Ready, set, escape
BY KRISTEN W OHLERS
photo by Collin Berend
It m ight sound like a nightmare to be locked in
a room with only minutes to escape, but that’s
exactly the thrill that people around the country
are seeking when they visit escape rooms.
Escape rooms allow people to become the game
pieces in a life-sized adventure. Rooms vary in
them e, but the general idea is' that a group has
60 m inutes to observe, explore, decode, open
“ It really h elp s w ith th e su sp en sio n o f
disbelief,” said Nick Ham ilton, an actor at the
company.
At Portland Escape Rooms, each room is given a
spare factor, age appropriateness suggestion and
a recommended number of participants. “ Voodoo
Curse” has at^care factor of 4/10, is appropriate
for ages 15 and up, and 2 -6 participants are
locks and solve puzzles in order to break free.
recommend^dl That participant number can be
Members of The Print staffvisited “ Madame
stretched by two to accommodate groups. We
N eptune’ s Voodoo Curse” at Portland Escape took seven people into the Voodoo room.
Rooms on Beaverton-Hillsdale Highway, where
or th o se re a lly lo o k in g for a fr ig h t, in
we were locked in a room together with the task the “ K idnap p ed ” ro o m , p articip an ts begin
o f breaking a curse to save our souls.
handcuffed to a wall in the dark. This room has
“ Your team gets to be the protagonist of your a scare factor of 5/10.
own horror sto ry ,” said Lena Step p , general
W hen D em i Lovato visited Portland Escape
manager and designer o f the room.
Rooms with her dog Batman, she played “ Trapped
Madame Neptune’ s granddaughter led us into i l l a Room w ith a Zom bie,” w hich has a scare
a sm all room with skull wallpaper. She sat at a factor o f 7/10.
large table to reveal the fortune o f one brave,
“ We o ccasio n ally get fa m ily fig h t n ig h t;
group member. After a few instructions to help . especially in the Zombie room tensions are very
immerse us into the story, she was o ff, and she h ig h ,” said Madison Mondeaux, who works at
locked the door behind her.
Portland Escape Rooms.
W e m anaged our w ay into a larger, d im ly
Employee Mary Compton suggested that the
lit space w ith shrunken heads for wall décór, jjirim e number of people for success is 6 -8.
where m ost o f the p uzzle-solving happened.*
“ It depends on the com m unication o f the
W e ev en tu ally m et an o th er character and group,” Compton said. “ I’ve seen groups of 12
encountered the underworld, w hich was dark do phenom enally because they com m unicate
and required us to use the provided lantenMb|J really w ell.” .
We watched the clock tick down as we worked 1 Escape Rooms are appropriate for adults and
together to break open lock after lock, and after ¡kids alik e, birthday parties, fa m ilies, team
a fright or two and plenty of confusion, we made building and more.
it out at 56:05 with minutes to spare.
r ’ “ W e’ve had interviews too where it’ s a boss
According to Stepp, approximately 30 percent Interview ing their prospective clients, and this
of groups escape Voodoo Curse. The record for is their interview process,” Com pton said.
the room is 37:42.
A t Portland Escape Rooms, the team creates
The Voodoo room is the first fully active room ¡new rooms approximately every six m onths in
of their own design and their first multiple escapé ferder to keep it interesting for players. They
room.
Jiope to open their newest room, “ Steampunk
“ You have to proceed through a couple different Airship” by May.¡This room will function like a
spaces,” Stepp said.
choose your own adventure.
Portland Escape Rooms began almost two years
“ It’s no t going-to just be how well you solve
ago in a basement, and has expanded so that they puzzlesand how^yellyou move forward through
now have 20 employees and offer five different those puzzles,” said Heinz, “ but it’ s also going to
escape rooms.
be based on the fact that you are going to become,
“ I think over time we’ re starting to feel a lot as your group, part o f the crew of this sh ip .”
more like a theater company fam ily, because we
For reservations or for more information, visit
all love working together,” said actor Lane Heinz. portlandescaperqoms.com.
Stepp suggested that what sets Portland Escape
Rooms apart from others is that they have actors
The Print staff received free game play in order to
and characters in the room.
write this piece.
I
R
4 Clackamas Print FEBRUARY 15,2017 thedackamasprintcom
Employees at Portland Escape Room antagonize customers in three
different rooms: “Madame Neptune’s Voodoo Curse,” “Arcade” and
“Trapped in a Room with a Zombie.”
“ Your team gets to be the protagonist o f
your own horror story.”
-L e n a Stepp