Max Milne is the gamemaster at Code Breakers Escape Rooms

Every year at the end of summer I start the “spooky season” early.

Fall is my favorite time of year, and it always seems to come and go way too quickly. We usually put up our Halloween decorations in early September, and our seasonal planning begins shortly after.

While brainstorming a topic for the late summer issue of “On the Job,” perhaps my annual excitement got the better of me.

Fortunately, there is a place open year-round that can help combat Halloween fever.

Code Breakers Escape and Puzzle Rooms in Midland is neither a haunted house nor a horror-themed attraction. However, the company offers several escape rooms for people who enjoy solving puzzles, working as a team, and/or the thrill of a race against time.

Each room also provides participants with a simple story. These stories address the one-hour time limit given to the groups and often hint at a “game over” scenario if they don’t finish in time.

Lock yourself in a dark room and solve a series of puzzles within an hour, otherwise you will be told that the room will be “filled with poison gas.” Do you now feel like the victim of a horror movie?

Hats off to those who see things differently, or at least don’t let this scenario make them panic. These groups find their names on the Code Breakers leaderboard.

Normally my on the job experience has been very hands-on. This was not the case with Code Breakers, as much of a game master’s job requires observation and careful guidance.

I arrived at Code Breakers on Thursday afternoon to get a feel for the way things are and was lucky enough to learn a few things from owner Shane Riggie and manager Maryn Brown during my visit.

Together they guided me through the work of a game master while two people worked their way through the escape room “Arklay Manor”.

The couple walking through the Manor were Chris Kelsey and his mother Sharon Kelsey. It was Sharon’s birthday and they were excited to try something new to celebrate.

As game masters, we held back a little at the beginning, allowing the two of them to find their way around and overcome some of the room’s initial challenges themselves – like turning on the lights.

We monitored their time from a control center and gently gave hints from a remote computer if the pair got stuck for too long. The hints always started cryptically, but when they didn’t help them, we made them clearer.

When their time was almost up, the Kelseys managed to unlock a door and leave the room. But on the other side of the door they found no exit, but another puzzle room.

With only a few minutes left, Brown decided to intervene and entered the room to help them get to the end.

After the game was over, the lights were turned on and we went to the mansion to rearrange the props used, erase all written notes, and lock away the solved puzzles.

When I returned to the control center, I had the opportunity to ask questions about the specifics of running an escape room business.

How do your rooms differ from each other?

Riggie: We currently have four rooms – each with a different level of difficulty.

Weird is considered the easiest and most beginner-friendly room. Arklay Manor is the next step up and offers some real challenges. Nevermore High School offers a significant number of puzzles and is the newest room. Meltdown is the hardest room to complete and unlike the other rooms, party size is limited due to its smaller size.

The funny thing is that Meltdown contains some of our easiest puzzles, but the whole room is designed to overstimulate and distract you from solving. The room starts off dark and quiet and gradually gets very bright and noisy.

Who is your target market for this type of business?

Riggie: Everyone. We welcome families, companies who come for team building and young couples who come for an evening together.

Do you have a favorite room?

Riggie: No, I don’t. I would say that Insanity was probably our favorite room when it was on (about five years ago).

Brown: I started (working) here nine months ago, but I helped (design) the space at Nevermore High School, which we just opened last week.

What do you like most about managing the rooms?

Riggie: It’s fun to watch people succeed (in the rooms). It can be hard for us to watch people continue to struggle. Sometimes, though, people have completely wrong ideas that could be great ideas for another room.

How often do you change rooms? Are there any plans for your next room?

Riggie: It depends. Our oldest space is Weird, which we opened three years ago. But you can’t keep having the same clients come back to do the same spaces, so you have to change it up.

Our next room will be Egypt, replacing Weird. We hope to open it in a few months.

Max Milne is the local news editor for the Midland Daily News. You can email him at [email protected].