Do you think you have what it takes to escape a room? It sounds simple enough. However, this is no ordinary room. To escape, you must solve a series of complex challenges and puzzles that require both brain power and teamwork.

Fortunately, you can try it out right here in the city. Escape Games Worcester, which opened in January, provides an experience that goes well beyond your typical Friday night dinner and a movie, a point emphasized by the more-than 840 reservations made within a week of the opening.

The idea for bringing an escape room to Worcester occurred when Jason Eastty and Rob Riggieri saw an ad for the Escape Games location in Boston. Immediately interested, Eastty began to organize a trip. “It was right up my alley,” he said, “I got a group of people together and tried it, but we didn’t escape. We had so much fun in losing though; we really wanted to find where more places like this were.” The nearest locations were Boston and New York. So, the two brought on Chelsea Perry and Martin Urban and launched an escape room right here in Worcester.

There are few options for a night out that offer a new experience, but Escape Games Worcester presents something distinct. Riggieri said a dinner and movie can cost two people more than $100, but Escape Games Worcester costs $25 per person. “The unique part about this,” he said, “is it’s like being in a movie.”

Eastty and Riggieri said interest in the games range from children to adults. Riggieri added that the rooms also provide a unique opportunity for corporate outings: “You tend to learn a lot about the people you’re in the room with.” Regardless of the group, the venue offers close quarters with a platform for teamwork, mental stimulation and – most of all – fun.

Each room is monitored by an employee to ensure that the players within are advancing. Eastty said, “We like to see that they’re progressing in a room.”

“If we feel like people are stuck, we’ll definitely send them clues,” Riggieri added. The clues, while cryptic, offer “a gentle nudge in the right direction.”

Each room is different and presents a unique theme, backstory and set of challenges to its players. Eastty said, “We don’t want to repeat any tricks or games.”

Eastty and Riggieri said having a backstory to accompany the challenges within a room helps immerse the players in the game, leading to return players. In fact, most players are likely to either return to the room they were unable to beat or try a new room with a new set of challenges.

All ideas for the rooms are completely original and are created by the owners or those close to them. The general concept for a room is created first; Eastty and Riggieri said once a backstory is thought up, building off the idea is relatively easy. The two said that when it comes to creating a room, the team tries to be “as time-specific as possible,” right down to the little trinkets that are placed around the room to create authenticity.

Jenny Albores, a robotics engineering student at Worcester Polytechnic Institute who works with Escape Games Worcester, said there are big plans for future rooms. “There is technology involved with a few of the things we’re going to be creating,” she said. She is joined at Escape Games by another WPI student – a game design major – and the two are able to utilize their unique skill sets in an environment that will be enjoyed by countless people.

“We have to keep revolutionizing the games,” Eastty said, as the team wants the rooms to maintain what it jokingly refers to as “re-play-ability.”

The general response received thus far from participants has been overwhelmingly positive. Eastty said the enjoyment doesn’t necessarily derive from winning. “That’s why we started it,” he said. “We participated in one in Boston, and we lost, but we had so much fun in losing.”

Escape Games Worcester is now hoping to plan a competition for students and faculty of local colleges. Riggieri said, “Right now, we’re seeing if we can put something together where we can do a campus challenge,” allowing local universities to go head-to-head, competing to see who is able to escape the room the fastest.

There are also plans to offer an all-expenses-paid trip to Florida in April. The incentive – unofficially dubbed “Escape to Paradise” – was generated with hopes of bringing a greater awareness of the business to the area.

“It puts us over the top in a sense. It lets people know that we’re here,” Eastty said.

“With some of the partners we’re bringing on board, we’re hoping that it’ll bring about some exposure,” Riggieri said.

Escape Games Worcester is currently reserving for the Museum Room, Crime Scene Room and the newly-opened Conspiracy Room. Escape Games Worcester is at 108 Grove St., Worcester, and is open Thursday-Sunday. For reservations and details on the Escape to Paradise challenge, visit escapegamesworcester.com.

By Christina Rossetti