Jackson, MI: EpIQ Escapes – 90s & Game Show
Christina and I planned for a weekend in Detroit and beyond, but it was our stop on the way in Jackson, MI, that ended up being one of the highlights of our trip.
Articles by Brian Gondek
Impromptu Detroit Getaway
Talk about an unexpected journey. For more than a week Christina and I had planned to go to Traverse City, Michigan again, staying at the bed & breakfast aboard the SS City of Milwaukee, an old 1930s ferry which now stays in one location as a museum. Unfortunately for us, the rest of the world must have also decided this was a good weekend for northern Michigan, as the SS City of Milwaukee was booked completely and all other hotel options were in the $350 a night range.
Beta Testing with Enthusiasts: Dos and Dont’s
You’re opening a new escape room and you only have one opportunity to beta test it. You can either bring in a team of family and friends who generally like the idea and enjoy puzzles, or you can bring out a hardcore escape room enthusiast, say one who solved an escape room in every state in under a year. What do you do?
St. Joseph, MI: Puzzlemental – Henchmen’s Hideout
St. Joseph is a hidden treasure just a stone’s throw from Chicago, and hidden within is a gem of an escape room.
The Anatomy of a Bad Experience
Christina and I recently completed a negative experience at a nearby escape room, Panic Escape Room. I don’t like speaking negatively about escape rooms regarding subjective elements that I personally didn’t like, but Panic had enough objective issues that make it a perfect case study for simple things to avoid in room design.
50 States, Pictured
I finally got around to plotting on a map the locations of where I’ve solved escape rooms. Now I’m interested in taking trips to plug some of the biggest geographical gaps.
Fort Collins, CO: ConTRAPtions – Plight of the Margo Part 1
May 11, 2019 – On our most recent trip to Denver, Christina and I wanted to hike a little. There’s no shortage of options around Denver for this, but we had heard from Brian at Rabbit Hole Recreation Services that the Fort Collins area had some great escape rooms in addition to its natural wonders, so we headed in that direction.
Escape Room Prizes
Many escape room businesses offer some kind of prize for winning. Whether it be a small prize like a sticker or a big prize like a T-shirt, or even proof of victory like a digital leaderboard or a stamp on a “passport,” there are a lot of prizes out there right now. So what makes a good prize? I’ll break down my thoughts on a few of the prizes I’ve encountered:
Marietta, GA: ZEscape – The Cells
June 9, 2019 – We visited ZEscape as a last minute stop on the way back to Atlanta after visiting family in North Carolina. Though I didn’t have much time to read up on the place, their website showed a few clever details that suggested the overall quality of the business. ZEscape had both a 75 minute room and an asymmetrical versus room in which a British room and a Pirates room compete against each other to be the first out, with different but complementary puzzles in both rooms. Both of these details suggested ZEscape didn’t follow a typical formula, […]
Aquatic Atlanta Adventure
Christina and I had a brutal time getting to Atlanta and arrived late on Friday, June 7. We left straight from work and came dangerously close to missing our plane due to an already-late Uber driver stopping for Starbucks on the way. So of course our reaction was to seek out an escape room immediately upon landing.