Escape Room South is where ship happens
Escape Room South posts those that escape and their times on the Wall of Fame.
Escape Room South is located at 1007 Waterdam Plaza Dr.
These ingredients could help create the perfect antidote. Are you up for the challenge?
Can you help save the world from a mad scientist?
This Old West game is located in the lobby for customers to play for a nominal fee while waiting for their escape room experience.
Can you help find a power source to escape from a deserted island?
Where could the power source be? Look closely. It might be right in front of you.
Could the answer lie in the card game or the chest?
Can you find and disarm the explosive device?
A serial bomber has threatened the city. Can you solve the puzzles needed to save it?
Melissa Tallentire wasn’t sure what she was getting into when she visited Escape Room South.
“I wasn’t sure I would enjoy it, but my kids and I ended up having a really fun time with our friends,” said Tallentire. “The staff was very friendly and helpful. We cannot wait to go back.”
Missy and Matt Harding, owners of Escape Room South, bought the business in 2019 when it was located in a different building. But when they found the 2,000-square-foot space at 1007 Waterdam Plaza Dr., they knew it would be a perfect location for the business.
They renovated and re-opened the site in March of this year with two rooms ready for players to play. They added the third room, Ship Happens, in May.
“It was previously owned by a friend of mine who had owned it since 2016, and her family was relocating out of state,” said Missy. “We purchased it because the opportunity arose, and we love the escape room industry.”
Amy Matay, manager of Escape Room South, said Escape Room South has immersive, interactive games in which groups of up to 10 people have one hour to work together to find clues and solve puzzles and riddles to try to complete the objective and “escape” the rooms before time runs out.
The escape rooms are ideal for corporate team building, birthday parties, family nights, date nights, girl’s nights, guy’s nights, youth groups, church groups, sports groups and more.
Escape Rooms South’s three rooms are Ship Happens, where the players have been stranded on a deserted island and have 60 minutes to find a power source to call for help; Time Crisis, where a serial bomber has threatened the city and the players have 60 minutes to find and disarm the explosive device; and Mad Scientist, where a mad scientist has created a zombie outbreak formula and the players have 60 minutes to find the parts and assemble the antidote to save humanity.
Ship Happens and Mad Scientist were purchased by a room designer and tweaked to make it their own, but Time Crisis was designed completely by Matt.
Ship Happens and Time Crisis can hold up to 10 players, but Mad Scientist holds around six players since it is a smaller room.
They are currently creating a fourth room which will have an Egyptian theme.
“We always seek to create an immersive experience and remain true to the time period and aesthetic of a particular theme,” said Matt, the doer of things. “Meaning if a theme is set in ancient Egypt, it shouldn’t have number locks and electronic keypads. I am a big fan of incorporating electronics and technology into our themes. However, they need to be done in such a way that it is hidden in a particular prop or puzzle.”
Matay said she believes the Egyptian room will be their coolest yet. She brings expertise from the haunted house industry, where she helped design movie-quality sets for haunted houses.
“I will bring the attention to detail and decor to the new room,” said Matay. “Matt is the brains behind how the games work.”
Matt has an IT background and diverse knowledge in various construction-related fields.
“So, all of that diverse experience has allowed me to be able to engineer, fabricate, wire and program props for our rooms,” said Matt.
While the team works to escape, a game master oversees the process and can intervene if the team struggles.
“We are watching and listening to what they are doing so we can help if they need help,” said Matay. “It’s hard to say which room is harder because it really depends on the people’s experience with escape rooms, how many people they have and how good they are at puzzles. Even though Mad Scientist is one of our smaller rooms as far as square foot space, it seems to be one of our trickier rooms.”
The price to experience the escape rooms is $30 a person.
The escape room experience is for anyone who likes games, riddles, puzzles, clues, or scavenger hunts.
“We want them to feel involved,” said Matay. “Break away from the crazy world and come play this game with us and have fun.”
Though the games are designed to be challenging, they are still created for children to be able to participate too. Escape Room South also offers a mobile escape room experience where they can bring curated boxes of puzzles and locks to parties, conferences or special occasions.
Matt and Missy own two other escape rooms, Locked In at the Lakes in Akron, Ohio, which is temporarily closed and Escape History in Niles, Ohio. They also own Computec Technical Solutions, Inc., a low voltage and AV installation company, and Asher’s at the Airport located at the Greene County Airport.
“For me, it is all about making memories,” said Matt. “I am much more interested in people telling me how much fun they had than whether or not they actually escaped. If our customers can walk away from a game and be talking about the experience and how much fun they had later on, that is a success for me.”
To book an escape room experience, visit escaperoomsouth.net or the Facebook page, facebook.com/escaperoomsouth.