I’ve always thought I could have been a detective. I’m enthralled by mystery novels and love good mystery movies. I’ve always assumed that, if just given the chance, I could have solved them all, especially without all the surprise endings and held-back or hidden clues.
That’s what I’ve thought . . . so when I was given an opportunity to play two escape rooms at The Lost Room Escape Adventures in Helen, Georgia, I was thrilled. I chose my team carefully and invited my hubby Bob and my son-in-law, Benjie, to go with me. I chose Bob because I enjoy spending time with him, but also because he’s a detail person and he’s really observant and smart. I chose Benjie because he’s super smart, especially with puzzles and games.
Once my team was ready, I did research because that’s my superpower. I checked out sites that gave tips on how to successfully navigate an escape room in record time. I asked Bob and Benjie to read them as well. Bob did; Benjie didn’t.
I thought we were prepared. At least, that’s what I thought.
The escape room industry
The precise beginning of escape room games seems a little confused. In the early 2000s, several Japanese game designers created rooms in which 5-6 players had to figure out how to escape. In 2004, that tied into the growing internet worldwide. From that beginning, escape rooms spread through Asia and Europe.
In the years since, the industry has taken off, with escape room adventures popping up in suburban and tourist areas. The goal of each is for participants to find their way out of a locked room. As technology improves, that challenge becomes even more difficult.
Thomas Dunagan, the owner and game designer for The Lost Room Escape Adventures, came into the industry as a gamer himself. “I played my first escape adventure seven years ago,” he explains, “and thought it was a really cool concept.” Dunagan didn’t stop at just one. To this point, he has personally played 180 escape rooms and already has reservations to visit five more.
Dunagan’s background was as the program director for camps and retreats in the Northeast Georgia area for almost ten years. He knows what it takes to provide a service for his clients and he keeps that in mind as he designs and builds his own escape rooms. He’s totally immersed in the game, designing the intricate puzzles and sets, and then bringing those designs to reality. “It doesn’t always go the way I plan,” he admits. “I spent 40 hours building one involved puzzle, only to find out it wouldn’t work the way it should. It happens.”
Dunagan opened The Lost Room Escape Adventures three years ago, so he’s had to maneuver working as a small business owner during the pandemic. He used the time to build another escape room and now he has three very different immersive escape room experiences to intrigue and entertain visitors.
Mind exercise
Dunagan took his father to his dad’s first escape room experience a couple of years ago. His father had not been really interested in the game until he tried it himself. “My dad didn’t really want to try new things,” Dunagan said, “but he really got involved in the escape room and loved the experience.”
Dunagan’s escape room clients are usually in their 20s and 30s. Older generations do not seem as interested, and Dunagan thinks they are the ones who are actually missing out the most on it. He feels that the whole experience is good for senior adults. “It’s not too physically demanding for them and it helps them exercise their minds in the process,” he says. His escape rooms are designed for adults.
Dunagan’s favorite group of participants involved a family with members from three or four generations. The family was there because the grandmother, probably in her late 80s who arrived with her walker and her portable oxygen tank, wanted the experience. The grandmother was somewhat limited in places she could physically get to during the game, but she totally embraced the opportunity.
As a game designer, Dunagan learned something as well. “I will never design another room that doesn’t have ways for someone with mobility issues to get around in it,” he explained.
Playing the escape room game
Dunagan feels there are lots of misconceptions about what escape room experiences are about. “At its core, an escape room is a cooperative puzzle game that takes the players away from internet technology to be involved with each other,” Dunagan emphasizes. “We’re selling an experience that continues to evolve. It’s dramatic, it’s theatrical, and the lighting is designed to make the experience as real as possible.”
Our first experience, The Master Key, was set in a professor’s office. The office was set up perfectly and a computer monitor provided a way for Dunagan to give us little prompts if we got stuck on a puzzle. We did – a lot, and the prompts kept us going and enthused.
I can promise that the hour given to complete the room’s puzzle went by so fast, and we enjoyed the process of working together. We actually solved that room and made our escape, but in total truth, I think we were given about five extra minutes to do it.
Anything else I could write on it might give something away and I don’t want to do that.
The second experience, Grimm, was truly much more grim and much more difficult. We began in handcuffs chained to parts of a bathroom and were blindfolded. I’m somewhat claustrophobic, so I wasn’t thrilled with the blindfolds, but I was promised it would be only for a couple of minutes. Dunagan kept his word and the blindfold was quickly removed.
Getting rid of the handcuffs took a good bit longer, and then we realized the real game began. And what a game it was. I have to admit that we thought we were doing well until time ran out and we were killed. Yeah, that was a true disappointment for all three of us.
The three of us were unsure what we would encounter. We signed up to do two escape room scenarios back-to-back and didn’t begin until 7 p.m. When we finished about 10 p.m., we were mentally exhausted, physically tired, and emotionally charged. The whole experience was amazing, and we can’t wait to do it again.
The Lost Room Escape Adventures is located at 8016 South Main Street, Unit 5, in Helen, Georgia 30545. You can make a reservation for Master Key, Grimm, or The Break Room: Krampus by calling (706) 620-4121.
To follow Dunagan’s escape room adventures read his blog at https://lostroomescapeadventures.com/blog/ or visit him on Facbook at The Lost Room: Escape Adventures or on Instagram @lostroomescapeadventures.
For more day trippin’ adventures in Helen, Georgia, click here. For adventures beyond Helen, click on Day Trippin’ under the Features tab on Now Habersham’s home page.
