Most people would consider being trapped in a dimly lit room filled with puzzles and locks to be among their biggest fears. However, others might fantasize about the challenge of racing against time to save their own lives. For those among the latter, Hastings High teacher Courtney McCarty and her husband Andrew McCarty have recently opened a business in downtown Hastings that allows people to experience being locked in a room with only a few clues to help them escape.
Escape rooms have been a growing entertainment service for the past few years. On April 1 the Tri-Cities gained their very first business of this kind when Trapped Downtown opened. The business is open on weekends and can host groups with as many as 12 members.
Courtney McCarty has visited escape rooms across the United States, the last one being in Omaha, but only recently thought of opening her own.
“When we were driving home from Omaha, my husband had the idea to open one in Hastings. Lincoln, Omaha, and Nebraska City are the only places in Nebraska with escape rooms,” Courtney McCarty said.
The excitement about something new to do quickly spread through students at Hastings High. Many HHS students have already participated in one of the two rooms available at Trapped Downtown.
The experience juniors Morgan Long, Amanda Stramel and their group chose was a situation where they had been kidnapped and were trying to use the clues in the room to escape.
Each group gets an hour to unlock every lock in the room including the one on the door and gets three clues to help them along.
“It was so exciting because we only had a minute left and had come so far with only a little bit of time left,” Stramel said.
There are several different types of locks in the room that are designed to throw the participants off their tracks.
“The hardest part was figuring out the various types of locks there were, like a directional lock. I had never seen one of those before,” Long said.
Sophomore Moses Dunbar and his group also found it challenging, but rewarding.
“The hardest part about getting out might be trying to work together dynamically. There are a lot of pieces to put together, and to have people to work with is important. I would suggest bringing some smart friends to help because it takes some critical thinking to figure some of the clues out,” Dunbar said.
Although the experience already includes two storylines for customers to choose from there are plans for expansion.
“There is a back space in our building that we plan to remodel into a third experience by the end of June. We will also start changing our current rooms out every couple of months to keep our experiences new and our customers coming back,” Courtney McCarty said.
To make reservations and find out more about this local attraction visit trappeddowntown.com or their Facebook page.
