“Custom Docker networks let containers talk to each other. Default bridge networks isolate them unless connected explicitly.”

⭐ Puzzle 3 — The Out-of-Memory Monster

Dr. NullPointer’s Message:

“Oops… your container ran out of memory. It keeps crashing with:

Cannot allocate memory

Increase its memory limit… or I’ll throttle you!”

What Learners Must Do

Re-run the failing container:

docker run -d --memory=512m busybox sh -c "dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/null bs=1M"

✅ Check logs:

docker logs <container_id>

✅ Submit confirmation of successful run.

Dr. NullPointer Taunts:

  • “Memory? You humans are always running out of it.”
  • “OOM Killer is my best friend.”

✅ Insight:

“Docker lets you set memory and CPU limits. It’s like giving containers strict lunch money.”

⭐ Puzzle 4 — Secrets in Plain Sight

Dr. NullPointer’s Message:

“I’ve hidden my evil flag as an environment variable inside a running container:

SECRET_FLAG=escape_docker

Find it… or your logs will overflow!”

What Learners Must Do

Run:

docker inspect container123

✅ Locate environment variable:

SECRET_FLAG=escape_docker

✅ Submit “escape_docker” in web UI.

Dr. NullPointer Taunts:

  • “Nice try. I’ve hidden secrets deeper than your debugging skills.”
  • “Inspect me all you want. You’ll never escape.”

✅ Insight:

“docker inspect reveals a container’s secrets: environment variables, mount paths, networks, and more.”

⭐ Puzzle 5 — The Multi-Stage Finale

Dr. NullPointer’s Message:

“Final door awaits! Your challenge:

  • Build the smallest possible Docker image for a Go app.
  • Must be under 20MB.

Fail… and I’ll flood your CI logs forever!”

What Learners Must Do

Craft this Dockerfile:

FROM golang:1.20 AS builder
WORKDIR /app
COPY . .
RUN go build -o myapp .

FROM scratch
COPY --from=builder /app/myapp /myapp
ENTRYPOINT ["/myapp"]

✅ Build:

docker build -t escape-final .

✅ Submit image size via:

docker images escape-final

✅ Must be under 20MB → win the game

Dr. NullPointer Taunts:

  • “A big-size image is a slow image.”
  • “Multi-stage builds? Cute. Let’s see if you can actually do it.”

✅ Insight:

“Multi-stage builds keep images tiny by copying only what you need into a clean runtime image.”

💻 Web UI Design

Main Game Screen

-------------------------------------------
|    DOCKER ESCAPE ROOM CHALLENGE         |
-------------------------------------------
| Puzzle 1 Clue:                          |
| "Find the secret code in vault-volume." |
|                                         |
| [ Enter Your Answer Here ] [ SUBMIT ]   |
-------------------------------------------
| Progress: [####------] 2/5              |
| Score: 20 points                        |
| Time Left: 6m 45s                       |
-------------------------------------------

✅ After each puzzle:

  • Confetti animation
  • Funny villain insults or praises
  • Progress bar fills

Game Over Screen

-------------------------------------------
|      YOU ESCAPED THE DOCKER VAULT!      |
|                                         |
|   Your Final Score: 47/50               |
|   Time Taken: 8m 23s                    |
|                                         |
| "Congratulations. You are now a true    |
|  Docker Grandmaster."                   |
|                                         |
| [ View Leaderboard ] [ Play Again ]     |
-------------------------------------------

🔥 Random Dr. NullPointer Quotes

✅ Keep things funny and unforgettable:

  • “docker run? More like docker ruin.”
  • “Volumes… they’re the dark matter of containers.”
  • “I hope you like inspecting things. Because you’re going to be stuck inspecting this vault forever.”

✅ Benefits for Learners

✅ Master:

  • volumes
  • networking
  • secrets
  • resource limits
  • multi-stage builds

✅ Get real hands-on practice ✅ Experience Docker like a puzzle-adventure ✅ Walk away with:

“I know how to troubleshoot and solve Docker problems in real life.”

✅ Adrenaline. Laughter. Lifetime memory.

✅ Implementation Blueprint

Folder Structure

scenario_05_escape_room/
│
├── webui/
│     ├── app.py
│     ├── templates/
│     │      └── escape.html
│     └── static/
│            └── js/
│
├── puzzles/
│     ├── puzzle1_volume.sh
│     ├── puzzle2_network.sh
│     ├── puzzle3_memory.sh
│     ├── puzzle4_inspect.sh
│     └── puzzle5_multistage/
│            ├── Dockerfile
│            ├── main.go
│
└── docker-compose.yml

Puzzle Shell Scripts

Each script:

  • Sets up puzzle
  • Prints puzzle clue
  • Prepares containers

Example puzzle1_volume.sh:

#!/bin/bash
docker volume create vault-volume
docker run --rm -v vault-volume:/mnt busybox sh -c "echo 'escape123' > /mnt/secret/code.txt"

Web UI

  • Flask-based
  • Renders puzzle clues
  • Accepts answer submissions

  • Tracks:

  • progress

  • score
  • time left
  • Randomly selects villain taunts

Cleanup Script

docker volume rm vault-volume
docker network rm networkA networkB
docker rm -f container123 app db
docker rmi escape-final