Are you obsessed with escape rooms and love figuring out puzzles in the nick of time? It can be exciting, stressful, and enjoyable racing against the clock to unlock clues to a story and escape in record time!
Mike Rosinsky, the owner of Monster Quest in Downtown Las Vegas, sits down with us to share his journey from being a computer programmer to an escape room enthusiast, and now owner of his very own escape house. You read that right- HOUSE!
We go over the details of creating a puzzle design within an immersive story for themed rooms, ups and downs of running a business, and the importance of having a dedicated and creative team to bring these rooms to life.
We chat about:
Mike's First Escape Room Experience
The Journey to Owning an Escape Room
Designing and Building Escape Rooms
The Evolution of Escape Rooms
Escape Room Fears and Misconceptions
The Journey to Owning an Escape Room
Balancing Creativity and Logistics
Ready to give escape rooms a chance? Check out one of their three rooms by using the code: JULES at check out! You will receive $10 off your ticket!
https://www.monsterquestescaperoom.com/
Thank you, Mike for being an amazing guest and for sharing your story.
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Juliana:Hi everyone. Welcome to Jules Unscripted, living Life Without a Script podcast.
I'm your host Jules, and I'm here today at Monster Quest Escape Room in Las Vegas. Monster Quest Escape Room is a very fun escape room that's been here for a while now. And they are, they have three different rooms and each room is very unique, very different. I've done two of them, the third one's coming out soon.
And today I have Mike here, and Mike is the owner of the escape room. Mike had. Um, so Mike is the owner of the Escape room and he's been an escape room player for many, many years, you would say, right?
Mike: Yeah, yeah. Probably God. Probably 2018.
Juliana: Yeah. It's been a, it's been a minute. It's been a minute.
Mike: It was pre pandemic, so Yeah.
That was like stone age. Right, right. So
Juliana: you've been playing escape room since 2018. Yes. You were a former computer programmer. That's correct. And you also partic participated [00:01:00] in anything nerdy, which is great because I'm a big nerd myself. Yes. Um, and so I'm excited to sit down with you here today and talk with you about this escape room and to kind of get to know about what your journey was like mm-hmm.
To own this escape room and what it's like running an escape room and how the escape room, um, how the escape room, like how it works. Okay. And how, um, and just the experience of everything. Okay. So thank you again so much. Of course, Mike, for coming onto the podcast and for sharing your experience with us.
Sure,
Mike: sure, sure. So, uh, do you just want me to start from the beginning?
Juliana: Yeah. Yeah. So tell us about what, tell us about, um. Your Sorry. It's okay. It's been a minute. It's been a while for me. Um, so if I stutter, I apologize. No worries. Um, okay, so tell us about your first escape room experience and what that was like for you and made you go, wow, this is really,really cool.
Mike: yes, that's exactly what it was. It it, right when I did the first one, it was like, oh my God, I need to do all of these. Mm-hmm. Uh, it was, it was either 20, like I said, it was either 20 18, 20 17, whenever it was. Um, and my friend Robbie was in town and, uh, she, I called her outta the blue because I looked online and my friend John had said that he played this thing called an escape room.
And it, I looked at it and I called him and I'm like, what is this? Mm-hmm. And he goes, it's basically like a real life video game. And I went, oh my God, I am in, because I love all the role playing games. Mm-hmm. And like the. The real influences for me were like Maniac Mansion and Thimbleweed Park. Like where you have to find stuff and make creative uses out of it.
Yeah. And put it in. And I'm like, I want to try this. So I dragged her to the room and we failed miserably. 'cause we had no idea what to do.
Right.
Mike: But I was hooked instantly. Yeah. And I went, I need to do more of these. Mm-hmm. And then I, I got my cousin and my friends involved and I had like separate groups that I would go with and I ended up playing.
Now God, I've probably played maybe 120 rooms.
Juliana: Yeah.
Mike: And obviously as it rolls in, you start to think, oh, well how would I do one, what would I do here? Yeah. And eventually I'm like, well, maybe I can own one. Yeah. I love that. Yes. And uh, that was, that was a leap as well, because. It's, I don't know if you've heard anything about owning a business.
Yes. You get into a business that you like. Yes. And you think that all you're gonna be doing is, you know, constantly making puzzles and constantly resetting the rooms mm-hmm. And running all this, but that is not true. You get into the business, then you never do the business.
Right. It's
Mike: always something else that comes up that you're responsible for. So, uh, if it's not like, you know, making sure all the bills are paid, making sure that it's promoted, making sure that the staff is here, making sure that everything's in shape. You know, and god forbid how many business or like paperwork and things you have to follow through. So,
yeah.
Mike: So yeah. It's, it's a lot. Mm-hmm. But so far so good.
Juliana: Yeah. That's awesome. I've always been curious about how you come into this business. Okay. And it's mostly about you. So like what you're saying is you saw it, you are like, I wanna do this, I wanna learn how to do this. I wanna like create my own. So after that, like initial light bulb moment that you had mm-hmm.
What got you started to do Monster Quest? Was Monster Quest your first escape room business that you had? Or did you have something in between? Like what kind of got you to Okay, this location and this, um, this business that you own.
Mike: Okay. So yeah, that's another big journey. Mm-hmm. Um, I started playing, um, like I said, in, in 20 17, 20 18 or so, got really into 'em.
And then I started to get the idea of owning one.
Juliana: Yeah.
Mike: So I found that there was an escape room convention.
Juliana: Oh, they have a convention. They
Mike: do. What? I did not know this. I thought originally it was for players.So I'm like, oh my God, I can go and play like a whole bunch of rooms. No, it was for escape room owners, Uhhuh, and I went, huh. I wanna go check it out to see what, where was it? It was in San Antonio.
Juliana: San Antonio, Texas. Yes. I never would've thought that Texas had an escape room, like convention kind of thing.
Mike: Right, right. I, you know, but it moves. It was, uh, okay. It's this thing called transworld, it's called, it's Never heard of it. I know, I know.
I hadn't either until, you know, it was about the beginning of 2019. Mm-hmm. And, well, actually middle of 2019, we went out to San Antonio for this convention and it signed up for classes like how to, how to design puzzles, how to design rooms. They had all the tech vendors there so you can go and see what puzzles and technology were available.
And I was really getting into it. And the very first class I went to. It was about story.
Mm-hmm. And how to, how to drive the story, how to space out puzzles and everything. And I'm taking notes and the guy in charge of it, it was called the test subjects. Mm-hmm. And the one guy in particular who ran it, uh, was bizarro.
Um, and he's actually a local here in Vegas, which I didn't know. So I had to leave early because there was this virtual reality es like escape room experience that they had on site that you could try. Oh.
Juliana: Like but virtual, like where you put Yes. Over your head kind of thing. No, I
Mike: thought it was cool. This is the first time I ever heard about it, so Yeah.
But unfortunately you had to sign up for spots. Mm-hmm. And the spot I signed up for was like 10 minutes before his class ended, and I went up to him and I said, listen, I'm gonna know I'm coming through your class. I don't want to seem rude. Like about 10 minutes before your class ends, I'm gonna get up and walk out.
And it's not because I think you're terrible, it's just I got disappointment. I just wanted you to know ahead of time. He goes, yeah, yeah. I totally understand that. A big deal. He goes through the class and he's, he's a magician too. So they're doing all these tricks in class and it was awesome. Very entertaining.
Got to 10 till and I'm like, well, let's just sneak out. So we start to sneak out and biz goes and there's our first person to walk out. And I'm like, oh no. That's so embarrassing. Everyone starts laughing and I'm like, I told you. He goes, I know. Yeah. It was funny. So we went to the thing and then there was a mixer
afterwards.
Mike: Mm-hmm. And we went to the mixer and he's there and I went up to him. I bought him a beer, which he didn't drink 'cause I didn't, he doesn't drink. But I bought him one. I set it down in front of him. I said, Hey, you know, I appreciate that. And we started talking and uh, we became friends.
Mm-hmm.
Mike: Turned out that he's an escape room builder.
Mm-hmm.
Mike: And that he lived in Las Vegas, which at the time my original business partner lived in Vegas.
Okay.
Mike: And I'm like, huh. So I [00:08:00] guess we're gonna build an escape room in Vegas. Yeah.
Because I have
Mike: my builder there and my partner's there. I'll just come back and forth.
Mm-hmm.
Mike: So this was 2019. We had found a building.
We were gonna design our own original rooms. We got, I did all the budgeting, got all the estimates, worked with biz, and his team got all my funding, and I'm like, all right, I'm going to build this. I made the decision, and then one of my financial backers backed out, and I'm like, yeah,
Juliana: that must have been tough,
Mike: right?
And I'm like, oh, no. So I'm like, all right. And then it was a chain reaction when they said they were short. They're like, oh, man, I'm out. I'm out. And I lost them all. But if all had gone according to plan, I would've started building my first escape room in April of 2020.
Juliana: Okay. Oh yeah, right when the pandemic hit, right?
Yes. It was basically
Mike: two weeks after the pandemic started, I was supposed to start building. Mm-hmm. Which would've been a nightmare. Mm-hmm. Because I would've racked up [00:09:00] all this debt and couldn't open. Yeah. So it was a blessing in disguise. So after that, um, I switched over to, now I got a call outta the blue from my friend up in Canada.
Mm-hmm.
Mike: And she's in the, uh, film production area. And it was for the film Knives Out when it first came up.
Okay.
Mike: Uh, the first one. And they needed an escape room experience for the movie.
Hmm. That's
Mike: cool. And it was at this, I can't remember the name of the house in Toronto, but it was this really cool like Victorian type mansion with all these weird rooms and stuff in it, but they had four bedrooms up top.
Mm-hmm. They're about the same. So I had to design like a 15, 20 minute escape room experience that I could travel with.
Juliana: Oh, so like a traveling escape room?
Mike: Yes.
Juliana: That's cool.
Mike: So. That's when I had my first design session. I'm like, okay, this puzzle will lead to this, this will do this. And I'm like, I couldn't make it very techy because a lot of the tech in escape rooms, like they [00:10:00] have to be built and they're triggered and stuff like that.
Right. And I, I can't install that into a room. I have to be able to travel with this stuff too. So I managed to make it all fit into a lockbox that fit like this. Mm-hmm. And then I could open it, take stuff out, put it in, reset it, and it would be about a 15, 20 minute experience with that. So I tried it. Uh, we had a couple of her friends come out here and Vegas mm-hmm.
And play test in her living room.
Oh, that's
Mike: fun. Just to show that it would work anywhere.
Yeah.
Mike: And they, they enjoyed it. Then we went to her gym.
Mm-hmm.
Mike: And her and gym instructor and their crew tried it out and they enjoyed it too. So I'm like, all right, it seems like it's working. We worked out the bugs.
We brought it up there and believe it or not. It went well. So that was cool. Like we had two types of rooms. We had the main room and then we had a VIP room.
Mm-hmm. And
Mike: the VIP room was actually a two room experience. Okay. And it was like [00:11:00] a 60 minute event.
Yeah.
Mike: So we managed to fit everything in the two suitcases, the travel and our suits and everything else.
We had a story behind it. 'cause you were knives out. Like you had to come in and we're like, oh my god, there was a murder.
Right. You
Mike: know, uh, detective Blanc, unfortunately, uh, he needs more help.
Mm-hmm. And
Mike: we're looking for new recruits, so anyone who can solve this riddle can get on the team to go and join the hunt.
Yeah. So that, that's cool. That's the thing. And then it was all downstairs. We had a big show and the first thing we gave him was like to say you participated, we're gonna put wristbands on you.
Juliana: Okay.
Mike: And all the wristbands were different colors.
Juliana: Yeah. Okay. So you could see who did what level kind of thing.
No, it was all,
Mike: it was, it was a puzzle. When you got into the room, they decoded one thing and said, check your wrist.
So we
Mike: gave them a clue right away. Oh, that's cool. So you walk in with something and they're like, oh, and those are the moments you want is when they figure out a clue and they go, oh, it relates to this.
And then they all get excited and then they go onto the next puzzle and they're like, how does this one work? And then when it [00:12:00] figures it out, you get the, oh, those are the moments you're looking for. And it's, it can't be like, I mean, a little technical here, it can't be what we call linear.
Mm-hmm. Like
Mike: linear is you solve so clue here it solves this puzzle.
What I like to do is if you figure out a puzzle mm-hmm. It gives you the clue to solve the next one. Mm-hmm. It's not a completion. The solving the puzzle is complete, but that solution leads to the next problem.
Right.
Mike: And now you're like, oh, okay, I have to do this and then I have to do this. I don't wanna say, you know, you put this, like, the one puzzle I had was cool was, it was a little nine piece kids puzzle.
Mm-hmm.
Mike: You put it all together. And it was really easy and the middle piece was locked up. They finally found the middle piece, put it together, and they had no idea what to do if you flipped it over on the back and you shined a black light on it. Oh, there were all these weird symbols. But what I had done was I had took like the edges
mm-hmm.[00:13:00]
Mike: And pushed 'em together and wrote in between them. So you had to disassemble the puzzle and put it together differently.
Juliana: So like had to flip it over, like it was a part two of the part one puzzle. Yes. Yes. Okay, I see.
Mike: And then when you put it back together, it gave you numbers and co codes. Mm-hmm. For the picture frame puzzle, which is another whole puzzle in the way.
Yeah. So, but it was using a puzzle differently, like you put it together the correct way. Mm-hmm. And it didn't help you, so you had to, so there's no way you could know about it until you actually solved it correctly.
Juliana: How do you come up with that? Because that's another question that I had. Mm-hmm. For like c creating escape rooms.
Right. How do you come up with a. The process of those puzzles and like, what makes you go, oh, that's a really good idea. Oh, I like that. Oh, like they'll never get this. Or like it, like how do you come up with it? The, how do you come up with the idea on the puzzles and how do you come up with the difficulty on the puzzles too?
Mike: Right. Uh, okay. So again, the first class I took with biz was about that. Yeah. Um, you want to [00:14:00] assume that most puzzles can get solved, like this is the timing of it. So if you have a 60 minute escape room
mm-hmm.
Mike: You assume puzzles are gonna be solved in about five minutes.
Mm-hmm.
Mike: So if you have five minute introduction, five minute ending, let's just say if you have 50 minutes worth of puzzles, you can fit about 10 puzzles in.
Mm-hmm.
Mike: But if you have a more difficult one, say it takes 10 minutes, you gotta cut a small puzzle.
Mm-hmm.
Mike: So that's how you kind of figure out how you want to do it. And it's, it's a lot of trial and error. But coming up with how puzzles work. Mm-hmm. Oh my God. There's, there is, uh, there's a lot of codes and ciphers and stuff that you can use.
Like there's number ciphers and letter ciphers. And do you know what a, you know what a cipher is?
Juliana: Um, I'm trying to remember, but I feel like it's kind of like a code, like a, another word for a code. Well, a
Mike: cipher is basically, so like a, a letter, A number cipher. Okay. [00:15:00] So if you have an, the alphabet, you have A is one, B is two, C is three.
Mm-hmm. So if I wrote, if I wanted to do cat, I would write three. Oh
Juliana: yes. Okay. Right. One like that.
Mike: And then you would sub it out. Mm-hmm. And there's also like ciphers where it shifts. So let's say Yes.
Juliana: The mummy room.
Mike: Yes.
Juliana: Oh my gosh. The one that, the puzzle that shifts, like that one always trips me up.
Mike: Yes.
And it's just, so that is kind of like. Yeah, those are fun brain puzzles. Then you have your physical puzzles. Mm-hmm. So you can have physical puzzles, you can have tech puzzles, you can have locks. Like obviously if it's a three digit combo, you have to figure out a way to get three numbers involved.
Right.
And
Mike: that can be as simple as, you know, the, the key had mm-hmm. Is, let's say the, the numbers, like the first digit is painted red, second digit painted blue, and the third one's yellow.
Mm-hmm.
Mike: And let's say there's, uh, numbers on the wall and one's hiding in red, one's in yellow, one's in blue. You're [00:16:00] like, oh, those are your three numbers.
Yeah. That's a simple version. Right. I see the color it goes to there. Another version is you could have those colors and you can put, uh, like a jar of, of rubber balls. Mm-hmm. And there's three blue, uh. Blue balls in there. There's five green ones and six yellow,
Juliana: and like each of the balls might have a number in them or something.
Or on the, or you just count 'em. Yeah. You can
Mike: make it as complicated as you have to pick 'em out and pick out which number, or you can just count the number of balls in the jar.
Mm-hmm. Okay.
Mike: So that's a different level of it. And then you can make it really hard to where now like you have to do math on it and you know it, you can, it's just increasing the difficulty.
Right.
Mike: So that's basically the, uh, the idea. And you want to get a variety of puzzles. Mm-hmm. Like if you go into a room and there's 10 combination locks.
Juliana: Mm-hmm.
Mike: Once you do the fourth [00:17:00] one, you're just like, okay, I don't want to do these anymore.
Juliana: Right. I was gonna ask you too, like, what would you say is like the, like the minimum appropriate number of.
Puzzles that you could have in an escape room where it's not boring?
Mike: Um, well, it's not a, it, it's just the variety. Like I would put maybe one key lock, I would put one physical puzzle. Okay. Where you have to slide things around, maybe one, you know, math problem.
Mm-hmm.
Mike: If you do one of each. And you also, like if you have a group, like some people are very good at math.
Mm-hmm. So they're gonna be see the, that puzzle and love it. But if you don't like math and it's all math puzzles mm-hmm. You're gonna be really upset in that room.
Juliana: Yeah. That's me. I'm a really bad at math. And there are
Mike: other people who are very good at like, you know, observation. Yeah. So you put a lot of observation puzzles where you're like, oh look, that there's a symbol on this painting.
There's a symbol on this painting, there's a symbol on, and then they go onto this lock. Mm-hmm. [00:18:00] You know. And then you can hide some stuff. So there's some people who I like to explore rooms and find all this stuff. Like, oh, I found this key here. I found this here. You know, there are readers, so you put a a, a note in there, you're like, oh, I wanna read this note.
So you want to try to play to a different strength of people.
Right.
Mike: So that way when you have a group of four come in, everyone feels they can contribute.
Hmm.
Mike: You also, it's really cool to use puzzles where you have to work together where it takes two people. I I like those.
Juliana: Yeah. Yes.
Mike: Where you have your clues in one room that you have to stare at a wall.
Yep. And then you have to relay that information into the next room so they can solve it.
Juliana: I've done a couple of those and I'm like, oh my gosh, I can't like, listen to me. Like they're yelling at each other back and forth about the clues. Oh, it's, and people are like, no, but it's this. I'm like, no, listen, I'm seeing it right here.
And then they have to like, run over there and look at it. I'm like, oh, I see what you mean. Okay. Tell me again. Yes.
Mike: And then, and then you get into advanced one where they're literally, you're sealed off.
Juliana: Yeah, that one's crazy too. And you have
Mike: to, you have to look in the window and, and make sure that you [00:19:00] can communicate through that.
Mm-hmm. Like there's all sorts of, there's all sorts of ways to enjoy it. Yeah. And, um, and people like that stuff. Mm-hmm. Like a lot of the tech stuff they like, like I, the one thing that sold me on the very first escape room was there was these cups we found, and when you place them correctly on this mantle
mm-hmm.
The
Mike: mantle opened up and I'm like, oh my God. I didn't even think that was physically possible. That's cool. Because I had no idea. Now what, what happens is basically it's a, it's a trigger for a magnetic lock.
Juliana: Yeah. Those are really cool to puzzles where it like moves or does something. Yes. And you're like, whoa.
Like I was not expecting that.
Mike: Yes. And then, well, the way escape rooms have gone, like there's different generations of escape rooms.
Juliana: Okay. So when. Um, do you know when Escape Rooms first came about?
Kind of because
Juliana: it, it, I, I feel like it's kind of a more recent development. It's, um, or a more recent activity for people to come and do.
Mm-hmm. Because I was asking my dad, I'm like, dad, have [00:20:00] you been to an escape room? I'm like, have you tried it? And he's older. Um, and he goes, no. Like, it hasn't been around by the time like I was your age. Like there was nothing. Um, like maybe if I was like, you know, your age now, I'd be like, really into it.
I might take that part out. Um, but he was like, no. Like, I haven't had that experience when I was your age. And I never knew about it until now. And now it's like, eh. Um, so it definitely seems like a much newer thing and that a lot of people are still. Getting to know more about. Mm-hmm. Like, people are like, what is that?
What's an escape room? Like? I don't understand the concept. So it's definitely a much newer experience. Um Yes. For people to do.
Mike: I wanna say, don't quote me on this, I'm gonna get it wrong and then you're gonna get in the comments, oh, he doesn't know what he's talking about. So I understand that. I want to say is either 2008, 2009 or 2010.
So I gave me a three year range, so, you know. Right. Forgive me. Um, and there's also some dispute over where it started. Um, it either started [00:21:00] in Japan. Okay. Or it started in, ah, believe it or not, Budapest.
Juliana: Oh, that's very interesting.
Mike: Budapest is considered like the capital of escape rim.
Juliana: Oh, I didn't, I thought, I didn't think that escape rooms started across seas.
Like I wanted to think about that.
Mike: Yes. And the one story is there is this game called Red Door.
Okay.
Mike: Okay. I think it's called Red Door. Uh, it was a video game. Where you're trapped in a room and you have to solve puzzles to get out. And these Japanese, um, kids, you know, not kids, but younger kids wanted to know if they could build a room to where you'd have to, they'd lock you in and in order to get out, you had to solve puzzles.
Mm-hmm. They wanted to build in real life. And I believe the first room itself, which we call a Gen Gen one game, is there was 10 combination locks. It was extremely hard. Like the escape rate was like [00:22:00] 5%.
Okay.
Mike: And in Japan, they were like, well, if they knew it was a hard task, if you didn't complete it, it was like, oh, well, you know, if you did, it was a great honor.
You know, things like that. So they, they didn't expect to escape, but it took off. And then one of his business partners came over into San Francisco. I. And I believe that's where the first one started in the, in the us Okay. Up in San Francisco. So, and then that was generation one. It was all just, you know, combination locks or three digit codes and things like that.
Okay.
Mike: And then it started to get a little more advanced where you'd have the tech stuff in to where you could have magnetic locks and it would pop open. And now I think we're probably in generation four, maybe in generation five. Mm-hmm. Where it's just all tech.
Yeah. And
Mike: it's just, you have to make it a production.
Now we have like light cues and audible cues. Mm-hmm. When you do something right. And [00:23:00] stories, it's gotta be story driven. Right. And everything else. And that's where my room. Is going. Mm-hmm. Well, it's kind of there, like, I inherited these two rooms. I didn't build this first one. This is the first one I built myself.
Mm-hmm. Well, I didn't build myself, I couldn't do any of this stuff. The
swamp room? The swamp room, yes,
Mike: yes, yes. The swamp room. Mm-hmm. The new one. So now like if you go to, you said you've played a few escape rooms, right?
Juliana: Yes. I don't remember the names of 'em, but I remember kind of like the idea of it. Like the very first one I did, um, I was in New Jersey.
Okay. And we did an alien one. Mm-hmm. And it was on the, on the jersey boardwalk. Oh, cool. And so we, it was like a 60 minute thing. It was just one room. Mm-hmm. And there was like an alien in the middle of the room, and we had to figure out how to save the world from the alien invasion. Right. And we made it out with one second.
Yes. And that was the very first one that I've done. And I was like, this is so fun. They're addicting, they can be. Mm-hmm. [00:24:00] And so I, that was back in. Like 2017. 2016. Okay. Right when I started. Yeah. So it's been a long time, but I haven't been like, continuous with them. Yeah. So it'll be like, a friend will be like, Hey, do you wanna go here?
Do you wanna go here? And I'm like, yeah, sure. And actually, um, in Vegas, I've done a couple, I did not do escape Biology one. Mm-hmm. Um, but I have done, I'm trying to remember what it is. It's like you were in this kind of hospital thing, um, and there was like a talking doll that wasn't Chucky, but they said it was Chucky.
Interesting. And I'm like, okay. I, that's like what I most mostly remember from it. But then, um. My friend Ian was like, Hey, like, you know, there's this escape room, monster Quest. We're gonna test, do some play test here. Do you wanna come and try it out? So I was one of the first few play tests to Oh, that's awesome.
Taste testers for this room, which is the Frankenstein room, which we're, we're in right now. Mm-hmm. And I did the test room for the Mummy. [00:25:00] Yes. So I did that and that was really fun. And I was like, wow, these are great. And we came back with friends and did the Mummy one. Um, not as a test room. Right. So, but um, yeah, so that's kind of like where I learned about, about escape rooms.
Mm-hmm. And kinda like my experience with it a little bit. But yeah, the puzzles and everything is just kind of, can be challenging for me.
Mike: Everyone says that. Yeah. And then those are the ones that usually contribute the most.
Juliana: Yeah. There's some that I did, but with a lot of people it's like, you can't really get there.
Right. Like, I felt like I was kind of, well, like no one's really listening to me. Yeah. Kind of thing. But um, yeah, I was trying to remember. What we were talking about before I got into my little,
Mike: I've asked if you had ever played a skate. Yeah.
Juliana: There you go. Thank you. So, um, yeah, so I've definitely played a bit.
Okay. Um, the VR ones are very interesting. Mm-hmm. I don't know if I'll do that, but I did do a VR like game type thing. Yeah. [00:26:00] And it was scary and I was like, oh my God. Like I was screaming, I was falling and it was, it was a thing. You quickly
Mike: forget that it's not real.
Juliana: Right. Yeah. It was like you're in a video game.
Yes. And so I like that you said that escape rooms are like, you're in a video game. Mm-hmm. And that, um, it's really, really fun. And I do like the story behind all of it. And so my questions like getting more into the, the escape room art of it all is how do you come up with a theme of the escape rooms after you come up with the puzzles?
'cause you said the puzzles came first, right? No. Or is it the theme that comes first? Theme comes first. Okay. So theme comes first and then puzzle. Yes. So how do you come up with the theme? Like, do you wanna talk about the, um, new, the new room that you have coming up? The swamp
Mike: room, my. I, I was kind of pigeonhole into the theme and Okay.
I say that because when I inherited this, there's a big mural on the side of our building. Mm-hmm. It says Monster House on it.
Juliana: Yes.
Mike: And the first two rooms were Monster. There was Mummy and Frankenstein. Mm-hmm. [00:27:00] So now all the rooms in here have to be themed after some sort of monster. I see. So we knew it was gonna be a monster theme and, uh, we run outta batteries.
Juliana: I think we're okay. It looks like it's charging.
Mike: Okay, cool. I just heard a beep.
Juliana: Me too.
Mike: Uh, and, uh, well I'll start over. So,
no, you're good.
Mike: Um, obviously all the rooms are monster theme 'cause that's the, the, uh, theme I was inherited. Mm-hmm. So the decor was already done for a Louisiana cabin and it was gonna be swamp thing.
So, but none of the puzzles were done. So they had thought about some of the puzzles. Mm-hmm. And then we kind of fine tuned it. So the next room we're gonna do is this one I got to create on my own.
Juliana: Mm-hmm.
Mike: Uh, I was gonna do invisible, man.
Juliana: Oh, that's gonna be cool.
Mike: Yes. Mm-hmm. And we're gonna try to make it feel like the guy's in the room with you.
Juliana: Ooh, that's creepy. So
Mike: like, you might be starting a puzzle.
Mm-hmm.
Mike: [00:28:00] And if you don't do it in, in time, he'll come and mess it up. It'll just, all the switches will Oh no switch. And they have to start over because he's messing with you and he'll laugh and run away.
Juliana: Oh my gosh. That's creepy. So,
Mike: uh, that's cool.
And then what I did add, um, was the lobby. Now did you always see it when it was the medieval. The, the, the tavern.
Juliana: I, I saw the lobby first when I came in for the, um, the mummy room that I did a couple weeks back.
Mike: Okay. Yeah. So when,
Juliana: when I first came in, there was no lobby.
Mike: Oh, really? Yeah. Okay. So when we did Oh, so you did a play test way back when?
Juliana: Yeah, it's been a minute. Okay.
Mike: So I, that was my idea. Mm-hmm. Well, it was all of our ideas. Mm-hmm. But I wanted to, since we had monsters from Victorian era mm-hmm. And ancient Egypt, I'm like, there's no real connection to it. I wanna make a story.
Mm-hmm.
Mike: And this is where I try to separate from the other escape rooms, right.
Like, I [00:29:00] don't like when you go into an escape room and the game master comes out and says, Hey, you know. Sign your waiver, let's take you back in. Then you'll watch a video. Like you'll be in a wizard room.
Mm-hmm. And
Mike: there'll be a TV in there. And I'm like, well, they didn't really have TVs in wizard times.
Right. And then you watch a video of don't climb on the furniture and don't use force. And I'm just like, it takes you out of it. Mm-hmm. And then granted, they try to be funny, but you have to say those rules. And then after that video's done, then another video comes up and explains the story.
Right.
Mike: And then you're like in the room already.
And once you're in the room, the first thing you wanna do is you wanna start looking around and start playing.
Mm-hmm.
Mike: And you don't wanna sit there and watch, so you'd miss some of the story. And then the puzzles are just random puzzles. They don't tie together. Like there's no mission involved.
Right.
Mike: And then there has to be a twist.
Mm-hmm. Like you have to go in with the mission, like for our mummy room, you go in there to try to find out what happened to the archeologist.
[00:30:00] Mm-hmm.
Mike: By the end. There's a new mission. Mm-hmm. Like your initial goal isn't your end goal. So I came up with making it a medieval tavern up front, and I came up with a medieval village of Frampton.
Mm-hmm. And I said that we have a wizard named Kaldor.
Mm-hmm.
Mike: And he, he wanted to build a wizard tower. And unfortunately they, uh, he wanted to build it taller than the king's castle.
Mm-hmm.
Mike: And the king was like, well, not the king. The, uh, we had some, it was a nice bustling town. Frampton is trade town. You know, people want to come here, and when everybody wants to come there, the people who live there are like, we don't want any more people coming in.
Mm-hmm. So they make it harder and harder to come in.
Mm-hmm.
Mike: And eventually they form what's known as an HOA. Yeah. So we, we formed an HOA and the HOA said denied on Kor's Tower, [00:31:00] which did not. Which angered Kaldor and our good wizard turned into an evil wizard and built a device called the Evil Sumer.
It's a terrible name, however, wizard, terrible name.
Right.
Mike: And he then fires up his evil sumer and it summons evil throughout time. And it's summoned a mummy with a curse on it. And it's summoned Dr. Frankenstein. And then it's summoned the, the, uh, the swamp monster. Mm-hmm. And then it will summon the invisible, invisible man.
Yeah. So now it kind of explains why all these different eras are in our tavern.
Juliana: And I do love the idea of the tavern because when you first come in, you knock on the door 'cause the door's locked. Right? So you have to have someone greet you. And, and your, um, crew is all dressed up as part of that time.
Yes. And they all have a, like an aura to them that they're part, they're from this time period.
Yes.
Juliana: And it's really fun because you do kind of. Like [00:32:00] you're immersed into this whole new world and you're like, wow, this is really cool. And like you're looking around at everything. You're like, oh, there's a key right there.
There's this right there. There's a box. What is a box? I wanna see what's in the box. That was me. I was like, I wanna open this box, damnit. Um, and you see like fun, like there's like a bar and you see like fun little trinkets behind the bar and then they lead you to the escape room. Mm-hmm. Which is really fun.
And so I do like that immersive atmosphere when you first walk in. 'cause it's like, okay, yeah, I'm here for this story. Yes. Um, and I love that you did that. I thought it was really fun, really unique. When I walked in, I was like, oh, this is fun.
Mike: Well, do you know why I picked tavern?
Juliana: Um, I don't believe so.
Mike: Okay. So if you play any Dungeons and Dragons type games Yes. Or role playing games mm-hmm. When you are a new adventurer in town. Oh,
Juliana: that makes sense. Where
Mike: did you go?
Juliana: Tavern.
Mike: Yep. You
Juliana: always go to the tavern. Always. Even with video games, even with like you said, DD that's where the story starts. That's where you like meet the, the bar owner and [00:33:00] like Uhhuh, all of those, and they're like, Hey, we have a mission for you.
Like, can you solve this for us? Exactly. So I, I definitely understand now.
Mike: Yeah. So that's why we hired you. You get greeted like, oh my God, are you the bounty hunters here to help us? Like you really need to help us. Yeah. And we, and I am glad you said it was very immersive. Mm-hmm. That was the goal. Yeah.
Like, like, we wanted you to be into the story right when you, uh, walked in the door
mm-hmm. To the minute
Mike: you leave.
Mm-hmm.
Mike: And that's what you're, that's what you pay for. Like when you go to a movie. You go to escape the world you're in and believe the world you're seeing.
Right. When
Mike: you go to Disney or Universal, everything's themed.
So you're just like in this magical place the whole time. Mm-hmm. And that's what you want. And that's why I don't like the escape rooms that just have a normal lobby.
Juliana: Right.
Mike: You talk to a game master, they drag you in there and they see a video.
Juliana: Yep. That's one of them that I went into recently. I also just remember too, I went to the it [00:34:00] escape room, the second one, and that one is also immersive and very scary.
Yes. Um, definitely not beginner friendly. If you, if you wanna start here, and I think your escape rooms are very beginner friendly mm-hmm. And very immersive and get that feel and excitement and, um, all of that. So I have another question too, about escape rooms. Sure, sure, sure. So a lot of the. A lot of the question, sorry.
A lot of the phrases that I hear when it comes to escape rooms is like, oh no, I don't wanna be locked in a room. Like, I am scared about that. Like, I don't want to, like, it just creeps me out. Like, what if I wanna leave? Like I, I don't like the idea of being locked in a room and like having to figure out my way.
What do you tell those people that say that? I'm like, oh, like, she's like, no, it's really fun. Or do you like kind of explain to them a little bit more of what it's like or? Sure. Like how do you talk to those people that are very uncertain and very nervous about coming to an escape room for the first time?
Mike: Well, the first thing I tell them is by law.
[00:35:00] Mm-hmm.
Mike: I'm not allowed to lock you in a room.
Mm-hmm.
Mike: So the doors are open at any time. If you're ever uncomfortable and you feel like either you're too claustrophobic, like if you feel claustrophobic or you just don't feel uncomfortable. You can go and open the door
mm-hmm.
And
Mike: you can go away, so you're never in any danger.
Okay.
Mike: Okay. Mm-hmm. So that's always the first thing. The second thing is they're always like, oh my God, are there jump scares? Are there people in the room? Is it really scary? And my particular one is like, I don't like horror either. Yeah. Like, I don't consider horror.
Like being scared is not fun. Being scared is you're running for your life and I don't wanna do that. Right. Like,
Juliana: like the it ones where you're running for your life. Exactly.
Mike: And they're those, they're fun, but they're great rooms. Yeah. Don't get me wrong. Mm-hmm. It's just not my cup of tea. So like, it's funny that I inherited a monster themed room.
Mm-hmm. And I don't like horror at all. So I, when I played them, I'm like, are they gonna be scary? And when I played 'em, they weren't.
Yeah. I'm like,
Mike: okay. So that made me feel better. I mean, there's a couple of, you know, maybe some creepy things, [00:36:00] but it's not like, yeah. Over the top, there's
Juliana: a. Something creepy in here that I, that I'm always kind of like, oh, like, I don't wanna give, give it away for people that come to the, to the escape room for this one right here.
But you walk in and you see something and you're just like, oh. Like, what is that?
Mike: Yeah. And it's totally fine. It's, you're never, it is, it's never too bad. Like, I mean, there are some horror rooms and I, I won't play them, but mm-hmm. People do like them. Like it is a, you know, so it's, it's one of those things where I personally tell people that I, I'm physically not, I'm legally not allowed to lock you in a room.
Right. You can leave at any time. And then I tell them that there's nothing over the top scary and mm-hmm. Fear ever uncomfortable. We can either stop the experience or we can, we can, uh, we can get you through it.
Juliana: Yeah. Thank you for that. Of course. Um, I, 'cause I was always one, because I think the term escape mm-hmm.
Kind of freaks people out a little bit too. Yes. It's like, oh, I have to escape something. And it's, I think they don't understand what the, what it necessarily [00:37:00] entails. Mm-hmm. But I guess it's just. I've always known it as escape room, but I don't know. An but I haven't, so sorry, I'm trying to, the, that's, I had a whole lot of questions and I'm just like asking questions from my head.
So this is the best way to do it. Exactly. Unscripted. So I'm trying to like, come up with like, how to phrase it, um, the word escape room. Mm-hmm. That weren't escape. I know a lot of people get like nervous about it. Do you know kind of how that term generated for, for this kind of experience? Or is it just something that they were like, yeah, let's just name it escape room and call it a day?
I
Mike: don't know the exact mm-hmm. Words behind it. I can. Have an educated guess on it. Mm-hmm. So, again, in all your comments, I'm sure someone will look it up and tell me how. Yeah, that's funny. I'm looking into the microphone, assuming these are the, these are the commenters posting down below. This guy's an idiot.
Um, I would think like most of the time you have an hour to finish a [00:38:00] task, and if you don't mm-hmm. You end up dying. It's like, okay, the cops, you didn't escape. The cops come and arrest you. Or the mo the wizard comes back and you're in his tower and he, you know, cast a spell on you and Right. Flings you, you're dying to the, there's planet.
You know? So I think you, the escape part is you have to go in, accomplish a mission and get out before consequences hit. Got
Juliana: it.
Mike: So I think that's why it's the escape room. Uh, but that's just an educated guess.
Yeah.
Mike: Um, whoever the first people to come up with them.
Mm-hmm.
Mike: I would imagine they, at first they thought it was a puzzle room.
Right.
Mike: And that maybe wasn't nearly as exciting enough. But Escape Room has a little, Ooh, right. What am I doing in here? It's like escaping. Oh, I know. What, what am he doing here? Yeah. Uh, but it's, it's funny, like when you were talking about your, your father, uh, he wasn't into them, but he didn't know what they were.
[00:39:00] Mm-hmm.
Mike: When I was telling like, older people like that, I own an escape room, they think it's like one of the panic rooms that people build. Like, oh, you install and you install like the panic rooms in people's houses. I'm like, no, no, no. It's like, no, not at all. Yeah. They're like, I don't know. And then they, that all they have in their head is that like you're this high level mafia guy.
Mm-hmm. And if you're in trouble, you go like, open a bookcase, shut it in there, and you're in a safe room where outside people can't get you. Right. So that's what they assume escape room is. Mm-hmm. It's like a panic room. But, but yeah. Um. That's my best guess. Mm-hmm. As to what, why it's called an escape room.
Right. But I'm sure someone will point us in the right direction. Yeah.
Juliana: And if I find anything too, I'm, I'll do resources, notes. Oh, nice. So if there's any questions that people have to, they could go to that. And if you have any like, um, resources too, we could put in the comment or put in the show
Mike: notes.
You can stop me mid video and be like, what he said was [00:40:00] incorrect
Juliana: but
Mike: really happens is this, and then I can go on talking. Yeah.
Juliana: All right. Let me see here.
Okay. So
in light of the bringing guests into your escape room mm-hmm. What happens if a guest is disruptive? Like what happens if they are just like. Not doing the game correctly, kind of ruin some equipment. What do you do then? Do you just kinda like let them finish playing the game or do you just kind of say like, Hey, like that's enough for now?
Like how do you deal with those guests that just kind of come in, be a tornado and leave?
Mike: Okay. Uh, well, with anything, um, you have a business, you always run the risk of having a bad customer, a bad
client.
Mike: Mm-hmm. And we don't let you in here. We kind of know what you're doing at all time.
Okay.
Mike: So we have cameras set up.
[00:41:00] Mm-hmm. And it's mainly to watch the room and for 99% of the time, it's to watch you. And if you have, if you get stuck at something and need a clue
mm-hmm. We
Mike: can give you a clue and move you on and be like, oh, okay, this is what you're missing. Yes. But for that 1% of the time, we're also watching to make sure you don't damage something.
Mm-hmm.
Mike: So the first thing is, most of the time people are gonna be doing it on accident. Like they'll see something that they shouldn't touch and they. It's funny with escape rooms, like people start getting like all these crazy ideas, like, you know what, I bet you there's like, they'll look at this vent, sorry, I'm pointing to a vent that you can't see.
Yeah, just imagine that you see a vent there. So they'll go up to the vent, you're like, I think there's something hitting up there. And they'll try to like rip the vent off the wall. Right. I think it's that. And then we'll intervene and be like, oh hey, you know that, you know, we didn't, we won't break character.
We'll say, oh, you know, master never goes into the ceiling to do anything, so I think you're doing okay. Yeah. And that will usually stop again, of the 1% of the people that try to do that, 99% [00:42:00] of those will stop.
Right.
Mike: If you get someone who is purposely trying to ruin your room mm-hmm. Or they come in drunk and they, they're, they're disruptive and stuff like that, we have everyone sign a waiver.
Mm-hmm.
Mike: And in the waiver it does say that, you know, if you ruin the room, you're responsible for it. Right. And these rooms are expensive, like it's all tech and stuff like that. So like gen one rooms you could get away with building for. Maybe a thousand dollars. Mm-hmm. For these generation, like four and five rooms, they're like a hundred thousand dollars
Juliana: Right.
To put together. It's a lot. Mm-hmm. There's a lot of detail to it. Yes. There's a lot of tech to it, like you said. Mm-hmm. There's a lot of equipment and things that you have to like, get and, and details and like, I'm looking around like different dressers and mirrors and pictures and couches. Like, there's like, like you're building a room together.
Yes, yes. So,
Mike: so it's, it's, and the tech stuff is also, you know, it's expensive as well. Yeah. So, so yes, [00:43:00] with any business you're gonna have some bad apples and I have fortunately not have any yet. Okay. So that's good. Yes. Um, and, um, it shows, it shows also in our, in our reviews and stuff. Mm-hmm. They've all been positive and it's.
Again, I always get, I'm always skeptical. Mm-hmm. Because I'm like, oh, that's just someone who, you know, doesn't wanna say that it's really cool. Mm-hmm. Like everyone's, oh, it was great. And I'm just like, well, that just should being nice, you
know? Yeah.
Mike: And, but a lot of people post, you know, five star reviews and I don't know them, so mm-hmm.
That it does make me feel good.
Yeah.
Mike: Like we just had a couple of play testers go through the new room mm-hmm. Which opens, I was gonna say tomorrow, but they won't know what tomorrow is. It opens on, it's opened on the 24th of April. Yes. Um, so whenever this airs mm-hmm. It is probably gonna be open already, so you can come and play.
Um, the play testers like, oh my God, I love this, I love this. But they're, again, they're talking to me, they know I'm the owner, and of course they're not gonna be like, this sucks, right. Why are you doing this? And it's like, okay. [00:44:00] So it's, it's cool, like, again, I'm still skeptical that I built something fun, but.
So far no one's told me otherwise.
Juliana: And I'm sure if someone has, they probably would say something like, right. Um, you said biz correct? Yeah. Like if biz would be like, Hey, this doesn't, this doesn't work. Like I'm sure he'll tell you like immediately.
Mike: Yes. Well it's, it's funny because biz um, the way I got this room, I don't even think we got into how I got to this room.
I stopped in the knives out. So from knives out, we're going back. Rewind, imagine we're back at the question from 20 minutes ago. Um, when I did the mobile escape room after that, um, I kind of put the idea of owning an escape room away. 'cause we went through the pandemic. Mm-hmm. And then I started working and everything else randomly, I happened to check Facebook and Biz the builder here posted that this room was for sale.
[00:45:00] Mm-hmm.
Mike: And I went, huh. And I had found a new business partner. And he loves escape rooms just like me. And that's how we met through our, you know, love of escape rooms. And I called him up and I said, listen, there's an escape room for sale in Vegas. I think it's worthwhile to go out and have a trip, check it out and see what the price is.
And I know biz off posted about it 'cause he liked the rooms.
Mm-hmm.
Mike: So if he thought they were good rooms and he knows good rooms and bad rooms,
right.
Mike: It was probably worth saving. So I came out here and, uh, played them and I'm like, oh man, these are actually kind of good. Yeah. You're like, oh. I was like, I was hoping to come out here and be like, oh, it's, these rooms are bad.
Or, you know, the price. Like, I was waiting to hear the price and the price was actually within our range. Like every, every roadblock I put up to prevent myself from buying it [00:46:00] when I heard the answer. The roadblock went away.
Juliana: I was gonna ask you too, if you had any like, pivotal moments in your journey mm-hmm.
Where you felt like this wouldn't work at all, or you felt like everything was against you. But it sounds like from after viewing this part, it just was kind of putting it into place when you were trying to like Right. Stop it from happening kind of thing.
Mike: Well see, I'm, I'm leaving out some parts of the story.
Mm-hmm. There was a point where the whole deal just fell apart. Mm-hmm. And, um, we couldn't get the numbers to work. We couldn't get anything to work and it just wasn't working out Right. And both Lou and I said, Hey, we're just gonna step away. And we did. And we stepped away for about a week, and then we got a call and the, uh, the offer had changed.
Mm-hmm.
Mike: And I remember talking to Lou and I'm like, look, if this is probably the best deal we're gonna get, if we ever wanted to own an escape room. This is it.
Yeah.
Mike: [00:47:00] So it's either we do this or we'll never do it. Mm-hmm. And we both went, yeah, let's try it. So we were gonna give ourself about six months
mm-hmm.
Mike: And see how it works out. So we're approaching month four and a half. Okay. Almost five. And, uh, so far so good.
Juliana: Yeah. Yeah. That's awesome.
Mike: So it's scary. Mm-hmm. It's, uh, because like when you go and work for someone, like I've worked for people, you know, as most people. Mm-hmm. They don't own companies, you know, you go in and they hand you an employee manual or whatever it is, and they give you your training and everything else.
And then when I open this place up and I'm like, wow, I'm gonna have employees, I'm like, oh man, I gotta think of some way for them to clock in and out.
Right.
Mike: So I had to go get an app for that, and then I'm like, I need to have policies. Like you have to have call off policies and vacation policies and, and mm-hmm.
And rate policies. And we have an HR person. I'm just like, oh my God, I have to, I have to create all this.
Yeah.
Mike: And it's like there's resources out there to help you, but you're like, [00:48:00] every step of the process, you're like, it's just not there. You have to create it. Mm-hmm. So that was a big leap to be like, oh, the designing of the games is fun, but it's also a business.
Right.
Mike: And you have to find, you know, you have to create all of this stuff. You have to create a way to get the schedule. You have to create a way of keeping track of people. You have to get an HR people, you have to get insurance, you have to get this, you have to get this. And I'm just like, oh my God.
Gotten into
Juliana: Right. I was going to ask you too. Mm-hmm. Because having this escape room is very like, creative and very like, um, very unique. And it uses a different part of your brain. Mm-hmm. So how were like, did you struggle switching that side of your brain to more of like the logistics side of owning a business?
And like, how did it, how did you get through like those. Those struggling pain points of being like, okay, like I, I have to do this and I have to research it, and I have to look at this. And, and how did you work through that instead of just give up [00:49:00] completely?
Mike: Well, um, when you put a lot of money into something, you're like, I can't give up.
So, yes. Uh, but it's one of those things where,
what's the easiest way to put it? It's, you just have to do it. Mm-hmm. Like, owning a business is fun in some aspects, but you also, as everyone should know, going into it, there's a lot of parts that suck.
Yeah.
Mike: And you have to go through all of that hellish stuff to get to the end point.
Mm-hmm.
Mike: Like, I remember the, like, even this, like in my head, I'm like, okay, I'll just, you know, you put out advertising.
Mm-hmm.
Mike: Um, I put out advertising two weeks before we opened and I had all rooms ready. I had staff plans and everything else, like, this is gonna work. And then we opened. The first day we had like, you know, 15 people come through. I'm like, [00:50:00] this is great. Then the next day we had two.
Mm-hmm.
Mike: And then that was, then there was none.
And there was none. And there was none and there was none. And after the fourth day of nobody booking, I'm like, oh my God, what am I doing? Yeah. And it's just because nobody knew about it.
Mm-hmm.
Mike: And I was like, wow. Like this is a constant process and it just doesn't happen overnight. And that was my first realization of, okay, you have to get up every day as a business owner and be like, how can I help my company?
Right.
Mike: And a first, I was scared about it. Yeah. But now that I've done it for a while, I'm like excited to be like, what other new things I could do? Mm-hmm. And that's like when Ian suggested this, I'm like, yeah, let's do it. Yeah. Something new, you know? Mm-hmm. Uh, I always tell people I'm doing the spaghetti [00:51:00] method.
I'm just taking all the pasta, throwing against the wall and seeing what sticks. Yep. You know,
Juliana: just getting the word out there as best as you can as different
Mike: Yes.
Juliana: Elements as you can.
Mike: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. And you get some, you'll put a lot of effort in and you'll get no reward out of it. Other things you're like, ah, this is going to, this is, sure.
I'll try this. And it works out great.
Mm-hmm.
Mike: And, um, yeah, I just started diving into every avenue I could mm-hmm. To try to talk about this. Yeah. So, and it, and it helps apparently to have a good product. Mm-hmm. I always knock on wood, 'cause again, it's, it's hard to believe that it's good, but I, I, I do think that I've, that we've put together something good and it's.
And it's not me.
Mm-hmm.
Mike: I, I am so behind the scenes on it. The only reason this escape room is good is number one because of biz. Mm-hmm. And number two, ru and number three, everybody on my [00:52:00] staff.
Mm-hmm.
Mike: Like, they go way above and beyond anything I could have hoped for. And like I joked, because I don't know how to reset my rooms, I don't know how to run the tech.
I, I had a phone call come in and they wanted to play and I'm like, let me see if I can get somebody in here. And they immediately said, yeah, we'll come in and help you out.
Yeah.
Mike: And they are constantly coming up with, what about doing this, Mike, what about doing this? And they give me marketing ideas and they give me suggestions for the rooms.
And they said, Hey, you know, I, I got this idea to promote here. I got this idea to do this. And it is, it is crazy because like. Um, I, I couldn't do this without them. Mm-hmm. And again, not being local, I didn't know any of them. Right. Like, I, I knew Biz and Biz got me in contact with Ru We met and she was great from the minute I met her, she's way too [00:53:00] overqualified for this.
Uh, and she ended up hiring the staff and each and every person she's hired has worked out great. And I, I try my best to do any little thing I can to help them. Mm-hmm. Like, uh, the Play Playground is one of our, uh, our sponsors over at the Luxer. Oh, very cool. And they got to all play for free. Mm-hmm. And I treated them to dinner.
We did an exchange with, um, um, oh God, the Texas Roadhouse. Yeah. So I got to treat them all dinner. That's fun. And, uh, we had the, uh, battle bots people come in, so they're gonna get to go to battle bots and
Juliana: that's gonna be really cool. Right. So
Mike: I'm trying my best to treat employees. As best as possible.
Mm-hmm. Because I know this isn't a job that they're gonna be able to retire on and Right. Live the great life. Uh, they're doing it because they are really, really passionate about it. So much. So they're probably, some of 'em exceed even my passion for it. Mm-hmm. Which is crazy [00:54:00] because I have, I should be like, you see like the stereotypical movie where you have the, the kid behind the counter who doesn't want to be there.
And that is so far from what this team has done. Right. And I am very blessed. Mm. To have them. So
Juliana: yeah, having a good team definitely helps bring a product like to life and helps bring your vision mm-hmm. To where you want it to go. And it's like you are all in this together kind of thing. Mm-hmm.
Mike: Well, the other thing that helps is I give them the freedom to be creative.
Mm-hmm. Like, oh, cool. Every character that answers the door
mm-hmm.
Mike: Is a different character. Like, I'm not, I'm not of, you need to do this, you need to do this and do this. You are in charge of making the customer feel great, however you feel that is necessary. So I don't put any real restrictions on them.
Mm-hmm. I say whatever costume you wanna wear, you know what you wanna do. [00:55:00] However you want to portray your accent, however you want to give clues. However, whatever personality you want to use, I wanna see more of it.
Right.
Mike: You know, so it, I don't micromanage them, which I think is what holds a lot of other business owners back and it makes their employees resent
Right.
Mike: Working for them. Mm-hmm. Like if I came up to you with your podcast, you're like, it has to be 30 minutes and it has to be these questions and it's all these questions for each.
Juliana: Right. I'd be like, no. Like, I wanna do my own thing.
Mike: Right, right. I am. I am closing you in. Yeah. And then you're trying to fit what I want.
Whereas I'm saying, you go be creative because anything you do mm-hmm. Is gonna be better than anything I could ever suggest.
Juliana: Right. And that you're putting that power into your employees. They, they wanna come here, they wanna work here, they wanna help. Yeah. And they want to, um, they wanna be able to give patrons the experiences too mm-hmm.
That you're hoping that they wouldn't have, so. Yeah.
Mike: Right.
Juliana: I totally understand [00:56:00] that.
Mike: Yeah. And it shows, like if you go and look at our reviews
Juliana: mm-hmm.
Mike: I would say 90% of them mention how great the staff is.
Yeah.
Mike: Not even my room. Like I could have truly horrible rooms mm-hmm. But my staff makes it better.
They do, you
Mike: know. Yeah. And you, you will, if you get a good customer experience and you get someone who's passionate about their job, everyone sees it right away. And it just gets you in the, it gets you in the correct frame of mind.
Juliana: Yeah. Mm-hmm. I love that. Thank you so much for sharing that. Of course,
Mike: of course.
Juliana: So the last question that I wanna ask you Sure. Is, do you feel like. Your journey from when you first saw escape rooms till now? Do you feel like this can lead you to that dream life that you've always envisioned for yourself? Or do you feel like that you're still working on that?
Mike: I think so. Mm-hmm.
Because from, like I said, from a very early age, I knew I wanted to be a computer programmer.
Mm-hmm. [00:57:00]
Mike: This is way before the escape rooms, uh, back when I was in seventh grade, and I did, I became a computer programmer right. Outta school. And in fact, I had graduated on May 16th mm-hmm. And started my computer job on the May 17th.
Juliana: Okay. Like, literally right after, literally right
Mike: after, like I always joke, I played my life backwards.
Juliana: Mm-hmm.
Mike: Right. When I got done with college, I went right to a corporate job. Mm-hmm. I worked corporate for 13 years and then I. Quit it all. Mm-hmm. Packed up from Ohio, moved to LA to act, which is funny.
Yeah. And, uh, now I went from that set schedule to just being free.
Mm-hmm.
Mike: And it was so much more fun.
Mm-hmm.
Mike: And then I discovered the escape rooms and I'm like, oh my God, I think I can own this. And I think that if this facility does well, I would love to open up a second one.
Mm-hmm.
Mike: And it would be, it would be another theme building, but it'd be a different theme.
Right.
Mike: And [00:58:00] eventually I think, I think I would want to own up to three or four.
That'd be cool.
Mike: And at that point, I'd say the plan would probably be within, within three years to potentially open a second one. But then the third one will probably come within another two years. 'cause it becomes easier.
'cause I'll have all this marketing behind it be able to carry over. It's like, it's like franchising, like the first, the first McDonald's took a little bit to get off the ground and then it's easy to franchise.
Mm-hmm.
Mike: And I hate using the word franchise because I don't want to be a corporation. I hate corporations.
Now I've did, I've worked with them too much. Yeah. Because, well, side story with the employees, a lot of my employees, they came from, like, some came from corporate escape rooms and stuff like that, and they were miserable there and they love escape rooms. But when they love working here because they get the freedom to, to enjoy the experience as well.
Right.
Mike: So that, I do think that if things go according to plan [00:59:00] that uh, I will open a second facility and potentially a third. And I think if I get to that point, then yeah, I think I'll be fine. I'll be able to, to at least be known somewhere in the escape room world. And that would be something cool. Yeah.
That I'd be remembered by. You know?
Juliana: That'd be really cool. Yeah. I, I could see it happening. I could see you having a little bit of a franchise. Mm-hmm. Like a little bit. Um. Your way though. Yes. Uh, and I look forward to seeing more of like what you come up with and what you have for like the different rooms.
Like I'm excited to try to test out swamp mm-hmm. The swamp room when it's open. Um, and I'm excited to just see what happens with your growth. Yeah. And so I wanna do one last question. Sure. Because I thought of it too. Um,
what would you say to someone that feels stuck and feels like they can't move forward or they, they have an idea and they wanna be able to do the idea, but they just feel like, [01:00:00] how do I phrase this? Sorry. Um,
Mike: you know what's funny? Hmm. You don't even have to ask the question 'cause I know what you're trying to ask.
Juliana: I, because it's like, how do you like get, how do you tell someone that's in the mindset of like being stuck and they wanna be their own boss and they wanna be their own, uh, and they wanna work for themselves? How, what do you tell that person?
Mike: Okay.
Juliana: That from your own experience. And I
Mike: will tell you. The exact experience that got me.
'cause I was, I felt stuck too. Mm-hmm. Like I said, I was, I was 12 years into corporate America. I had a big house in Ohio. I had the cars, I had, I had everything that I wanted and I was miserable.
Mm-hmm.
Mike: And I always felt like, I remember it was on my birthday, I was in Pittsburgh and there was, uh, this guy Andrew, who was also one of my bosses at the Federal Reserve, learned a lot from the Federal Reserve.
I had great bosses there, but he was one of my bosses at the time. We were eating lunch. And he looked at me and goes, you don't look too happy. And I said, yeah, [01:01:00] I just don't think I want do this anymore. And he goes, oh. And he goes, well, what do you always think you wanted to do? And at the time, I said, I always thought I could act.
And he looked at me and he goes, okay. He goes, here's what I want you to do. I want you to make one phone call to try to get yourself into acting. One phone call commit to making one phone call to pursue this. If it ends, you gave it a shot.
Mm-hmm.
Mike: But if it doesn't follow up.
Mm-hmm.
Mike: And believe it or not, I made the one phone call.
I took the leap. All it takes is one phone call to do. And if more than likely at that point that you decide to make that phone call, your mind is gonna switch and you're gonna want to get through it.
Mm-hmm. So
Mike: that is the scary part. People have the ideas [01:02:00] and they don't, they think it's too much to get going.
Just takes one phone call.
Juliana: Awesome. Thank you so much. You're welcome. That welcome. Of course. Opening up the room to do this podcast. Mm-hmm. And for being a great, um. Example of what it looks like to follow your dreams and to do what you love to do. So I really appreciate your time and, uh, for coming on the podcast.
Sure. Anytime Jules. Thank you. And also too, for those that are listening and watching, uh, there is a code for you. It's 10%,
Mike: it's $10 off.
Juliana: $10 off. Okay. Let me start that over. Um, and for those that are watching or listening to this episode and you made it all the way through, there is a special code for you that's $10 off for your experience to have at the escape rooms.
You could choose any three rooms, just use the code, just use the code jewels and you'll be get, and you'll get that $10 discount. All right. Thank you so much again for Of course being
Mike: here. And thank you all this you for having me. This is great. I enjoyed it.
Yay.
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