Bank Heist: First Escape Room on the Hi-line now open in Chinook

 

November 28, 2018

The Chinook Area Chamber opened "Escape the Hi-line," an escape room, in October. Participants play as a team doing a bank heist. They must find a hidden safe, collect the money in the safe and find the key to unlock the door to the room where the mission began. Daniel Dahl, vice president of the chamber and one of the primary creators of the escape room, poses at the entrance to the bank vault in the bank manager's office. Above right: Daniel Dahl, Vice President of the Chinook Area Chamber of Commerce, points out a new sign at 518 Indiana in Chinook. The north half of the brick building now houses "escape the hi-line," a recently completed escape room. Escape rooms provide a challenge for groups of two to six people to accomplish a made-up mission and escape from a room within a specified time. First started in Japan in 2007, 4700+ escape rooms now are located in 75 countries. The escape room is a project of the Chinook Area Chamber of Commerce.

Alert locals may have noticed a new sign on the front of 516 Indiana-the north half of the brick building just south of Edwards Funeral Home. "hi-line escape" is the newest addition to the growing trend of escape rooms. According to Daniel Dahl, Vice President of the Chinook Area Chamber, the recently opened escape room is the only one of its kind along the Hi-line, with the other closest operating escape rooms being in Kalispell, Great Falls and Billings.

An escape room is a live game, played by several people as a group, who are "trapped" inside a locked room and must solve a series of puzzles and find clues that allow them to accomplish their made-up mission and exit the room. Escape rooms tend to have a theme that is based on a fantasized situation. There is a time limit, usually sixty minutes, to accomplish the mission and escape the room as a group. Most escape room challenges are created for six to eight players.


In a typical escape room players separately search the room for possible helpful clues and try to sort out, as a group, which clues are useful to accomplishing their mission. For example, if the key to exiting the door is believed to be in a locked box, players will focus on finding clues that allow them to open that box and find the key to the exit door. Strategists who write about ways to successfully accomplish missions and exit escape rooms emphasize that communication among the team players is critical, sharing what they find and discussing how the clues they find might help reach their goal.

History and growth

of escape rooms

In 2004 a video game designer in Japan created an electronic escape game called "Crimson Room." By 2007 a Japanese company had adapted the idea of the video game to a live escape room. The development of escape rooms came from existing games like treasure hunts, video role playing games and games that required solving riddles, finding clues and interacting with other players to win or achieve a goal. Some commentators say the growth of escape rooms is a result of social media and a new desire for experiences that can't always be achieved by looking at an electronic device.


From the first escape room in 2007 to present day the growth of the fantasy-based quests has been phenomenal. The escape room trend took a bit longer to gain traction in the U.S. than in Asia and Europe, but the growth has been explosive in the U.S. from only 22 rooms in 2014 to an estimated 2000+ in 2018. Worldwide there are more than 4700 rooms in 75 countries. Daniel Dahl said, "We talked to the people operating two escape rooms in Kalispell. They say they are booked solid and are planning to add additional rooms." Great Falls has two separate businesses operating escape rooms.


Will Shortz, the crossword puzzle editor for the "New York Times" wrote, "...escape experiences have become the puzzling trend of the moment. Escape rooms' popularity coincides with the rise of social media and nerd culture." USA Today" reported Instagram posts with "#escaperoom" and "#weescaped" hashtags increased by 13% in one year, and keep increasing. Google searches for "escape room" had a huge increase in 2015, doubled in 2016 and tripled by the summer of 2017.

Why are escape rooms so popular? David and Lisa Spira (they were married in an escape room setting) are bloggers who write about escape rooms. They have completed more than 500 escape rooms and review their experiences (at this writing they were touring Europe doing escape rooms) at a website called "Room Escape Artist." David wrote of the escape room experiences, "They are small adventures. ...in a world gone digital, it feels good to do something in real life." He added that the themed rooms can make a participant feel like Indiana Jones or pretend they just completed a Mission Impossible challenge.

Chinook's

"Escape the Hi-line" is about a team that does bank heists

The Chinook Chamber inaugurated their new escape room on October 19 in a collaborative celebration with the local Eagles Club. Dahl said, "We had three teams do the escape room when it was first ready. One team nearly completed the mission, the other two teams didn't do as well."

Participants at "Escape the Hi-line" are a make believe group planning to do a heist in a bank. The players begin in a bank manager's office. Their mission is to find the hidden bank vault, get the money from the vault, find the key to the exit door and escape the locked office-all within sixty minutes.

A narrator introduces the players to the scene in the manager's office, answers questions, then leaves the room and locks the team in the office.

The narrator monitors the group via a camera connected to another location and can, if requested or it appears obvious a team is floundering, offer hints to get the group refocused. Dahl said, "There are 10-13 puzzles that must be solved to get combinations or keys to open locks that will allow a successful mission and exit." He added, "We didn't purposefully add any distractors or red herrings just to confuse teams."

Dahl did much of the construction of the escape room in the front of a building he owns just south of the Edwards Funeral Home chapel in Chinook. He explained, "The chamber bought a program that helped us conceptualize the bank heist scenario. The program includes puzzles, some suggestions for layout and a list of supplies to equip the room." Dahl said there are varying degrees of difficulty for an escape room and, "the Chamber bought a reasonably difficult variation, with the idea that if groups fail their first attempt they might return to play again."

An escape room is the sort of attraction that requires some pre-planning for participants. The "Escape the Hi-line" has operating hours from Friday afternoon to Sunday evening. An appointment is necessary and there is a charge, currently $100 for a sixty-minute session for 2-8 people. Chamber President Sarah Pratt said there are plans for additional pricing options, especially for organizations and businesses.

What's next for

"Escape the Hi-line?"

Dahl said, "We're hoping the current room will do well and that we can add a room to make the room even more exciting. We have space in the building for three rooms." He explained that many startup escape rooms soon add rooms to accommodate market demand. It's the sort of business that can attract customers from distances since it's a destination-type activity. The chamber is also hoping to attract organizations and businesses that would use the escape room to build team skills.

Most escape rooms located in cold climates reported a sales jump during the winter and especially during Christmas holidays as families looked for indoor activities. The chamber hopes to attract some holiday groups and is offering vouchers and gift certificates. There are plans to increase promotional activities for the escape room after the holidays as well.

For more information about the escape room experience or to book a date at "escape the hi-line," call the chamber office at 357-3115. Also see Escape the Hi-Line on Facebook or email info@chinookmontana.com for information or help with booking a date.

 
 

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