What: The Escape Room Indianapolis
Where: 200 S. Meridian St., Indianapolis (Above the Old Spaghetti Factory)
Price: $29 per person
Rooms: KGB Interrogation Room, Jail Break, Bank Heist, Art Gallery and Hoosier Hysteria.
Find the code. Get the key. Solve the riddle. Escape the room.
It might sound like a spy movie, but it’s actually real life.
The Escape Room Indianapolis is where thrill-seeking intellectuals flock to put their abilities to the test. Participants choose to be locked into one of the business’ five themed rooms and are given 60 minutes to solve brain teasers of all types and—potentially—escape.
Scott Neal is a founder and CEO of the business, which became the first escape room in Indiana when it opened on Oct. 2.
“The puzzles are varied,” Neal said, “Some are mathematical, others are logical, some are riddles, finding keys and figuring out combinations.”
Neal’s had an upscale vision for The Escape Room Indianapolis.
“We have a lounge, we serve beer and wine…and it’s not on a back alley somewhere or in some warehouse,” Neal said, “It’s right in the middle of Indianapolis.”
Above the Old Spaghetti Factory at 200 S. Meridian St. to be exact.
The idea for the escape room came to Neal and his wife on a make-or-break trip to Budapest, Hungary. Neal lost his job flying as corporate pilot, but the couple had already scheduled a European trip to their favorite city.
“We were kind of torn between do we go on the trip and pray that I get some sort of steady income afterwards or do we cancel it?” Neal said.
They decided to chance it. In Budapest, they visited one of the city’s popular tourist attractions—an escape room.
“It was an old, Soviet era apartment building, you know, crumbling from several decades of wear and tear, and it was in a basement through an iron door.” Neal said, “It was kind of moldy and smelly and everything was peeling and the furniture was falling apart but we had a great time.”
On the flight home, Neal and his wife decided they would do research on the industry, and in October of last year, they officially formed the company.
They had never founded a business on this scale and the new experience brought obstacles.
“I never doubted it would work out at all.” Neal said, “I just had to convince everyone else around me that it would work.”
And work it did. The Escape Room Indianapolis has had many participants from all over the state.
College kids are part of their target audience. The students who come don’t seem to mind the drive, Neal said.
Some Ball State students wouldn’t either.
“[The Escape Room] sounds really cool,” said Ian Smith, a junior social studies education major. “It is certainly a new challenge and would be a unique experience.”
Part of the challenge is the escape room’s “no cell phones, no cheating” rule. Each room has video surveillance to make sure the rules are followed.
An escape room visits costs $29 per person, and participants can choose from the KGB Interrogation Room, Jail Break, Bank Heist, Art Gallery and Hoosier Hysteria.
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