The escape room trend reaches Roanoke.
Deciphered Roanoke
Luke Croft, Ben Shaw and Brandon Ford
You’ve worked up an appetite prowling through a post-apocalyptic landscape all day, so it’s a welcome relief to come across a seemingly well-provisioned empty cabin in the woods. But with a click, the door locks behind you and a timer begins to count down: You have one hour to use the materials around you to escape. Tick, tick, tick…
It may sound like the plot to a Cormac McCarthy novel, but it’s actually the premise for one of two challenges available at Deciphered Roanoke, the newest addition to the “escape room” scene in Virginia.
The business, which opened March 23, is the first of its kind to open in Roanoke. For founders Ben Shaw and Brandon Ford—who had become good friends at Roanoke College—the decision to quit their jobs in accounting and open an escape room was a simple one.
“Lynchburg, which we think of as a smaller market, has two escape rooms,” said Shaw, 22. “We looked at each other and said, ‘We’d be dumb not to do this.’”
Shaw, Ford and creative director Luke Croft are capitalizing on what’s becoming a popular entertainment option around Virginia; in addition to Lynchburg, escape rooms have also recently opened in Richmond, Alexandria and Virginia Beach.
The rooms—each of which feature a different “survival” premise with corresponding décor and require serious critical thinking and problem solving skills—are an especially big hit with businesses, which host events on site for employee team-building exercises. Over the course of an hour, contestants must solve various puzzles in order to find the key which will unlock the door.
“Anything in the room can be a clue,” advises Shaw, noting that only about 30-40 percent of teams are successful in completing an escape.
At Deciphered Roanoke, participants—who pay $20 per room—are never actually locked in, says Shaw, adding teams can communicate via walkie-talkie with him and his staff during the competition.
“We’ll pop in and give them a free hint if it looks like they need one,” he explains. “We want them to enjoy it, and hopefully come back and try another room.”
It’s proving a successful approach. The business is expanding to add a third room to its 1,700-square-foot Jefferson Street location in May, and plans to add a fourth later this summer. The concepts and themes for each room will also begin to rotate, says Shaw, to attract customers back for new challenges.
Part of the reason behind the success of his and other escape rooms statewide, says Shaw, is their simple accessibility. “It’s almost like being in a real-life video game,” he adds. “Anyone from a 12-year-old kid to a 60-year-old retiree can have fun and enjoy it.” DecipheredRoanoke.com
Click here for a guide to other escape rooms around the state.
