Trap Door Escape Rooms Reopens for Public Bookings
Public Bookings at Trap Door Escape Rooms Are Back!
By: Alex 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!
Escape Room Public Bookings or Private Bookings? Why not Both?!
Trap Door Escape originally opened with solely public bookings, which simply means that strangers (AKA: friends you just haven’t met yet) can book with you and your party! So if you have been struggling to build a team to take on a particular Trap Door adventure, you need no longer wait nor worry; Public-ticket time slots allow others to book into your experience and outside players to join your group.
Why Trap Door Had/Has Public Tickets
Trap Door was founded on and has kept this public ticket model for years because we believe that:
1. Escape Rooms are basically a social gathering; playing with strangers is fun and can enhance the experience.
2. People may be excluded if we only provided private bookings of 2 people for a prime time slot; We want to accommodate all of our players!
3. More often than not, it takes more than a duo to take down, say… a Yeti or Jack The Ripper!
Why We Went to Private Booking
Like so many other businesses, Trap Door was initially shut down for months when COVID hit and had to make some decisions about how the company would protect players upon reopening. One of the first decisions made was to break the “ticketing rule” and allow private bookings. That year, Trap Door was pleased to announce our best summer in its history— and it all happened with private bookings!
Public Bookings Enhance the Escape Experience
We are thrilled to announce public bookings again because escape room players simply can’t find more than one other person to bring! Public tickets and playing with strangers solves the dilemma of finding friends to coordinate and participate in the escape room experience. At Trap Door, we have techniques that we utilize both in game design and presentation that help facilitate breaking the ice and autonomy when playing with strangers. For example, our Cure Z and We’re All Mad Here games, both featured at the Poconos location, are 2-hour games that have thousands of square footage to cover! This lets groups split up to tackle rooms separately within each of the games.
“We tried very hard to keep Private Only games but ultimately it’s leaving a lot of players out who won’t even attempt our size games, ‘cause they can’t get enough people together for a private game,” says Anthony Purzycki, CEO of Trap Door LLC and Madness Distillery & Tasting Rooms.
“As a whole, Trap Door has very large games,” adds Purzycki. “It’s difficult to navigate them with only 2 people. We have had a few 2-player groups be capable of completing the experiences, but more often than not they only get half way.”
What's the Difference?
Prices on public tickets are lower than private escape room bookings and have no minimum player requirement. Basically, public bookings at Trap Door will allow you to play with new people for a less expensive ticket price and no room minimum. Up to 12 people can join at a time and play our 2-hour games, and our 1-hour games cap off at 8 people (as per room maximums).
Both Public and Private Escape Room Bookings Are Here to Stay!
If you enjoy private escape room tickets with your own established squad, fret not; Private bookings aren’t going anywhere either! Trap Door will continue to provide private bookings for your own maximum personal escape room enjoyment. Considering the enormity of some of the experiences, there will now be a 4-player minimum on private bookings and you will have the whole experience to yourselves!
The updates are meant to enhance escape room player enjoyment and make the most of a 2,000-plus square foot experience! Ultimately, with both private tickets and public bookings, Trap Door aims to give the player the best of both worlds and deliver the escape room experience you won’t forget!
Through April 30th, Trap Door Escape Rooms is currently offering a 20% off discount (code: “carpool”) for spring break (groups of 4 or more). This can be applied on BOTH private or public escape room tickets at all of our NJ/PA locations. Visit TrapDoorEscape.com to view our locations and book your escape today.
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