escape rooms
Creating physical magic, transporting someone into the epicenter of a crisis, and giving them the tools to piece together a solution. The best escape rooms combine atmosphere, storytelling, and engaging-yet-approachable puzzle design. I’ve worked as both a designer and as a consultant on dozens of escape rooms, and I have lots of exciting design work coming soon!
Ambulance Escape - UBM Americas
I had worked with UBM Americas once before this experience - they had a trade show in Minneapolis and wanted a pop-up escape room for their convention floor. They contacted Trapped Puzzle Rooms a few weeks before the show, so we threw together what we could in a short amount of time to run a quick, engaging, Halloween-themed escape room. A month after that event, one of their Vice Presidents contacted us again, having heard how well the experience in Minneapolis went, and was wondering if we could create something for their next convention in Anaheim. They wanted something a bit higher in production quality, and themed around this convention, which was focused on medical devices.
In two days, after I off-handedly suggested we could get a lot out of something pre-built to boost the overall production quality (like, for instance, an ambulance), I was informed an ambulance had been procured at a local movie vehicle rental company. So, I designed a medically-themed experience that we could install in an ambulance that we wouldn’t be able to see in person until the day before the event in February 2019. In total, hundreds of people came to play this 15-minute experience.
There’s far more to this story than I can tell here - lots of hilarious set-backs and problems that were thrown our way during the process. But, once it was finished, it was a wildly entertaining experience to run. If you want to know more of these stories, let me know!
Lead designer and event coordinator
Produced by Trapped Puzzle Rooms
Utopia
In 2017, I was the General Manager of the Riddle Room, one of the original escape room companies in the Twin Cities. While the job had numerous responsibilities, one of my favorites was executing and overseeing new room designs, either as the lead designer or as a production manager. During the Summer of 2017, Riddle Room was working with a pair of independent designers on a new and exciting take on escape rooms - Utopia.
My role on the early stages of the project was to coordinate between the design team, contractors, and the owner of Riddle Room. Once the room was mostly finished, I organized playtest groups, monitored the feedback, and consulted with the design team on changes and updates they could make to the experience to ensure it was smooth and consistent. With my help, Utopia was crafted into a fantastical and one-of-a-kind escape room experience that hadn’t been seen before in the industry.
Utopia won a 2017 Golden Lock-In Award from Room Escape Artist.
Production Manager and Additional Development
Original design and concept by David Pisa and Jerry Belich
Produced by Riddle Room
The Lodge of Lazarus Crowe
In Fall 2023, Trapped Puzzle Rooms opened The Lodge of Lazarus Crowe, a new immersive escape room-style experience. Built into a old mortuary in St. Paul, the Lodge of Lazarus Crowe houses a supernatural secret society, and has asked members of the public to visit them to assist with a variety of investigations. Expected to eventually hold over a dozen unique experiences,
I was involved in their early planning, including overall lore and story design, initial experience concepting, and lead designer of both the Initiation the Arcane Library experiences.
Project Lead and Designer
Produced by Trapped Puzzle Rooms