Spurred by the popularity of escape rooms in his native Denmark, Mag Villegas decided to set up a centre of his own when he moved to Guelph with his university student daughter.
That's how the local location of Trapped, a small Canadian chain, was conceived. Renovations and preparations to open later this year are now underway.
There are currently eight locations across the county, which Villegas said feature escape rooms created by people who have worked in the game and movie industries.
There will be four different escape rooms at the Guelph location at 259 Grange Rd. unit 4, formerly home to restaurant Tavern On Grange.
“They're all very elaborate, a very immersive experience,” said Villegas.
Villegas couldn’t divulge too much information about the types of escape rooms Trapped will have but he did say there is one prison escape room set in the medieval times.
“You are a peasant living in the 14th century wrongly convicted of treason. Your sentence is death by hanging, and you are now spending the remaining time of your life imprisoned in the castle’s dungeon. In one hour, the jail warden will come and bring you to the gallows. However, the previous prisoner in your jail cell seems to have left you a clue, which gave you a glimmer of hope to live. Will you suffer a painful, undeserving death, or will you break out of this prison?” said on the Trapped website for the Medieval Prison description.
“We think for other escape rooms we're not really in direct competition with them because everyone finds something completely different from each other,” said Villegas.
There is less of a focus on searching for keys to unlock doors and more focus on solving puzzles and riddles for doors to open on their own, said Villegas.
“Escape rooms is really a role play game,” he said. Storylines are unique, and to solve the clues in a room are different from other rooms.
He said he hopes Trapped will be opened just before Halloween, if not early December. He is looking to hire between 12 and 15 staff.
There will be a party room for birthdays and corporate events. Along with a cafe, food menu and gift shop.
Depending on the escape room, it can be played by two to eight people.
“It is a very inclusive game,” said Villegas. People from different cultural backgrounds, people with different abilities and of all ages can experience escape rooms, he said.
“It’s perfect for groups that are trying to build a team or connection,” said Villegas, noting they have to work together in order to escape.
Depending on the escape room, groups have an hour to an hour and ten minutes to escape. Villegas said most people don’t escape, although it is part of the fun trying to figure out the clues. Participants can ask for clues along the way, depending how challenging they want to make it for themselves.
For more information, visit https://trapped.com/.
