Popularity Of Escape Rooms In Denver Could Be Too Much Of A Good Thing
LITTLETON, Colo. (CBS4)- Escape Rooms are rapidly growing in popularity. Escape rooms are rooms where visitors pay to find clues in order to get out.
But the doors are closing at one Littleton business where the owner says there are now so many escape rooms in the Denver metro area that it's reached a level of saturation.
With sadness for its owners, the "Lights Out" Escape Room in Littleton is, unfortunately, living up to its name.
"We've sunk a lot of blood sweat and tears into this venture," Justin Goodchild said.
The theme at Lights Out is horror. The mission, to use the clues to get out of a room in an hour or less.
One clue is to use letters to figure out a scary looking dummy's favorite word. One of those letters was semi hidden around Granny Gloria's neck.
Goodchild said, "People enjoy they challenge they can do it with a group."
When Lights Out opened in April, it was the only one in Littleton. Now there are three. In fact there are more than 20 in the Denver metro area alone.
Puzzah has two of those locations in Broomfield and lower downtown.
"Colorado has some of the highest density of escape rooms in the country," said Puzzah spokesman Nick Lawson.
The price for escape rooms generally runs about $25-$30 per person. When one goes into a room, it can be a step back in time; to use one's brain rather than that of a computer.
Goodchild says he had high hopes for Lights Out but there are just too many now, "If you go by per capita, Colorado has the most in the country."
And soon there will even be an escape room on a screen new you. A movie called "Escape Room" is
due to open in 2019. Its trailer warns, "Find the clue or you will die."
CBS4's Rick Sallinger is a Peabody award winning reporter who has been with the station more than two decades doing hard news and investigative reporting. Follow him on Twitter @ricksallinger.
