By Madelynne Kislovsky
RED BANK – An intriguing new kind of entertainment experience is coming to Red Bank.
Trap Door Escape Room, a physical adventure game in which people gather in a room with others to solve a series of puzzles, find clues Tand escape the room within 60 minutes, opens its doors Thursday at 60 White Street, in the spot formerly occupied by Dunlap Locksmiths.
Anthony Purzycki of Flanders says he and his partners are excited to offer people a unique night out in their new space, which bears a massive outline of a lock on its façade to represent how people must put their brains together to unlock a mystery.
“How else can you torture someone legally?” said Purzycki, with a smile.
The Escape Room game concept was born in Singapore. The first one was called The Great Escape, said Anthony. A few thousand people would try to escape from a rented sports stadium, but the business failed because of the high expense of renting venues and creating props. “The medium has been evolving, everyone is grasping its straws trying to make money on it,” Anthony said. Other escape rooms are popping up, in Freehold, as well as Montclair, Manhattan, among others.
The White Street escape room is owned by Anthony and Jessica Purzycki and Frank Giglia and Dawn Alton. The partners were drawn by Red Bank’s high traffic and effective self-promotion as a destination, said Jessica Purzycki, who visited the town with her husband of 10 years during the spring Red Bank Wedding Walk. “This is the first thing that’s ever happened to us that feels like it’s meant to be,” Jessica said.
Trap Door differs from its competitors by making its entire three-room, two floor facility open for participants to roam freely. Most other experiences only offer one room to be “trapped” in.
The current “mind-game” theme is called Escaping the Architect. Participants are in a room with friends, co-workers or strangers and are given clues and puzzles that they must solve to escape the room before the vengeful Architect releases a poisonous gas into the air. As the participants solve the puzzles, which may include kneeling and crawling to find a clue, the story continues and goes more in depth, granting players access to bigger clues, such as the Architect’s workshop and study.
Sessions at Trap Door are accompanied by a suspenseful back-story, complete with interactive hints when necessary, along with special effects and props to complete the experience.
Those that do solve the puzzle in 60 minutes can be placed on the Leaderboard, featured on Trap Door’s website, and winners can compete with others based on time.
Those who don’t complete the puzzle lose, but don’t worry – they are still allowed to leave the escape room.
At no point in time is any participant locked in; there is access to an emergency exit at all times during the experience, said Jessica Purzycki.
“This is not a haunted house,” Jessica explained. “It’s not a scary experience. It’s definitely immersive, but there’s a rhyme and reason to everything that happens. We created all of the puzzles ourselves, taking ideas we saw and making them our own. No force is necessary—any puzzle that’s supposed to happen will happen smoothly.”
Every six months, the staff of Trap Door plans to change their theme, to keep people interested and coming back for more. “We have a really great staff, with histories in theater and marketing,” said Jessica.
Anthony had always been interested in entertainment and immersive theater. Through his company, Mikrotone Concepts, Anthony had created an alternate reality game six years ago called “Find Me”, that was described as “an immersive streaming survival game.” It received a lot of online coverage and reached over a thousand viewers. During this game, users would watch live streaming footage of an actor and guide them to perform tasks and discover clues that will allow them to escape the room they are “trapped” in. Anthony decided to take his idea to the next level with Trap Door.
The Purzyckis’ hope is to entertain 325 customers a month.
The 1500-square foot facility can accompany groups with up to 10 people, and is being marketed for bachelor and bachelorette parties, ladies’ nights, birthday parties, corporate events, and team building events, the partners say. “There’s only so many times you can go to dinner and the mall,” Jessica Purzycki said.
The rate is $48.50 per person, but winners can receive a coupon to come back for the next theme, and get 25% off.
Trap Door is open from 11 a.m.-8:30 p.m. on weekdays, and the last “showing” goes until 10 p.m. on weekends. Photography and recording devices are not allowed, in order to preserve the concept. Participants must be 14 years or older to enter alone. Children aged 10-13 need to be accompanied by an adult.
For more information, visit TrapDoorEscape.com.
