Central Escapes to open Dragon's Dungeon as its newest room
Central Escapes is opening its newest escape room, Dragon’s Dungeon, this upcoming June.
Central Escapes, located at 806 S. Mission St., is an escape room that allows players to develop skills for team building and puzzle solving. The escape room gives teams of two to eight players an hour to solve their way through puzzles to find the pin number that unlocks the exit.
For the business' newest room, participants play the role of a group of adventurers that have overheard people talking about the Dragon's Dungeon. When the group goes to look for this dungeon, they all lose different items they are carrying.
Participants need to find all of the missing items before they can escape the room.
“It'll be very high tech versus anything that we've had in the past,” Carlene Northon, owner of Central Escapes, said. “It'll be our most high-tech room to date.”
Lelah Langworthy is one of the testers that tries out these different rooms before they debut. She said that Northon constantly changes different aspects of these rooms so that participants “never know" what to expect.
Northon's love for problem solving and creating these escape rooms did not happen overnight.
She originally found a desire for problem solving as a child when she would help her cousin solve clues to find his Easter basket.
“I had so much fun that I said, "If I ever have kids, I'm going to do the same thing,” Northon said.
Northon went on to experience her first escape room in New York in 2016. Around two years later, she decided to open her own escape room business in 2018.
Central Escapes celebrated its four-year anniversary on Jan. 27 by opening a new room called Sweet Escapes. Every 18 months Northon switches out the themes for her escape rooms.
“I mean I'm here to help you have fun," Northon said. "If you're not leaving with a smile on your face or happy that you made it out or almost made it out then I'm not doing my job."
Another escape room tester, Sierra Pearson, encourages first time participants to choose their groups wisely.
“Pick people that you want to be with in a small space and (want to be) working together with,” Pearson said.
To experience an escape room at Central Escapes, the rate is $25 per person. Students, those in the military and senior citizens receive a 20 percent discount.
If someone wants Central Escapes to bring the room to them then portable rooms are $300 for two hours. This price covers the transportation of the room to the location, the setup, the operation which will allow as many groups as possible to experience the escape room and then the break down. These rooms are $50 for every additional hour after the initial two hours.
For more information, visit Central Escapes' website.
