Visit an Escape Room

Patriot Escapes

1306 Pomona Drive www.patriotescapes.com

At the movies, the action’s on screen. At an escape room, you can be the hero of your own story.

“For years and years and years, if you wanted to go out and lose yourself in a story, you had to go to a dark environment, sit with a bunch of other people and just be quiet while something played out in front of you,” said Patriot Escapes Co-Owner Wes Bunting.

At Patriot Escapes, participants can become immersed in a hands-on experience, racing against the clock to save the world from a nuclear missile or figure out where a nutty professor has hidden his secret discovery.

The escape rooms, called Cold War Crisis and Element-ary, were designed by Bunting himself, so each is a one-of-a-kind experience.

Bunting, a U.S. Air Force veteran, said it was important to him to base the storylines on real-life history and science.

“I wanted the game to play well so that when veterans play the game, they don’t feel that I sold out, that I was cheesy,” he said.

Knowledge of history and science isn’t required to win the games, but those in the know will get a kick out of some of the elements of the rooms.

A third room is coming soon, a western-themed game called Desperados Adventure.

In addition to family and friends outings, Patriot Escapes hosts corporate retreats. Between the two escape rooms, there’s a boardroom that can be used for discussions and brainstorming sessions.

Bunting said escape rooms are a great team-building activity and can also shed some light on employees’ leadership skills.

“Managers oftentimes like to watch their teams play to see how they relate to each other,” he said. “How do they problem solve together? Is this team communicating well?”

Bunting said he can work with employers to design a retreat day that meets their needs.