Irvine's new 'Eskape Room' gives players an hour to decipher its secrets
Sept. 30, 2015 Updated 1:44 p.m.
IRVINE ? As Chris Im watched from another room via a monitor, a group of his childhood friends broke into loud cheers, jumping up and down and high-fiving one another.
Im and Daniel Lee, UC Irvine alumni, are co-owners of Eskape Rooms, a recent entry into the world of real-life escape-room attractions, in which a team of people are shut into a room and must gather clues and employ problem-solving techniques to figure out the room?s secrets within an hour.
On Monday, Im and Lee, cousins who grew up together in Irvine, invited six friends for a round of beta testing ahead of a ?soft opening? planned for Friday.
Get stuck, and Eskape staffers will offer hints, either on a computer screen in the room where the hour is counting down, or via a loudspeaker, Im told the group. Then, they were off, scrambling to solve a slew of riddles as stark red digits counted down from 60 minutes.
The real-life version of the popular virtual escape-room games has been catching on locally.
?The concept came from Japan,? Im said. ?It?s been spreading like wildfire in the U.S.?
When Im and Lee began researching escape rooms in the region, they found one operating in Orange County. Now, they estimate there are at least a half-dozen.
?We?re catching an industry in its infancy,? Im said.
Eskape Rooms? debut comes about two months after Square Room Escape, a similar attraction, launched in the Diamond Jamboree shopping center. Since opening, owners Ryan King and Mike Lou said their Harry Potter and Super Mario-themed rooms have been packed every weekend.
?It?s been much busier than we thought it would be,? Lou said.
As people spend more time online, in-person activities are becoming more attractive, and even novel, King said.
Chad McClain, owner of Exodus Escape Room in Anaheim, said his was the first escape room in Orange County. Exodus opened its pair of rooms, Sherlock?s Study and Trap Room, in November.
Soon, he plans to open a third room, dubbed Masquarade Mayhem, at the Anaheim location.
?The response has been nothing short of phenomenal,? he said. ?We?ve done so well that we?re on the verge of opening two more (locations).?
The second Exodus site is slated to open in Rancho Cucamonga by Halloween; a third is planned for Lake Forest, McLain said.
Eskape?s Im and Lee said their business offers a rare mix of high- and low-tech elements.
Kevin Liu, the company?s chief technical officer, is a fourth-year undergraduate at UCI. The computer engineer is the brains behind Eskape?s electronic surprises, which sent the recent group of beta testers into paroxysms of delight and surprise.
Collaboration is encouraged, and at some points, required. Some escape rooms make the experience a linear one: Players must solve one puzzle before moving onto the next. But Eskape offers multiple riddles at the same time in an effort to ensure no one in the room feels as though they aren?t playing a role.
That way, ?Everyone can get a part of the action,? Im said.
Eskape offers two rooms. One challenges participants to investigate the disappearance of Professor White, a scientist who was working on a confidential government project when he vanished. The other, called Operation Dream State, situates participants as agents who must dive into the mind of the FBI?s No. 1 most wanted man, ?Inception?-style, before he attacks again.
Sept. 30, 2015 Updated 1:44 p.m.
IRVINE ? As Chris Im watched from another room via a monitor, a group of his childhood friends broke into loud cheers, jumping up and down and high-fiving one another.
Im and Daniel Lee, UC Irvine alumni, are co-owners of Eskape Rooms, a recent entry into the world of real-life escape-room attractions, in which a team of people are shut into a room and must gather clues and employ problem-solving techniques to figure out the room?s secrets within an hour.
On Monday, Im and Lee, cousins who grew up together in Irvine, invited six friends for a round of beta testing ahead of a ?soft opening? planned for Friday.
Get stuck, and Eskape staffers will offer hints, either on a computer screen in the room where the hour is counting down, or via a loudspeaker, Im told the group. Then, they were off, scrambling to solve a slew of riddles as stark red digits counted down from 60 minutes.
The real-life version of the popular virtual escape-room games has been catching on locally.
?The concept came from Japan,? Im said. ?It?s been spreading like wildfire in the U.S.?
When Im and Lee began researching escape rooms in the region, they found one operating in Orange County. Now, they estimate there are at least a half-dozen.
?We?re catching an industry in its infancy,? Im said.
Eskape Rooms? debut comes about two months after Square Room Escape, a similar attraction, launched in the Diamond Jamboree shopping center. Since opening, owners Ryan King and Mike Lou said their Harry Potter and Super Mario-themed rooms have been packed every weekend.
?It?s been much busier than we thought it would be,? Lou said.
As people spend more time online, in-person activities are becoming more attractive, and even novel, King said.
Chad McClain, owner of Exodus Escape Room in Anaheim, said his was the first escape room in Orange County. Exodus opened its pair of rooms, Sherlock?s Study and Trap Room, in November.
Soon, he plans to open a third room, dubbed Masquarade Mayhem, at the Anaheim location.
?The response has been nothing short of phenomenal,? he said. ?We?ve done so well that we?re on the verge of opening two more (locations).?
The second Exodus site is slated to open in Rancho Cucamonga by Halloween; a third is planned for Lake Forest, McLain said.
Eskape?s Im and Lee said their business offers a rare mix of high- and low-tech elements.
Kevin Liu, the company?s chief technical officer, is a fourth-year undergraduate at UCI. The computer engineer is the brains behind Eskape?s electronic surprises, which sent the recent group of beta testers into paroxysms of delight and surprise.
Collaboration is encouraged, and at some points, required. Some escape rooms make the experience a linear one: Players must solve one puzzle before moving onto the next. But Eskape offers multiple riddles at the same time in an effort to ensure no one in the room feels as though they aren?t playing a role.
That way, ?Everyone can get a part of the action,? Im said.
Eskape offers two rooms. One challenges participants to investigate the disappearance of Professor White, a scientist who was working on a confidential government project when he vanished. The other, called Operation Dream State, situates participants as agents who must dive into the mind of the FBI?s No. 1 most wanted man, ?Inception?-style, before he attacks again.
