Posted: 4/14/2017 7:49:50 PM EDT
| Has anyone ever heard of an Escape Room? As in a group puzzle/problem solving game where you have an hour to get out of a scenerio? |
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I've done a few. The puzzles range from dumb to challenging. Eta: I see you're talking about live action versions. I've never done those. My friends did one and they had a great time. I want to try it. |
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I own one. Currently 3 rooms and put all the money back into the business. We'll have 6 when we're done.
Like any small business, you probably won't make much money off it for a while. My business partner and I still work full time jobs. It's fun but a lot of work designing rooms, puzzles and constantly making adjustments for things that dont' work properly. It's also pretty amazing how much shit people can break. |
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Could someone give an example of one they did? I can't wrap my head around the concept. then you are "locked in a room" (not really cause of fire code) and have to solve a bunch of puzzles and clues to figure a way out. |
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I've done a few. The puzzles range from dumb to challenging. They usually have multiple rooms with varying degrees of difficulty and they recommend you start at the easiest and work your way up to the hardest. Some of the puzzles can make no sense and be quite difficult to figure out. |
| Got to admit, a bit of a troll post here. I just love GD's dynamic of raw truth. My wife and I are opening one and I can't believe how many people have not heard of one. Everyone we speak to Banks (to open a business checking), friends, insurance for general liability, etc., are like what the hell is that? I hope we are not making a mistake. |
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Could someone give an example of one they did? I can't wrap my head around the concept. |
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Got to admit, a bit of a troll post here. I just love GD's dynamic of raw truth. My wife and I are opening one and I can't believe how many people have not heard of one. Everyone we speak to Banks (to open a business checking), friends, insurance for general liability, etc., are like what the hell is that? I hope we are not making a mistake. |
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I've done a bunch of them online. The kids have done a live one twice and had a blast.
I would recommend before you go for a live one to do several on line so you get a feel for the possibilities. I don't know how viable a business they may be. There are a ton of the online re games. I'd say if you keep your overhead down, keep the games fresh, interesting challenging and get good advertising, you could make a go of it. Kind of like a funhouse on steroids for intellectuals. |
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Got to admit, a bit of a troll post here. I just love GD's dynamic of raw truth. My wife and I are opening one and I can't believe how many people have not heard of one. Everyone we speak to Banks (to open a business checking), friends, insurance for general liability, etc., are like what the hell is that? I hope we are not making a mistake. |
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What market research did you do? |
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As an example, part of the one my friends did had one room with a keypad to exit. You had to enter a code, which wound up being in a box in a safe that needed a key to open. The key was in a vent, that you had have a ladder to access. The ladder was in a closet that you needed another key to open. And so on... What did the key go to? Absolutely nothing. Motherf**ker! |
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I had a few. One was a two person room, both chained at the ankles in what looked like an old industrial tiled bathroom.
Anyways, they had to figure how to get the chains off their legs. One guy pussed out and didn't dip the cigarette in the poison for the other one to smoke and subsequently die. The hacksaw I left in there wasn't meant to cut through chains, but bone. So the doctor sawed his foot off and went to go get help to free the other one. |
| Definately read the reviews first. I've done three - the first was very elaborate, lots of dead ends, multiple rooms, hidden access, secret hiding spots, and needed 4+ people to complete in time. The other was very linear A->B->C->D boring. More recent had more physics puzzles rather than finding clues and patterns. |
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Got to admit, a bit of a troll post here. I just love GD's dynamic of raw truth. My wife and I are opening one and I can't believe how many people have not heard of one. Everyone we speak to Banks (to open a business checking), friends, insurance for general liability, etc., are like what the hell is that? I hope we are not making a mistake.  Someone beat me to the punch and got a private investor - sorry guys, I'm not Money Bags Maloy like you all. 
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We do these occasionally. We just did one two nights ago. Two companies run them within walking distance.
They are fun. Run about $35 per person here. One made me do algebra by hand to solve something. My group had a gay guy singing showtunes because he didn't know what was going on. It was like turning up the difficulty level. |
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Done it a couple of times, it was a lot of fun.
I dont see see how the one we went to made any money, though. I think it worked out to about $10/person. Open only on weekends from 5-10 or something like that. Each scenario lasted an hour, so factor in wasted time between groups and you could turn over the rooms probably 4 times a night. They had three rooms, each could hold maybe 5-6 people max, and they're in a part of town where retail space is not cheap. eta: now that I think about it some more, I'm thinking it was $20/person. |
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Game site. Room escape is the very first category for a reason.
For those who don't get it or haven't tried one poke around til you find one you like on here. There are a lot of different flavors. Gamers hood |
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Could someone give an example of one they did? I can't wrap my head around the concept. We got into the guy's "home" and as soon as we walked in, we sprung a trap, and all the exits were sealed. That was the setup. We started by just looking around. There was another door (looked like a closet - locked), a couple padlocked chests, a locked cabinet, etc. Someone found a key in the lining of a suitcase. That key opened up a chest with only a cryptic note inside. Someone else found a magnet, and I used that to fish a key out of the "empty" chest where it had fallen down a crack between the wood and leather lining. That key opened up a cabinet with an old-timey world map, with some brass pushpins stuck in it. We used the latitude/longitude of the pins to arrange ancient artifacts in a certain way to reveal another clue, which opened up a combination lock that had a key and a used plane ticket inside. The key opened up the "closet" which was another entire room full of clues, with a locked crate in the corner. A loose panel on the roll-top desk opened up a secret compartment to reveal another map with weird symbols, and a mirrored vase was placed on a certain spot, so you could read the weird symbols as they reflected on the vase. That led us to finding a poem that helped us decode an ancient script that was carved into flint arrowheads. The order of the arrowheads in the display case, combined with the poem, helped us figure out his destination on another map. We had to use a rolling ticker to measure the distance from his departure point (on the ticket) to his arrival point, and use that number as the combination on the locked crate. The crate contained a set of ancient stone tiles with strange symbols on it... and a secret latch that led into a completely pitch-black room. We had to go back and find other clues to get flashlights, then go back in. There were a set of tiles on the wall that matched the tiles in the crate, and they could slide around the wall, one at a time, like one of those sliding puzzles. We had to arrange the tiles into a maze shape that would show the path through the exit without hitting any traps. Then we all had to walk across the "trap floor" without stepping on any of the wrong tiles. That's it. My biggest problem was trying to figure out whether any particular quirk of the room was part of the puzzle, or just how the game designers had to do things so people wouldn't break shit. I couldn't get the meta out of my head, and I'd overlook real clues, or focus on things that were out of place, but just because of the practicalities of putting together a puzzle room. I mostly felt useless while everyone else had fun. I consider myself a pretty smart person, but I'm definitely not smart in the right way to do these puzzles. That said, I had a lot of fun, and I'd definitely stand around and watch other people solve clues again. |
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The one we did was sort of a 1940s Indiana Jones knockoff theme. Some world traveller/adventurer type had disappeared with some expensive ancient artifact from South America, and my group had been "hired" to find out whether he had disappeared of his own volition, or was the victim of some evil professor type. We got into the guy's "home" and as soon as we walked in, we sprung a trap, and all the exits were sealed. That was the setup. We started by just looking around. There was another door (looked like a closet - locked), a couple padlocked chests, a locked cabinet, etc. Someone found a key in the lining of a suitcase. That key opened up a chest with only a cryptic note inside. Someone else found a magnet, and I used that to fish a key out of the "empty" chest where it had fallen down a crack between the wood and leather lining. That key opened up a cabinet with an old-timey world map, with some brass pushpins stuck in it. We used the latitude/longitude of the pins to arrange ancient artifacts in a certain way to reveal another clue, which opened up a combination lock that had a key and a used plane ticket inside. The key opened up the "closet" which was another entire room full of clues, with a locked crate in the corner. A loose panel on the roll-top desk opened up a secret compartment to reveal another map with weird symbols, and a mirrored vase was placed on a certain spot, so you could read the weird symbols as they reflected on the vase. That led us to finding a poem that helped us decode an ancient script that was carved into flint arrowheads. The order of the arrowheads in the display case, combined with the poem, helped us figure out his destination on another map. We had to use a rolling ticker to measure the distance from his departure point (on the ticket) to his arrival point, and use that number as the combination on the locked crate. The crate contained a set of ancient stone tiles with strange symbols on it... and a secret latch that led into a completely pitch-black room. We had to go back and find other clues to get flashlights, then go back in. There were a set of tiles on the wall that matched the tiles in the crate, and they could slide around the wall, one at a time, like one of those sliding puzzles. We had to arrange the tiles into a maze shape that would show the path through the exit without hitting any traps. Then we all had to walk across the "trap floor" without stepping on any of the wrong tiles. That's it. My biggest problem was trying to figure out whether any particular quirk of the room was part of the puzzle, or just how the game designers had to do things so people wouldn't break shit. I couldn't get the meta out of my head, and I'd overlook real clues, or focus on things that were out of place, but just because of the practicalities of putting together a puzzle room. I mostly felt useless while everyone else had fun. I consider myself a pretty smart person, but I'm definitely not smart in the right way to do these puzzles. That said, I had a lot of fun, and I'd definitely stand around and watch other people solve clues again. There are certain thought processes that are prevalent. The great games are the ones that use more logic and less randomness but are still difficult. |
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There is a company here (MN) who has a house in Minneapolis and one in St Paul who each have 3 different puzzles. They make their own rooms. The concept has gotten big enough there are companies who design rooms and sell the design to people who run local puzzle rooms.
For the person who wanted the explanation #1 Per fire code, door isn't really locked. #2 Tend to be designed for groups. This place took a group of 3, of 3, and of 4 and had us work together. #3 Good places monitor the group and have a way to give hints that feel as part of the experience (For instance one was designed to be stealing back a painting and the get-away driver would contact the team on a walkie-talkie.) and set up series of puzzles. They monitor an give hints keep a group on track. Then when you get done you are judged both by how fast and how many hints you needed. #4 They tend to be set up where you have a bunch of stuff and you look for something that doesn't fit, or seems to be made to stand out, and hopefully that item starts a chain of clues. One I did was set in a studio apartment. Everyone went into the first room I walked down the hall and looked at the next room. It had a door with a pushbutton combination lock. Around each pushbutton there was a color. I walked back to the main two rooms (kitchen/livingroom) and noticed a xylophone on the bookshelf. The colors matched the lock. I flipped it over expecting to see some sort of clue on bottom. No. I wandered over to a pair of other folks They were at a picture frame that was playing music. I noticed a xylophone hammer by the picture. We put together that you were supposed to replicate the music on the xylophone to find the code to get in. Other elements in the puzzles there were finding a book with a bookmarker (an atlas) noticing who what where why written on the page. This lead to someone digging through moe of the bookshelf finding a book on codes with a string and trinket attached, and someone digging through the LP records for a different purpose (we had found a laptop in the locked room that had a music CD in it) I spotted a record by the WHO. It had letters of song titles circled. This lead us to put the info into something and get a result (I was reading out the letters, don't recall where they found the thing that it goes into other than it was another book) We also had a piece we had to put over heat (tea kettle) to reveal it's info, and use the code book to decipher a necklace whose big long beads were dashes, small beads dots and really small beads breaks between letters. etc. Some times 1 puzzle lead to the next step (xylophone to unlock the next room) sometimes it was a chain of puzzles which lead to the next step, sometimes it was 3 different stand alone puzzles who each contributed an element to get to the next step. |
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My GF and my buddy and his GF did one, supposed to take an hour. Well him and I were pulling on an old karaoke machine that looked like it was a clue while the 2 girls were fiddling with a stupid map on the wall. Ended up popping it open revealing some hidden button that opened the final room.
Took us 20 minutes to finish  Employee came out and said "well you didn't technically cheat but you were supposed to find some button to open it" 
Strength over smarts |
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My GF and my buddy and his GF did one, supposed to take an hour. Well him and I were pulling on an old karaoke machine that looked like it was a clue while the 2 girls were fiddling with a stupid map on the wall. Ended up popping it open revealing some hidden button that opened the final room. Took us 20 minutes to finish Employee came out and said "well you didn't technically cheat but you were supposed to find some button to open it"
Strength over smarts As for the OPs question... these things are huuuge in the "Western" Eastern Europe capitals - Prague, Budapest (saw ads all over Budapest). Didn't know they were a "thing" in the States until this thread. |
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The one we did was sort of a 1940s Indiana Jones knockoff theme. Some world traveller/adventurer type had disappeared with some expensive ancient artifact from South America, and my group had been "hired" to find out whether he had disappeared of his own volition, or was the victim of some evil professor type. Indiana Jones Pirate Treasure ISIS killing Sherlock Holmes Scooby Doo room (TM issues, probably but it would be really cool) Haunted House Brothel/Swinger Club (do a theme night for couples) 50 Shades Dungeon (do a theme night for ladies)-imagine the fun of sending you wife to local sex shop to buy 100+ sex toys 
Old/Haunted School Old/Haunted orphanage *some of these may not go over so well, depending on your audience
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