The Story of an Escape ... Room

An Escape Room you say. It might sound a little sinister, but it is actually a fun activity that encourages people to use their “thinking skills” to interpret clues which lead them to the solution and allows them to escape the room they have been confined in.

Winfield’s WMU instructor, Dave Pieart has created an escape room for the past three Crooked Creek Days celebrations.

“The escape room is a fundraiser for the student Europe trips I lead every two years,” Dave said. “A few years back, we lost access to what had been our primary fundraiser, so we needed new ideas. I’ve been interested in escape rooms for a while, and I thought we could make money by doing one. I also thought it would help CCDs by adding another attraction for older kids and adults.”

Escape Room instructions can be purchased, but Dave prefers to create his own original escape rooms.

Preparing these rooms does not happen overnight. They take much planning as well as hands on construction.

“I start thinking of ideas about the time school gets out,” he said. “But the actual creation of puzzles, clues and props takes a couple of weeks. We also need to find a location to hold the room This year that took the longest amount of time,” said Dave, adding “We need access t o a room for several days to set up and for a week to run it. We’ve been lucky here that the city council and Rebecca Bender have allowed us to use their facilities these last three years.”

“Once you have a room and theme, the biggest problem is creating puzzles around the props you have,” Dave continued. “We can’t afford to buy fancy gadgets, and we can’t do much to physically alter a room, so we must be very creative.”

Dave said it takes around three to five days to assemble a room after a couple of weeks of mental preparation.

“This year went quicker because the Kann sisters helped create and build the room,” he said. “The room should have a decent amount of space and Ideally a couple of doors and/or rooms.”

When asked about the source of the props, Dave said, “Each year I buy some products, like locks, or hidden compartment items. Then I supplement those with things from my house or that students supply.”

Dave said he doesn’t have much experience as he has only experienced one escape room himself. That was in the Quad Cities, when his family did it for his Dad’s birthday a few years ago. Dave said, “I would love to do more.”

When asked of some escape rooms are harder to solve than others Dave answered, “Absolutely! The professional ones are definitely created in a range from easy to very hard.”

Dave said that groups of 4-8 people are ideal, but they have had groups as small as two and as large as 10.

“This year, we had a solo person who went with another group, but; this is very much intended to be a group activity,” he said.

When asked if they ever had anyone panic if they couldn’t find their way out, Dave replied, “No. Not all escape rooms are actually about ‘escaping.’ Our rooms have all been about solving a mystery, so we don’t lock anyone in.”

Dave went on to mention a couple of problems they have encountered over the years.

“Every year, we create chains of clues, and every year people find ways to get around them. The first year two people figured out a way through a puzzle without opening the lock. This year we had to change a couple of puzzles multiple times as we realized they were too easy and certain props get broken through constant use,” he said.

He advises anyone who wants to tackle an escape room to remember that theme and props are important. It’s the story that makes a good escape room.

Dave finds it memorable that “people give us positive feedback on the rooms and that multiple groups have come back and done It every year.”

The escape room makes a good alternative for the fundraiser they no longer can do.

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