Every year, in the weeks leading up to Halloween, thousands of patrons pay for hair-raising tours through the 13th Gate, a nationally acclaimed haunted house known for its realism and professional sets. But in the offseason, 13th Gate has developed a less bloodcurdling offering: corporate team building, via an escape game.
As Business Report details in a feature from its recent issue, a growing number of haunted houses, or “haunts” as they’re called in the industry, are tacking on escape games, a trendy form of entertainment that’s exploding across the globe.
With roots in Japan and China, escape games have spread throughout Europe and Canada, and they’re now making their way across the U.S.
About 12 escape games exist in Louisiana, including ones in Hammond, Lafayette, New Orleans, Shreveport and Lake Charles. The 13th Gate Escape opened last July and is planning to expand this spring.
Escape games involve a small group entering a themed room and working cooperatively to solve mind-teasers in order to escape within a given time period. Many are operated by haunted houses because they’re seen as a natural fit for an industry devoted to creating convincing sets. Moreover, they can help a seasonal business secure year-round revenue, says 13th Gate founder Dwayne Sanburn.
“It makes sense for our industry to do them because it’s so close to what we do,” says Sanburn, who discovered escape games three years ago and began visiting several in Canada in fall 2014.
Sanburn says escape games are successful when they’re story-oriented and immersive. Several corporate groups have paid for employees to go through the escape rooms as a substitute for a social or team building exercise, he says.
Toyota Financial Services sent several employees in December as an alternative to a holiday party. The employees went through the two rooms simultaneously, but only one made it out within the allotted 60 minutes.
Byron Grimes, dealer sales and services manager for Toyota, organized the activity. “It was a different kind of Christmas event for us,” says Grimes. “I didn’t know what to expect, but it was fun and taught us a lot about teamwork.”
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