Deep inside the wreckage of a WW1 sunken U-boat we located off the shore of Virginia. Nick, Jordana, Ryan and I were following clues we decoded from Winston Churchill's secret journal that we uncovered in a hidden room in The Chartwell, Churchills family home. The elaborate clues led us to the infamous SM U -111 where we believe priceless art and gold krugerrand remains. First Nick, our electrical and computer specialist, restored the auxiliary power to ships defense and HVAC systems as we methodically moved from room to room disarming booby traps left behind by the former crew.

Unfortunately, we weren’t the only ones looking for this lost treasure. Billionaire Baron Brownstone was on our trail and our time was running out. The Baron lacked cunning and problem-solving ability but made up with unlimited financial resources. Suddenly a violent jolt with piercing and deafening sound drops the team to the ground. Dazed, we clumsily helped each other off the rust covered steel floor. Smoke fills the sub, alarm screams, water punctures through the rivet holes of the ship’s walls, and the smell of sea water takes over all our senses. A treasure hunt soon becomes a survival mission, hastily our team made way to the hidden chamber, secured the treasure, and safely returned back to our underwater pod.

This was Nick, Ryan, and I’s first idea for an escape room we discussed one afternoon over coffee. “Wouldn’t it be cool to be in a sub and all a sudden it starts taking on water?” “Why not create an escape room where players could live out fantasies of movies we all watched as kids”. “Let’s create stories where you can do physical tasks like in Goonies, Raiders, and National Treasure”. “Let’s do it!!” Nick, an escape room enthusiast and Ryan and I are relative newcomers and would often talk of these grandioso scenarios. … Our challenge was, we do not know the industry and how do we create something that is not out there? We began listening to escape room podcasts and talked to many individuals in the industry but still were not any closer to our dream. Finally I decided to email one of the hosts at the Escape Room Artist and ask if they knew of a consultant that could implement our unique vision. Thankfully that’s when I received Chris Lattner of The Room’s email. From our initial conversation we felt this was going to be the perfect fit. Andy and Michelle of Firefly, Theron, and Sven rounded out the team. We were so impressed with their passion, imagination, and detail oriented they are. Soon this partnership turned into a friendship.

The design team spent the next 12 months researching and designing the rooms to have a personal connection to Charlotte. We had countless meetings with the architects, engineers, and representatives of the building code department to push boundaries and see how far we can go to tell our stories. We are so excited we can begin to share these thrilling adventures together!