The clock is winding down. Having used their last clue, escape room players decide to ask their “spirit guide” for a hint. Although the response is a bit vague, it leads them in the right direction. They solve the puzzle, and the players make their escape. Victory!
Escape room players are not the only ones having fun. Owners and their staff members enjoy their work behind the scenes as well. Chris and Anne Lukeman, owners of the 11,000-square-foot CU Adventures in Time and Space in Champaign-Urbana, can attest to that.
“Before we got into escape rooms, we were both video producers for the University of Illinois,” says Chris, primary experience designer and set and lighting designer for CU’s games. Anne manages the business side and handles audio, video and electronics as the lead technical designer.
“We met on campus as part of the film club. We made comedy short films, weird, silly genre stuff. [Later] we decided that escape rooms would be an interesting way to keep telling narrative stories,” Anne says. “One of the things we were always passionate about when we were doing film was production, design and lighting, and storytelling. So, to be able to do that in a physical, in-person way was exciting to us. It ended up being a lot more doable as an actual full-time career.”
She and Chris have been in the business for nine years. “We started seeing that [escape rooms] were successful in communities that are not as large. We decided to jump in with both feet, and we’ve never looked back,” says Chris. “We started very small, with just two different escape rooms that were a lot simpler. But year after year, we’ve consistently expanded and moved. … Now we’re in a neat place with a bunch of experiences for people.”
Those experiences include escape rooms like the award-winning Game Night, Revenge of the Cabin and Rise of the Icarus, among others. “We take a lot of inspiration from what is going on in popular culture,” says Chris. “We’ve also taken a look at both what we’re offering and what other escape rooms in the Midwest are opening. We want to make sure that we put something out there that’s different than what’s around, like, for example, our spaceship room, Rise of the Icarus.”
They laugh that every escape room business, including theirs, has a spooky cabin, however. “But, as we were developing new games, we wanted to try themes that weren’t the same old, same old,” Anne says.
They explain that each game tends to attract different kinds of players. “We see a much different crowd for [our] Christmas game than we do for the spooky haunted cabin,” says Chris. “Some of our games are a little bit more challenging, and some are a little bit less. They all do something a little bit different from each other.”
Key to their success, according to the Lukemans, is that story and space are created simultaneously so the design and the narrative fit together in a cohesive manner. “We don’t write the story first. We don’t write the puzzles first. We don’t design the space first,” Anne explains. “We try to do it all at the same time, so the design of the space, the puzzles and the narrative of the game all fit together in a way that is unified. [That way,] it doesn’t feel like we’re just layering a story on top of the set we built or layering some puzzles on top of a story we made. It should all feel integrated.”
“The details should support the story players want to go on. Sometimes players … just want to solve puzzles. Sometimes they’re all about experiencing the sights and sounds and jumps and comedy of the game,” Chris adds. “Hopefully, it’s a mix of all of it.”
Another key to keeping things interesting is the game master, who watches players’ moves and adjusts accordingly. “The game master [focuses] only on that group and only on that game to make sure it’s the best experience possible,” says Anne, explaining that they can adapt the level of difficulty to fit the group.
“[Game masters] are empowered with tools to change the game to do basically whatever they think is going to be right in that situation,” she adds. “We have some suggested hints and some suggested phrasing that we can use, but game masters are encouraged to go off script to make the game as fun as possible for the group that’s playing it.”
At CU Adventures, characters are included in the designs to help the teams without interrupting the story. “Our game masters are not only deciding how the game flow is going to go, they’re also being an actor and interacting with the players,” says Anne.
“A few of our games have actors who are in the room with you playing different delightful characters,” says Chris. “We have an animatronic raven in [The Wizard’s Curse] that talks to the team, so it feels like a Disney experience. No one else is in there with you, but the bird is talking and helping and making jokes. We have a robot in our spaceship game. It’s fun to play those characters.”
“We like to think our experiences here [have] a little bit of that theme park magic … right here in central Illinois,” he adds.
Rick Briggs and son-in-law Brett Moore are creating some of that magic at Amazing Xscapes in Springfield. Their individual career backgrounds lent themselves well to the pursuit, which began when businesses began to reopen after the pandemic.
Briggs has been a theme park attraction designer for more than 30 years, and Moore has a full-time position with Chatham Schools as systems and innovation administrator, often designing STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art and math) activities for students. Since both work full-time, the two depend on their part-time staff. “We have a great team of people,” Moore says. “They make it relatively easy for us.”
He adds that creating rooms is a group effort. “We brainstorm together,” says Moore. “We do it with our family and our employees, too. It’s important to get something that works for all ages and all genders. We are two guys, so it’s best to get both the kids’ and women’s points of view on everything we do.”
The establishment hosts four separate experiences, including “’80s Strangest Times,” “Curse of the Mummy” and the “Haunted A. Lincoln Motel.” Another is the 30-minute mobile “Immunity Quest” escape room, which schools, companies and organizations can rent. “It’s a great teambuilding activity,” Moore explains. “We also set it up in our lobby, so people can play it if they’re new to escape rooms and maybe don’t want to commit to a 60-minute room. … It’s a very approachable room, great for kids and adults alike.”
Moore’s personal favorite — the Haunted A. Lincoln Motel — was the fourth room to open at the business. “We keep learning and making it better each time,” says Moore. “We do 100% of the interior with our wives, kids and grandkids helping with painting and decorating and making rooms look creepy or ’80s or whatever. We might do about 60% of the puzzle construction, and then we use experienced escape room builders to build a few of our puzzles, just because it gets it done quicker.
“We have cameras and microphones in the room so [we] can hear what the guests are saying and see what they’re doing [and] provide any hints or help they need to be successful,” he explains. “[Players] can ask for clues directly if they’ve spent a lot of time maybe on one puzzle, and if our game masters can tell that they’re not really understanding it, they might give them a little hint to get them moving in the right direction.”
Interaction plays a major role, according to Moore. “[Game masters] love interacting with the groups. They have a lot of fun giving them the background at the beginning and talking to them about the adventure once they’re finished,” he says. “It’s a very people-oriented business … It’s not just sitting behind the screen.”
Moore believes the real draw behind escape rooms, though, is the shared experience. “[Players are] experiencing something together, and the way different people use their different skills. … They really get to see each other in a different light.”
LET’S GO
CU Adventures in Time and Space
302 N. Broadway Ave., Suite 100, Urbana
217-898-7158
cuadventures.com
Amazing Xscapes
1650 Wabash Ave., Suite C, Springfield
217-679-6396
amazingxscapes.com
Search online to see if there’s an escape room near you.
