Unique escape room game is a puzzling challenge

By Tom Gillespie

A POLISH couple who met in Castlebar have established a set of challenging escape room games which have been described as a ‘once in a lifetime experience’.

Marta and Arthur Iwaszkiewicz set up Inside Castlebar Escape Rooms in May 2019, where players enter one of their themed rooms with the mission to find clues and solve a variety of puzzles to escape the room within 60 minutes.

Located at Moneen in the county town, all the rooms are cleaned thoroughly by their staff between games with a deep clean at the end of every day.

Martha explained how the escape rooms came about: "One day we came up with the idea of providing some different entertainment in Castlebar as we both tried an escape room a couple of years ago, as a date to be honest, and we fell in love with it.

"It is something totally different. It will bring you away from everyday problems and just for one hour you simply focus on amazing puzzles to solve. You are not feeling trapped or anything. You are just in an amazing room trying to find all the clues possible and open your imagination to find your way out."

Arthur added: "It is like playing in a movie with a lot of mysteries to be solved with surprises on the way and secret doors."

Covid did cause a setback for the couple, forcing them to move things online.

Martha continued: "The physical game lasts up to one hour but the best escaping time so far was 33.20 minutes. You can have two to 10 players and they have to communicate to solve the clues. Team work is the key."

Arthur stated: "We don’t want to reveal too much. But there are commonly hidden doors with a lot of mystery. After the game people are delighted but most importantly they don’t reveal to anyone what was there. By keeping the secret they are not spoiling anything. Just advising others to try it."

Martha explained that nothing looks as simple as it sounds, adding: "It is a once in a lifetime experience for every single player. Players are never left on their own. The Game Master is always with you. So even if someone is thinking I’m not going to do it, it is too challenging, the Game Master is very flexible to every single level as we cater for players from eight years to no limit. Often we have three generations playing together.

"Sometimes even a simple word, like look again at the radio behind you, and they say oh! that’s it. You have an open mind to do whatever you want in the game.

"There are no instructions. You have to figure out everything on your own, even where to start, and how to connect things together.

"You might be stuck on something and you don’t know if it is for now or later so you have to quickly adjust and judge do you need it for now or later.

"We always say to our players trust me there’s no wrong way of trying to solve our puzzles, but you might sometimes come up with the wrong answer. But the Game Master can always give you hints."

Inside Escape Rooms were only established six months before the first lockdown when Covid hit, but Martha said: "We kept fighting. We have an amazing landlord who helped us a lot. But we survived all the lockdowns.

"When the second lockdown we came up with the idea of doing virtual escape problems with an interactive screen. That helped us a little bit to survive."

For everyone over 16 years it costs €20 per person and under 16s €15. When there are more that seven players everyone pays €15 per person. The minimum charge for two players is €50.

Martha continued: "There is a lot of thinking outside the box required. The best groups are a combination of kids and adults. We are all good at different skills and when you work together you can come up with the answers.

"You and your team will need to search the whole room looking for items, signs or anything that is or could be important in the room. Then remember, as many players - as many solutions. There is no wrong way of trying to solve our puzzles. Every idea is worth trying.

"If you do it right it will work, don’t give up, all the clues are left for you in the game but the process of finding them is more important and funnier than the answer on its own. The main point is to find the right answers."

Martha concluded: "Although the concept of Escape Room Games is to open your mind and try every idea you have, do not worry if you run out off them. The Game Master will give you clues to get you back on track."

One of the greatest accolades Martha and Arthur received this year was being named Trip Advisor Traveler Choice for 2021.

* Inside Escape Games are located at Moneen Industrial Estate, Castlebar, and can be contacted on (089) 4695550.