Warsaw Escape Rooms Offer An Escape From The Ordinary
WARSAW — Around two years ago employees at the Warsaw Community Public Library began putting together escape rooms. Anna Jackson, teen librarian, and Denise Keller, adults program administrator, have been working together to find and create different themes for escape rooms throughout the year.
When the library first started hosting escape rooms, it took a while for the programs to catch on. It has grown from two to three groups to typically around 16 groups for each program. Escape rooms are typically planned once a quarter around the time students are on school breaks. The escape room is put up on the library’s calendar of events and participants register their group for a particular time slot. Lately each of the time slots has been full.
Given the room constraints available at the library, the groups are typically limited to a maximum of eight people. While other escape rooms can be found throughout the surrounding areas, the Warsaw Library escape rooms are unique in the fact they are free to the public.
Jackson commented the theme for the most recent escape room in January was due to the teens who have “been begging to do something ‘Stranger Things’ related.” It was focused primarily on the happenings in the first season. She found the clues on a breakout website and tweaked them a bit in order to make the library version. Besides finding assistance for themes and clues online, Jackson has also written two of the escape rooms herself.
For the most recent “Stranger Things” escape room, participants were given 45 minutes to attempt to escape by solving and opening the five locks. Jackson introduced them to the mission, reading, “As a member of the Hawkins Middle School AV club, you are distraught to hear that your friend Will has gone missing. You and the remaining members of the party find yourselves in the principal’s office where you discover a police file along with a strange locked box that you realize contains the mysterious portal between you and Will. Upon closer examination of the evidence in the file, you realize that Will is trying to communicate with you from the Upsidedown. Can you decipher his messages and get him back to the portal before it closes for good?”
All group members are also informed that, unlike in some escape rooms, the walls, paintings, fixtures, lights and certain other objects are not a part of the clues. However, Jackson also likes to support the creative solutions each of the group attempts. For instance, some people have worked to check or tear down the wall separating the two sides of the room. “I love seeing the logic process,” Jackson stated.
“Knowledge of ‘Stranger Things’ is helpful but not necessary,” she mentioned. Those who never watched the show are still able to participate in the themed escape room. They simply will not understand some of the Easter eggs and jokes related to the show.
Each group is also allowed a special phone hotline in which they can ask for five hints. While some escape rooms have specific hints to be given, Jackson tailors the hints to the group depending on the ages of the members, group size and experience. Her goal is for all escape room participants to have fun while also making it a challenge.
With an escape rate on this escape room around 42%, it provided a challenge for both first timers and those experienced in escape rooms. The groups who did escape frequently had three minutes or less to spare.
“It gets people interacting with other people,” Jackson revealed. It also allows them to use their deductive reasoning. She has enjoyed seeing when multiple groups who have never met come together in the escape room to work together and solve the clues in order to escape.
When there is not an escape room, the library has escape room games to check out. They are also working on planning murder mystery dinner events.
In March, Jackson mentioned a Fandom Friday will also take place for teens, including those who love “Stranger Things.”