Escape Room Blog
The Trap Door Escape Room Blog is an exclusive look inside anything you could possibly want to know about escape rooms, especially ours! So dive in and enjoy a sneak peak inside, plus so much more. Happy reading!
Newest Blog Post
The Educational Benefits of Immersive Experiences
By: Anthony Purzycki
Escape rooms have become increasingly popular in recent years, with people of all ages enjoying the thrill of solving puzzles and clues in order to “escape” a themed room. However, escape rooms can be much more than just a fun leisure activity. They can also be used as an effective educational tool for a wide range of subjects and age groups. In this article, we’ll explore the benefits of using escape room puzzles for educational purposes and why Trap Door Immersive Experiences are the perfect choice for school field trips.
Featured Stories
Discovering the Local Cuisine of The Poconos: A Foodie's Paradise
By: Anthony Purzycki
The Poconos, located in the Appalachian Mountains of northeastern Pennsylvania, is a foodie’s paradise, offering a wide range of unique and delicious cuisine. From farm-to-table restaurants to local wineries and breweries, the Poconos is a destination for those who love to explore new and exciting flavors. In this blog post, we will explore the local cuisine of the Poconos and why it’s a must-visit destination for food lovers.
Ripper of London: Exciting Night of Murder Mystery in Red Bank New Jersey
By: Anthony Purzycki
Are you ready to step back in time and experience the terror of the Whitechapel murders? Trap Door Immersive Experiences is excited to announce the launch of our new live actor-driven murder mystery tour, Ripper of London. This immersive experience combines the thrill of an escape room, the historical intrigue of a tour, and the suspense of a murder mystery, making it the perfect night out for adults and a staple of nightlife in Red Bank NJ.
Choosing the Right Escape Room
By: James Butler
My girlfriend and I have driven over an hour to get to an escape room that piqued our interest. Usually, it starts with a tip in the Escape Room Enthusiasts group or a Morty search that starts with our area and zooms out further and further on the map. Most of the rooms that we’ve enjoyed were just the two of us racing through a room in less than an hour (mostly). So what goes into choosing the right escape room for your group? Where do you start? Sometimes, the first part of an escape room experience is the teamwork required to choose the room that best fits your team.
Trap Door’s New Catacombs Escape Game
By: James Butler
When deciding which escape room to play next, one of the most important things to look at is the theme of the room. Some escape room themes are interesting, but some take it a step further— some are straight up intriguing. Still, others are so unique we try to book them as soon as they open. So naturally when we heard that Trap Door Escape Red Bank would soon be opening a new catacombs escape game, Catacombs of Paris, we knew we were about to see an escape room unlike any other we have played.
Are There Live Actors in Escape Rooms?
Well, that depends on the experience and the company! Many newer games have started incorporating live actors in escape rooms for a variety of reasons. Here, at Trap Door Escape Room, we currently have one experience that uses live actors.
Writing Trap Door Escape Rooms to Life: An Inside Look into Designing an Escape Room
By: Janis Adams
Grab a pint, sit back, and enjoy an adventure into the head of master puzzle creator, Jason Stroud. He has been designing escape rooms for more than a decade. More than that, Jason is known for ferreting out ideas, intricate well-mapped designs, and challenging decryptions. In fact, he is the fantastical mastermind behind “Treasure Hunt,” which is coming as part of the Cursed Pirate Tales, at Trap Door in their new WindCreek Bethlehem, PA location.
How I Planned my Next Escape Adventure with Morty: The Escape Room App
By: James Butler
We got bit by the escape room bug hard. Some weekends my girlfriend and I would do 2-3 games— just our little team of two. After we finished our second room at Trap Door Escape Red Bank, we started questioning how many games we did in the past year. So, naturally we began looking at all the receipts. From booking confirmation emails to pictures taken after we escaped (or not quite escaped), we were checking everything. Little did we know that there’s an app for that – an escape room app.
Essential Skills for Surviving a Zombie Apocalypse
By: Frank Giglia
Trap Door Escape Room’s newest experience, “Cure Z” in the Poconos of Bartonsville, PA puts players in the shoes of government agents trying to contain and cure a zombie outbreak. It made us think a lot about the skills for surviving a zombie apocalypse. Cure Z’s size and immersion makes them feel like they are right in the thick of the outbreak, where the line between life and death can be razor thin.
But do you have the skills for surviving the zombie apocalypse? Today let’s take a look at a few Skills for Surviving a Zombie Apocalypse. These skills would be essential in the event of a real emergency.
Top 10 Escape Room Tips for Noobs
By: James Butler
Escape rooms offer a unique style of interactive storytelling. When my girlfriend and I tried our first escape room we were hooked. We loved having to solve puzzles and work together to finish the story. We were able to finish most rooms, but we definitely put the “error” in the trial and error method of finishing an escape room. So in an effort to help escape room newbies avoid some of our mistakes, here are some escape room tips and the mistakes, screw-ups, and botches we made to learn them.
How Many Rooms are Escape Rooms?
How Many Rooms are Escape Rooms? We get this question quite often! In our opinion, staying in one room doesn’t sound too exciting and doesn’t allow for all of the twists and turns that our games tend to take. Because of this, all of our experiences are always larger than just one room!
‘World of Z’: The World’s Longest Escape Room Brings the Zombie Apocalypse to the Poconos
By: Alexandra Guadagno
Trap Door’s Poconos Escape Room ‘World of Z’ is the world’s LONGEST escape room– and still the largest-sized Zombie Escape Room on the East Coast! In the Poconos, near New York City, ‘World of Z’ is a 4-hour escape game with multiple rooms.
According to Google, the record for longest escape game is listed as the 3-hour-long ‘Paradox Project’ in Greece. However, Trap Door is pleased to announce that our Poconos escape room offers an extra hour of immersive gameplay and takes the cake for the world’s longest escape game!
Lewis Carroll Riddles
By: Janis Adams
Lewis Carroll Riddles continue to confound people long after his passing. Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, now famously known as Lewis Carroll, found that the only way to cope with the world was through a labyrinth of writing, puzzling, and storytelling. This is because, throughout his life, Carroll experienced severe isolation. Because of his physical limitations, and what at best can be described as his uniqueness, Carroll had a hard time fitting in. Thus, he found solace in writing some pretty interesting riddles. Keep reading as we debunk Lewis Carroll Riddles!
Escape Room Difficulty
Escape Room Difficulty Levels vary depending on that company and what experience you’re playing! Every company that you visit is going to have their own way of determining the difficulty level of their escape rooms. Of course, there are still some basic guidelines: beginners should probably stay away from the highest difficulty game in the location. But how difficult are escape rooms? Keep reading to learn how we determine Escape Room Difficulty at Trap Door Escape Room and more about our individual experiences.
Escape Room Lingo
By: Kristina Malmstrom
Escape rooms have only grown in popularity since their beginning nearly twenty years ago. With their growth, they create another interesting development: escape room lingo. Many escape room fanatics are used to the phrases and slang used within the industry, but many are still unaware of what various terms mean.
Celebrity Escape Room Enthusiasts
By: Alexandra Guadagno
Celebrities: they’re just like us (well, if “us” were all exceedingly rich, talented, good-looking and worshiped by the masses). One thing we DO have in common with the Hollywood elite is our mutual love of escape rooms! This article counts down some of our favorite celebrity escape room enthusiasts.
23 Types of Escape Room Puzzles
By: Alexandra Guadagno
Escape room enthusiasts come together at places like Trap Door to work as a team and collaborate to find clues, complete tasks, and solve a variety of puzzles. At Trap Door Escape Rooms, we provide immersive play, and stimulating challenges for your mind. Each escape room tells a massive story, has a different theme, and presents a series of unique puzzles and quests. Read on to learn about the different types of puzzles in an escape room you might encounter:
5 Reasons to Play Public Escape Games with Strangers
By: Alexandra Guadagno
Trap Door was founded on and has kept a public ticket model for years. “Playing with strangers” might sound like a scary phrase in this day and age, but, at Trap Door, we encourage you to think of them as your extended escape-room family. Now, we know you may be thinking: “Wait…new people? What if it’s awkward? What will we talk about?” We’re here to put your worries to rest and share real life experiences from actual players in public escape rooms.
Physical Activity in Escape Rooms & Spartan Races
By: James Butler
As you guys may know by now, I am a HUGE fan of escape rooms. However, a couple things you might not know about is the physical activity in escape rooms and the fact that my girlfriend/escape room partner is a HUGE fan of insane obstacle courses. Those two things might not seem related, and they may be a distant relation (like second cousins once removed,) but there are similarities.
10 DOs and DON’Ts for Writing a Quality Escape Room Review
By: James Butler
If you’ve stumbled upon Trap Door’s blog, then you’ve probably been to an escape room and are looking to review it. Leaving an escape room review might seem daunting; however, this article breaks it down in 10 simple steps.
New Summer Escape Room Pricing
By: Alexandra Guadagno
Are you looking for affordable escape room pricing this summer? Trap Door is pleased to announce new summer pricing on our public escape rooms for your next adventure.
Escape Room Enthusiasts: Destination Escape
By: James Butler
As you do more and more escape rooms, you learn that just like there are different levels of escape rooms, there are also different levels of escape room enthusiasts. While some groups enjoy an escape room every other weekend or so, others are even more enthusiastic and travel far distances, planning vacations and weekend getaways around escape rooms.
Funniest Escape Room Stories
By: Alexandra Guadagno
When you’re a gamemaster in an escape room, anything can happen and you learn to expect the unexpected. Unlike a typical vocation or in an office setting where you see the same people day after day, an escape room job introduces you to tons of new experiences and people on a daily basis. We’ve racked up some of the funniest escape room stories from game masters across the industry – some of them are just down right hilarious!
Competitive vs Fun Play: Is it Worth Trying to Get on an Escape Room Leaderboard?
By: James Butler
We’ve all played a game with an uber-competitive person. They are just that– super competitive. Now, this has its downsides, to be sure. However, it also has its upsides, especially in terms of the manner in which you play escape rooms. As it turns out, competitive vs fun play, especially in escape rooms, is quite the divisive topic. Should you attempt for a speed run of the game to get on the escape room leaderboard and show your prowess at puzzling? Or, alternatively, take your time and make your way through the experience without the high stakes? Keep reading to see which suits you best!
Morty: The Escape Room App for Planning Your Next Escape Adventure
By: James Butler
We got bit by the escape room bug hard. Some weekends my girlfriend and I would do 2-3 games— just our little team of two. After we finished our second room at Trap Door Escape Red Bank, we started questioning how many games we did in the past year. So, naturally we began looking at all the receipts. From booking confirmation emails to pictures taken after we escaped (or not quite escaped), we were checking everything. Little did we know that there’s an app for that – an escape room app.
Clues About Jack the Ripper: His Identity Revealed
By: Janis Adams
Clues about Jack the Ripper have been few and far between. But more and more conjectures have been made as the years fade into decades since he was at large.
Which Escape Room Personality Are You?
By: Janis Adams
Personality quizzes seem to be all the rage right now. Whether it be what your aura color is, what your Hogwarts house is, or what your spirit animal is, all these tests circle back to early psychology. For example, Carl Jung believed that people could “be characterized by their preference of general attitude.” Read more on that HERE. Here at Trap Door, we’re interested in what sort of escape room personality you have.
Public Bookings for Escape Rooms Now Available at Trap Door
By: Alexandra Guadagno
Trap Door Escape Rooms is reintroducing PUBLIC tickets after 2 years of hosting only private bookings due to COVID restrictions. Great news for enthusiasts who enjoy escape rooms for the express purpose of meeting new people and playing with strangers! Private escape room bookings will remain available with some minor updates. Read on to find out more!
Creating Escape Games
By: Janis Adams
Creating escape rooms is no easy task, as our very own puzzle creator Jess Gwinn can attest to. She started piecing out her first puzzle for the event of her husband’s birthday. The parts and portions of her life came together. Teacher. Explorer. Author. Researcher. Poetess…. All of when gathered led Jess on her journey of creating puzzles for escape games.
Trap Door Escape Company
Trap Door Escape Room has 4 locations: 3180 Route 611 in Bartonsville, PA in the Poconos; 60 White St. in Red Bank, NJ; 34A Speedwell Ave. in Morristown, NJ: and 77 Wind Creek Blvd in Bethlehem, PA. The Red Bank location was the first of the 4 locations, opening in the fall of 2015. Morristown followed in the summer of 2017, and Bartonsville opened during the holiday season of 2018. Wind Creek is currently undergoing construction and will be opening in September 2022.
History
The idea came to Tone Purzycki back in 2011 after he wrote a screenplay that developed into a live-streaming game. The game revolved around an actor trapped in a situation and the audience had to solve puzzles to figure out where he was trapped. The “Find Me Event” had more than 1,000 people playing over the course of several hours. After the success of several other streaming events, the idea of an escape room was born.
Location
Each location has different rooms from which to choose. Our Morristown location is home to Day of the Dead, Witch Hunt, and The Greatest Freakshow. In Bartonsville, you’ll find Cure Z, F5 Tornado Escape, Fear the Bogeyman, and We’re All Mad Here. In Red Bank we currently have Everest – our first 2 story escape room and Catacombs of Paris, an interactive maze with puzzles. Ripper of London is also available at this location. Our pirate themed games will soon be open at Wind Creek.
Besides our Escape Room Blog, Trap Door also offers team building, streaming events, and birthday parties. For more information on any of our games, prices, and locations, explore our website or call 570-234-3366