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.
What are Live Actors in Escape Rooms?
Almost every escape room you visit is going to incorporate characters in some way. Whether they’re introduced through audio, videos, or ‘live’ projections, you have someone in-game communicating with you at some point. It may be to introduce the situation, give you clues for puzzles, or end the experience. The key note is that all of these were pre-recorded well before you step foot in the building.
Introducing live actors to escape rooms takes these story aspects one step further. Instead of simply watching or listening to them, you’re able to interact with the character(s), ask them questions, get to know them, or race against them. Live actors help an escape room gain a new depth in its realness.
What Does a Live Actor Add to Escape Rooms?
Live actors add a lot of elements to an escape room, depending on how they’re being used. Generally, they add at least one of the following traits:
Add More Pressure
Having someone else in the room is going to add more urgency to the experience. Whether the live actor is a victim of a murderer locked to a wall, a zombie on a chain that slowly gets closer to you, or a scary monster that hunts you, they are going to keep you on your feet and racing towards the goal. This can be very fun if you like the rush of adrenaline that accompanies this dire sense of urgency.
Make It More Immersive
Similar to the previous type, this one may also act as a character from the world of the escape room. However, their main goal is to waste your time. Whether they give you false information, distract you, or lead you on the wrong track, they come off as being entirely unhelpful. The good news? These types of characters are often only used in conjunction with the previous character type, so it’s just a matter of figuring out who to believe!
Keep Players on Track
Live actors have the ability to act as a personal hint system for your group. They’re able to keep you thinking correctly to solve the puzzles, clueing you in to anything you may have missed. This method of delivering hints also helps to keep players fully immersed in the story, as its natural to talk to a character from this world.
How Exactly are Live Actors Used
Again, live actors are used in a variety of ways depending on the experience. Below are just a few of the more common ways live actors are used in escape rooms.
As Part of the Story
Live actors may be used as a character within the world that is able to assist you on your mission. They’ll come fully prepped with a backstory and refuse to acknowledge anything outside the world of the escape room. These characters may know valuable information to point you in the right direction or even directly help you solve a puzzle. Either way, talking to these characters will be very beneficial for you, so it’s best to figure out what they know.
To Make Things More Difficult
Live actors may be used as a character within the world that is able to assist you on your mission. They’ll come fully prepped with a backstory and refuse to acknowledge anything outside the world of the escape room. These characters may know valuable information to point you in the right direction or even directly help you solve a puzzle. Either way, talking to these characters will be very beneficial for you, so it’s best to figure out what they know.
To Scare You
The primary way live actors create a sense of urgency is by scaring players. Most commonly, live actors are used to create almost a hybrid haunted house escape room that features jump scares starring the live actor. This method is great for frightening players and keeping their adrenaline pumping as they turn each corner. Another way is through the popular zombie escape rooms, where zombies are present in the room and able to get closer to players as time passes, acting as a scary time clocks.
Though not inherently scary, Live Actors in Escape Rooms can also act as victims of the villain. Often chained to something, your mission revolves around freeing them and escaping before the villain returns. These actors can be terrifying in their portrayal as a victim who has already encountered the villain. Plus, they’re a haunting prediction of what could theoretically happen to you if you don’t succeed.
Trap Door Escape Room and Live Actors
While all of our experiences feature characters of some variety, only current escape rooms that star Live Actors in Escape Rooms are: Fear the Bogeyman, Mad Hatter’s Tea Party, and World of Z.
Fear the Bogeyman
As paranormal investigators, you’re called to the Wagner home after two children have gone missing. Your task is to find and recover them. The problem? Their abductor is the Bogeyman. You’ll have to find your way to his supernatural realm to rescue the children, and most importantly, survive.
Now, that wouldn’t be so bad, if not for the fact that the Bogeyman is a live character. He will try to stop you every step of the way. He will do everything that he can in order to reach you and slow you down as you attempt to trace the children. This escape room plays out as a haunting game of hide and seek, where you can only hope to evade being captured yourself.
Expect jump scares and more when you play this full fear experience. Fear the Bogeyman is available in our Poconos, Pa location.
Mad Hatter's Tea Party
In this game, you’ve been sent to the Red Heart Mental Institution to be observed in an experimental Tea Party used for Group Therapy. The Mad Hatter, a well behaved patient, who serves as the host and live actor, has prepared a menu of utter chaos and ridiculous insanity. Make sense of nonsense and blow out the candles to celebrate yet another Un-Birthday and maybe you can return to sanity in this Wonderland Escape Room experience.
The Mad Hatter’s Tea Party blends a one person immersive theatre show with escape room puzzles for a mind bending, curious adventure!
World of Z
The Largest Zombie Escape Room spans over 14 rooms and 4 Hours with an immersive intermission that features a live actor. This actor is a zombie apocalypse survivor.
A year after the original epidemic, the Zombie Virus known as Malatitus, has been contained, with millions suppressing the virus with daily doses of Quiet Z by Quieten Pharma. A new attack from the 1 World Alliance Terrorist group has plunged major cities into chaos, and it’s up to your teams to restore civilization before it is too late.
You will enter into the Romero City Police Station to interrogate a known terrorist before heading into the evacuated city in search of the missing vial of the zombie virus. Once acquired you and your team will be tasked with breaking into Quieten Pharma to create the cure for the Malatitus virus.
Related Content
Mentioned Experiences
You are a Paranormal Investigator trying to recover missing children taken by the Bogeyman.
$45 Per Player
There are 60 minutes to escape the theme at $45 per person plus tax. At a minimum of 1,000 square feet of playing space, this theme is sure to provide a thrilling adventure. This Poconos Escape Room is three times larger than the average escape room experience. All bookings are private.
The Mad Hatter’s Tea Party blends a one person immersive theatre show with puzzles for a mind bending Wonderland Escape Room experience!
$45 Per Player
60 minutes to escape the theme at $45 per person plus tax. These are the largest Escape Rooms in the country spanning upwards of over 1,000 square feet of playing space each! Large Private Groups welcome as these experiences allow player dispersement with ease. All private bookings.
$400 Private Game for 4 Player Minimum, Plus $40 Per Additional Player
As a result of Private Bookings, we have set a minimum of 4 players for World of Z. Due to the size of this escape, smaller groups would not be able to complete this experience. Additionally, World of Z Package includes Cure Z, Prisoner Z, The Bartender Intermission with refreshments, photos with the Romero City Police Car, and an extra 30 minutes more time. Price includes entire package and refreshments.
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, Mad Hatter’s Tea Party, We’re All Mad Here, and Prisoner Z. In Red Bank we currently have Everest – our first 2 story escape room. Ripper of London is also available at this location. Our pirate themed games will soon be open at Wind Creek.
Trap Door Escape Room 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