Mar 3, 2024 By Karen Mansfield 8 min read

Karen Mansfield/Observer-Reporter

Mike King, left, and Corry Vargo hold potions in one of the rooms in Witches Stone Escape Room.

Mike King, left, and Corry Vargo hold potions in one of the rooms in Witches Stone Escape Room.

Courtesy 5th Street Escape Room

In 5th Street Escape Room’s Bank Heist game, the Declaration of Independence is locked behind a 9,000-pound vault for safekeeping.

In 5th Street Escape Room’s Bank Heist game, the Declaration of Independence is locked behind a 9,000-pound vault for safekeeping.

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Karen Mansfield/Observer-Reporter

Teams who escape the rooms in under 60 minutes (45 minutes for Meat Locket) get to add their names to the wall. A UV light was added to protect the names from fading.

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Karen Mansfield/Observer-Reporter

A map serves as a clue in the Time Crisis escape room at Escape Room South. A phone is available for players to call a game master for help.

Karen Mansfield/Observer-Reporter

Escape Room South’s Mad Scientist room features clues to help players find an antidote to end a zombie outbreak.

Locked in a dimly lit room with seven other people, Kim Sullivan listened to an ominous monologue.

“Welcome to your last day. I’m no novice. This is my sixth go at blowing entire cities up,” a voice growled through a speaker.

The serial bomber then laid out the rules of his game: Sullivan, of North Strabane Township, and her group had 60 minutes to solve the puzzles inside, disarm a bomb, and escape. If time ran out, the bomb would detonate.

“If you want to give it a shot,” the bomber warns, “it’s your death wish.”

It sounds like the beginning of an action film, but Sullivan and her group paid $30 each to get “locked” into Time Crisis, one of three escape rooms at Escape Room South in Peters Township.

Escape rooms, which first gained popularity in Japan in 2007, have become an international phenomenon for family, friends, and team building events, and can be found in more than 60 countries.

In 2014, only about two dozen escape room businesses existed in the U.S. In 2023, there were 2,290 escape rooms throughout the country, marking a 5.7% increase from the previous year.

In Washington and Fayette counties, three escape rooms are operating: Escape Room South, 5th Street Escape Room in Charleroi, and Escape Crawford, The Basement, in Connellsville, Fayette County. Escape Crawford is currently closed because a new escape room, which is replacing The Basement, is under construction.

“A lot of people like the event of going to a place and seeing the theatrics, and being interactive with their entertainment,” said Amy Matay, manager of Escape Room South, which opened in 2019.

Matay, who spent 25 years in the haunting industry before she was hired in 2022 by Escape Room South owners Missy and Matt Harding, likens escape rooms to intricate movie sets filled with challenging games and puzzles reminiscent of those found on TV shows such as “Survivor” and “The Mole.”

Time Crisis shares space in the 2,000-square-foot space with two other games: Ship Happens (players on a deserted island have to find a power source to call for help) and Mad Scientist (a scientist has created a zombie outbreak formula, and players must find the parts and assemble an antidote to save humanity). A fourth room, Wrath of Rah – an Egyptian-themed room – is under construction.

“I used to work at haunted houses that had sets that were movie quality. We want these rooms to be beautiful,” said Matay.

Matt Harding’s background is in IT and he has experience in construction-related fields, so he programs most of the intricate puzzles and includes set pieces that amp up the atmosphere.

Group sizes for escape rooms usually range from two to 10 players, and the rooms suit a range of groups and events – family nights, date nights, friends’ outings, birthday parties, corporate team building, bachelorette parties, sports teams, and more.

The rooms encourage collaboration, sharing information and collectively solving problems.

“It’s something families can do together, it’s something that friend groups can do together, we even have senior citizen groups come and do them. Literally anyone can do this; it’s multigenerational,” said Mike King, co-owner of 5th Street Escape Room, which operates four rooms in a former bank that was built in 1940. “You get away from the screen and the phone for a few minutes and you do a fun thing. You solve puzzles together because it requires communication. I think people just like getting out and doing something that requires them to think and do something very different from what they normally do.”

5th Street Escape opened in November 2015, and King and his wife, co-owner Corry Vargo – who both have media arts degrees – purchased the business in June 2017, after playing National Heist, where players are a team of thieves attempting to steal the Declaration of Independence.

The document, however, is sealed behind a 9,000-pound vault door – a clever use of the bank’s original safe – and players have to crack a code and open the vault.

The Heist consumes the first floor – and multiple rooms – of the three-floor building, and makes players feel like they’ve been dropped into Nicolas Cage’s adventure film “National Treasure.”

“You get a lot of oohs and aahs when people come in here, and we love it. The previous owner designed this game. It’s such a solid game,” said Vargo. “We have not changed it except for adding more visuals. I’m a photographer by trade, and we wanted more art in here.”

“The Heist” was followed by “Escape from Paradise (your group is stranded on a desert island and discovers an abandoned hut. Will you find what you need to signal an approaching plane in time?); the horror-themed, two-person Meat Locker (you and your partner are chained in a meat locker and have 45 minutes to escape), and Witches Stone (your friend, a witch, is in trouble and needs your help. Your task is to unlock ancient secrets to save her).

King and Vargo aim to make the experience as immersive as possible, and the rooms have become increasingly elaborate.

“Escape from Paradise” features the sounds of seagulls, waves, and an airplane, and the set is built from “found” materials, such as crates that might have washed up on shore after a shipwreck.

“With immersive entertainment, the more senses you can touch on, the more immersive it is and the more memorable it is. You’re building a memory with people that you love and people you’re close to,” said Vargo. “We’re building this little world for you with people that you want to be with.”

Offering a variety of themes is important, Vargo said.

“Sometimes, you’re going to bring somebody who’s just there because their friends dragged them out, so at least they’re having a good time even if they’re not really into games,” she said.

At both Escape Room South and 5th Street Escape Room, the names of the teams who escape the rooms quickest are listed on a board each month.

Game masters, who watch the games on screens, also give clues to help if players get stuck.

Success rates vary, from 70% in Witches Stone, to roughly 40% for Bank Heist, Escape from Paradise and Meat Locker. In Time Crisis and Mad Scientist, 45% and 49% of teams, respectively, make it out. In Ship Happens, about 71% of teams escape.

Sullivan and her group escaped with 46 seconds left – on a second try. Technically, a calculation error resulted in the bomb detonating.

Last month, a couple playing their 98th escape room escaped from Meat Locker in 21:11.

Witches Stone opened in June 2022, and it’s filled with elaborate games, puzzles, props, surprises, and several Easter eggs that pay homage to magical books, games, and movies including Harry Potter, Dungeons and Dragons, Ghost Busters, and The Nightmare Before Christmas.

King, Vargo, and their two children spent a family night coming up with the names of potions that fill a shelf in one of the Witches Stone rooms.

“This game is our little baby. We really put so much into it, and it’s been so rewarding,” said Vargo. “When we design a game and it’s the first night when a paying customer comes in and plays, I cry because it’s so rewarding. To give this to someone, to build this for someone, I guess it’s an artist’s mindset. It’s kind of like, ‘I built this for you to enjoy and to create a memory, here you go.'”

King and Vargo, who had long dreamed of starting a family-friendly business that could incorporate King’s business background and Vargo’s art background, believe escape rooms aren’t going anywhere.

“At one point early on, people were thinking escape rooms were a flash-in-the-pan, but they have staying power and they’re now part of the mainstream,” said King. “Those that have succeeded are going to stay around.”