Puzzle Pop-Up on April, 23rd

Escape FLA Puzzle Pop-Up at Arkane Aleworks, not an escape room but still a lot of fun!

One of the great things about our location, other than the fabulous weather, is our neighbors. We have some awesome ones for sure. Just two doors down are our friends at Arkane Aleworks, Joe and Dan. They have been super helpful and supportive since we began our quest to build our escape room here in Largo, Florida. They recently had their 1st Annual Smoke Out and Bake Off. Because Joe and Dan are so great, we decided that we wanted to partner up with them on some things, luckily they felt the same! We are working on several event's, special promo's etc. with them and this was the first of, what should be, several fun and productive partnerships. 

No a "puzzle pop-up" as we call it, isn't the same as an escape room but it is similar-ish in that we created an environment where players use many of the same skills needed for a successful escape. Logic, critical thinking, observation, team-work etc were all required. The differences, no locks to unlock, no scavenging through stuff for hidden items and no time limit. Well there was a time limit but you had 2 1/2 hours to work out a puzzle that took most about 30 minutes.

We had initially considered placing some items around the brewery but rejected that plan because I know how, shall we say, exuberant, experienced escape room players can be. We didn't want to encourage people to go routing through Arkane's stuff plus there is some outstanding local art in the place and sure didn't want anyone messing with that.

We did have a little bit of Arkane worked into the puzzle and there was an element, near the end that did involve having to combine some Arkane information with the puzzle we provided to come up with the final solve. This did add a bit of, at least, "discovery" to the event. The Arkane information was in plain sight, not out of the ordinary, and it wasn't apparent that it was needed until almost the end of the puzzle. I think it was a great way to tie the two businesses together which is what most of our upcoming combined ventures are about.  

There was a great crowd, not everyone participated but a good number of people did. We got to hang out with some super nice people, talk puzzles and escape rooms. Promoted our business at Escape FLA a bit, brought some new people to Arkane Aleworks so it was a win win. Also had some great food, some great beer (after the puzzling of course) and met some great people. Gave out some awesome Escape FLA and Arkane Aleworks prizes to three lucky winners. What more could you want for a Sunday?

If your near here or visit here be sure to check out Arkane Aleworks on Facebook or www.arkanebeer.com

​We have some more events coming soon-ish so follow us on Facebook to learn more and if your in the area, stop by and play our escape rooms, or just come by and chat.

Ryan and Jen
www.escapefla.com

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