Combining puzzles, logic, and sleuthing, escape rooms are the 21st century’s response to the life-or-death riddles doled out by the Sphinx, Gollum, or Odin.
The first escape rooms, stemming from popular video game escape scenarios like Myst, opened in Japan in the early 2000s. The concept came to Kansas City in 2015, when both Breakout KC and Escape Room KC opened their initial locations — and a lot more followed in their path.
This popular entertainment benefits from participants with a wide range of knowledge and experiences, perfect for friends, families and team-building exercises. Generally, sessions last about 40-60 minutes and typically involve 2-6 teammates (though some rooms are appropriate for larger groups), but there are many different options to choose from.
What to expect
One of Kansas City’s first escape rooms, Breakout KC, opened its River Market location in 2015.
Former KCUR staffer Cody Newell described his initial visit: “The premise is simple: you're locked in a small room with a group of friends for one hour. Your goal is to get out of the room. But finding that code requires some serious sleuthing. There are riddles, simple math equations and cryptograms hidden all over the room.”
Escape rooms are usually themed, with an urgent backstory, like a historical mystery, a crime to solve or lives to save. Breakout KC also partnered with Sporting KC for a soccer-centered mystery in Matchday Mayhem.
Breakout KC has since expanded to a second regional location and offers many different room experiences, ranked beginner to expert, with four rooms at the Park Place location in Johnson County and seven rooms and counting (including seasonal pop up options) in the River Market.
Another early adopter is Escape Room KC in Union Station, which opened about the same time. They have three different rooms, each with its own set of clues to find and codes to crack. For instance, budding cryptologists can don their own deerstalker hat and step into the study of London’s most famous detective to stop a horrible criminal.
Tick Tock Escape Rooms, in Overland Park, has six room options, featuring space and spies, fantasy and pharaohs. They also have race rooms for large groups of up to 20 players, so that teams can try to beat the clock and each other.
Full Moon Escape, located in The Beast Haunted House in the West Bottoms, has five rooms, with themes of horror, fantasy, heist and more.
The key to success
You’re going to need to assemble a team — ideally a variety of people with different skills.
Puzzle lovers, riddle aficionados, math whizzes are welcome additions to any group. Observation and curiosity, the ability to look at problems from different perspectives, teamwork and comfort under pressure are essential elements to a successful escape.
Here are some pointers:
- It seems obvious, but very closely listen to the instructions of the game master.
- Divide the room into sections and search simultaneously. Search thoroughly.
- Say your clues out loud as you find them, as your clue may connect with someone else’s.
- Designate a spot for clues, and a separate spot for used clues/keys.
Breakout KC offers additional advice on how to crush an escape room.
Personalities are important, too. It’s not as much fun if one person takes over and solves all the puzzles on their own. Ask for hints. Delegation, conversation, and listening are as important as being the best at math, which is why escape rooms are popular with team building exercises.
And you don’t necessarily have to show up with an established group. Some companies will create teams with players on hand, which is a great way to meet new puzzle fiends and potentially emerge with both victory and new friendships.
Family- and kid-friendly
While many escape rooms are designed with adults in mind, there are plenty of options for teens and families with younger players. If you want to go with a group of teens or pre-teens, double check the company’s FAQ, as many require adult supervision or an adult observer for younger players, but each company differs.
Many places include “kids mode” options, specifically designed for kids to tackle without adult intervention, like Escapology, which has themed rooms like Scooby Doo and the Spooky Castle Mystery or the archaeological Lost City, and Breakout KC, with a “friendly” version of Matchday Mayhem designed for kids 7-14.
Johnson County Parks + Recreation District also has some escape room options at various dates throughout the year. At the Ernie Miller Nature Center in Olathe, players 5 years old and up (with adult supervision) can rescue animals from a thief.
At the Lanesfield Schoolhouse, a historic one-room school near Edgerton, Kansas, solve the mystery of the missing school marm in “Scandal at the Schoolhouse,” set in 1904. It’s designed for groups of players ages 10 and up, with at least one player 18 years or older.
More escape rooms around Kansas City
Whether you are interested in history, horror, or heists, there are lots of options available.
Around the Kansas City area, many national chains have set up locations of their particular brand, including Escapology Escape Rooms in Leawood, and The Escape Game Kansas City in the Country Club Plaza, which includes multiple rooms in every game.
BRKTHROUGH is not a traditional escape room, though it has similar elements. The Overland Park location is one of three national locations, featuring “challenge rooms.” These challenges include mental, physical, and skill-based tests and teams move through a selection of 40 rooms, sometimes more than once, to gain points.
If you are interested in a horror-laced experience, try The Basement: A Live Escape Room Experience, in the Crossroads. (They also have locations in Los Angeles and Los Vegas.) In these stories, players are trapped by a psychopathic killer and must escape before it’s too late – although if the experience gets too intense, players can leave the room early.
The region also includes more locally owned options:
- The Escape Game Leavenworth (formerly Locked in Leavenworth) was established in 2016 in Leavenworth, Kansas. In addition to their escape rooms, this company also hosts scavenger hunts.
- Inside Out Escape Entertainment has four rooms in Excelsior Springs, as well as a selection of mobile escape games.
- The Exit Room in Lee’s Summit has four rooms, including a missing agent, extraterrestrial phenomenon, and a treasure hunt.
- Escape This Place, in Raytown, is a family-run experience, where you can find a hidden artifact or solve mysterious disappearances.
- DoubleTap KC includes 10 different virtual reality escape room scenarios in its roster of entertainment.
