Escape Room Market....

[Hacksaw]

We live in a town of about 75k people. Have a large college here that continues to grow and lots of out of town plates on cars. There's quite literally jack crap to do in this town. There's a go cart track here that people barely go to. There's an outdoor mini-golf that's old and noone ever goes to... and there's a bowling alley that apparently is doing well. It has pool tables and arcade games etc. But I know many people who are sooooo tired of bowling.

How well could you perceive an Escape Room doing here? I mean, I haven't grasped the concept yet completely and we are trying desperately to make it out to Transworld for the seminars on them. However a partner is wanting to bring it to town. I see so many people charging $20/ea for their rooms, I just don't know if people around here will shell out $20/ea very often. Perhaps I'm wrong, but I don't know. I know people are like this everywhere, but this town REALLY has the mentality of wanting everything for nothing.

I'm just nervous to jump in it when the haunt hasn't even taken off yet. I mean, everyone else seems to be getting on the bandwagon and it WOULD be cool to be the person to bring the concept to town.

Ideas?

[Spikerip]

I assume there's not an escape room operating in your city now? If there was you would have some idea if it would work or not. Your population base is kind of small, you need your demographics (breakdown by income & age group). You would need a really cheap facility for your room to help keep your expenses low. You 'll need a variety of games or different rooms, so people come back for a different challenge. I understand your concern about customers spending money to attend. The demographic information will help you figure that out. You could pursue corporate outings during the day too. Check on zoning and fire codes too. You have lots to learn, the classes at TW would be ideal for you.

We created a 3 minute escape room concept that's open during haunt hours. We sell tickets for $5 per person with groups of 4 - 5. Our haunts are $20 for two major attractions and the escape rooms are optional. We have 3 of them now to keep up with demand. They each paid for themselves the first night of operation and after 8 tickets are sold the labor is paid for the night. Our escape rooms have added money to our bottom line.

I think we could do really well with a 45 - 60 minute escape room. We don't have one for a variety of reasons, but there are five of them open in our city now. Good luck with your pursuit.

Kelly Collins
The ScareAtorium

[drfrightner]

Here is one thing I've told people and that is even if every single person in your town went thru your escape room at 8 people at a time 5 shows a day at least in your case it would take 5 years for everyone to go thru... you have plenty of people.

Larry

[Hacksaw]

Thank you guys for the posts.

Yeah we've had a surprise building come up into possible grasps and we're just putting things on hold till we figure out the best options etc. I'd love to get into it, but honestly the idea is kinda putting me into fear mode, and I"m not sure why exactly. I guess because I know haunts much more and this is new territory.

I really, REALLY need to try to get to Tworld this year and go through your rooms Larry. We'll just have to see.

[Novus]

Instead of starting another thread, I figured we could continue the discussion of Escape Rooms on this one.

I live in a city of over 200,000, with probably another 500,000 in neighboring counties. We have 2 professional Escape Room companies, but neither of them specifically cater to the horror or haunt genre, they have all kinds of themes. They are having amazing success, though.

For haunts that run Escape Rooms, do you specifically market yourself as a scary experience? Or do you cover all genres? Are you open every day/night of the week? I was on the fence about Escape Rooms, but after doing research over the past few months, there are some pretty incredible things being done with this business. It seems like the perfect way for haunters to potentially make money all year long. And even if it's just a "fad,"... why not take advantage of the interest while it's there? I'd love to hear some more opinions, especially from Escape Room owners.

[Abunai]

For haunts that run Escape Rooms, do you specifically market yourself as a scary experience?

A haunt in my area has two escape rooms. Both are marketed as scary experiences. The haunt owner actually provides the location, and an escape room company pays him a percentage of the take from the escape rooms. He says it's paying his mortgage and then some. Not a bad deal as long as the popularity of escape rooms holds out.

[Novus]

A haunt in my area has two escape rooms. Both are marketed as scary experiences.

Thanks for the info! Do you mind posting the website?

[Abunai]

Here is their website, Novus:

http://www.hellscreamhaunt.com/