This is the experience that Yale alums Ethan Rodriguez-Torrent, DC ’13, and Max Sutter, CC ’11, promise with Escape New Haven, which opens Feb. 12. “Escape the room” is a new form of interactive entertainment that hit the East Coast just last year, popping up all across New York City. The new craze places a group of endeavoring puzzle-solvers in a room and gives them an hour to use the clues to escape. In May, Rodriguez-Torrent went to Manhattan to experience the phenomenon, roping a high-school friend, Dylan Connor, into coming along. After successfully escaping the room, he began to formulate an idea.
“The New York one was a lot of fun and I loved the concept, but there were a lot of things that I would do differently if it were me creating the puzzle,” he explained.
This is when Sutter, a mechanical engineer, came into the picture. Though both Yalies, the pair didn’t meet each other until after graduation, when they moved across the street from one another in New Haven. Rodriguez-Torrent explained to Sutter his idea for Escape the Room games, and the pair decided to run a beta test in Sutter’s basement over the summer.
Tragically, the test only ran for a week. Unbeknownst to Sutter, his neighbor served on the condo board, and wasn’t thrilled when the pair began building a wall, installing a door, and putting together a makeshift wooden gate in their room. The neighbor had heard the loud sounds of construction coming out of the basement and strolled over one day to see what was going on. When she found out, she quickly reported them.
However, that one week of testing was enough to convince the two that their concept was worth pursuing. On Monday, they invited all of their friends to try the prototype out, and by Thursday, they had strangers coming by, having heard good things. The pair decided that the next legitimate step was to find a real space and go all in. Connor (Yep, that same friend from New York) became their first investor.
Since the pair both have day jobs, Escape New Haven has to be a night and weekend operation for now. This made looking for spaces one of the more difficult parts of the process.
“We needed a space that Yale students would feel comfortable walking to in the dark but also that non-Yalies would go to… The place we found is really accessible off the highway, so we can get out of town traffic, but still near Yale,” said Sutter.
After finding a space that fit their criteria (and avoided nosy neighbors), they began to design the rooms. Though they drew initial inspiration from Escape the Room NYC’s “The Agency,” the New Haven version incorporates many changes. For example, they took out the “Cluemaster,” who gives the participants hints, and added minimal rules such as “Don’t rewire, don’t smash anything.” They then created three possible scenarios to play: Escape the Studio, Escape The Workshop, and Escape the Library. Each scenario has its own story and feel to it.
“The Workshop is rough, utilitarian, and… workshopy; the Library is sumptuous and a little pretentious; the Studio is… a little trippy,” said Rodriguez-Torrent, describing the ambiance of each scenario. “There are also some surprises along the way, but I don’t want to give away too much.”
The pair hired Jeff Gall, a local artist, to design the art direction of The Studio, and hope to have it be the first in a series of rooms that will be styled by other New Haven designers. Every three months they plan to take away one of the scenarios and replace it with a brand new one, and looking ahead they plan for each scenario to have a life span of nine months.
The clues in the room range in what senses they test, using tools such as lighting, mirrors, and sounds. They don’t want to simply hide the clues — they want to make it hard to notice them in a creative way. “We want to make you think in different ways, such as auditory, mechanical…” said Rodriguez-Torrent. “Sometimes you actually have to build things.”
Players also are given two “Get Out of Jail Free” cards, to help if they’re really struggling with a particular puzzle. Each team is monitored by someone in the central office, who, if necessary, can help the team along with a pre-set hint that appears on a screen in the room. Rodriguez-Torrent and Sutter aim to make it hard enough that 30 percent of the participants escape under an hour using the cards, and that 10 percent escape without using them even once. They hope to attract players of various ages, ranging from college students to young families.
So, why the sudden craze of the Escape the Room industry? Sutter said he thinks it’s because it allows people to think creatively and use their brain in unique, unexpected ways.
“I think most people don’t get a chance to think creatively on a day to day basis…. I think people like [Escape the room games] because [they] give you a chance to use different problem solving skills, and you get to work together with other people,” said Sutter.
“It’s something I think Yalies will love. I think there’s going to be, like, intramural competitions: see who has the shortest time, that kind of thing,” said Rodriguez-Torrent.
So start training now, Yalies! To prepare, they recommend playing the online game the craze was based on, called Real Escape. They also recommend knowing how to read analog clocks, something that really stumped people during the beta round.
“I would say, watch Sherlock and get into his character. It’s a lot about noticing what’s weird about the room, and trying to figure out what the room is trying to teach you about how to get out,” recommended Sutter.
Escape New Haven is located at 111 Whitney Avenue. The hours are currently scheduled for Thursday through Sunday, though they may need to add another time slot —they already had 500 advanced bookings two weeks before the doors open. So start making your appointments now guys, and see if you can be in that 30 percent!