The owners of the new Escapopolis escape rooms experience at 325 W. Main Street in downtown Lansdale discovered that the easiest thing to solve was the question of where to open their new independent escape room venture.
“This was a home run for us. We fell in love with Main Street when we first saw it,” said Hatboro’s John Madara, who, along with Kimberlee Wysocki, opened the mysteries behind Escapopolis on Veterans Day. “It’s been a great overall experience. I’m excited to see what Main Street looks like in the winter in the snow.”
“Everyone’s been so welcoming,” said Wysocki, a Delaware County native. “When we were looking for properties, we looked at 40 properties all around Montgomery County and Delaware County and Bucks County. The property manager here, Molly Whitley, wanted us in here so bad.”
In fact, everyone has rallied around Madara and Wysocki’s new brand – from building owner Doug Horgan and Lansdale Director of Community Development Jason Van Dame to downtown revitalization consultant Barth Consulting Group and local business owners.
“Is opening a business easy? No. Opening one with the ease of Lansdale? Yes,” said Wysocki.
By January, Escapopolis will have four escape rooms in total for interested sleuths to discover, complete with a grand opening and ribbon cutting.
In addition to the current seasonal kid-friendly “Saving Santa’s Workshop” escape room, there will be a Vegas hotel-themed escape room (the first of its kind in the United States, according to Madara) called “What Happened in Vegas?”, a candy factory challenge called “Sir Ripple Sugarton’s Ultimate Candy Factory,” and a shipwrecked isle-themed escape room called “Shipwreck Island.”
“In Europe, these are really popular. The market is flooded overseas,” said Madara, who has 15 years of experience with the Philadelphia Police Department. “There’s not much to offer in the Philly area – there’s one in King of Prussia and Expedition Escape in Colmar. They are a good entertainment business to get into, and it’s something to do besides bowling alleys and movies.”
Madara, 43, who spent the early portion of his life in Dock Village in Towamencin and later grew up in Abington, said Escapopolis’s rooms are fully immersive and designed by a “genius” game designer.
“It will be like a Hollywood set,” Madara said, in hyping up the upcoming lower-level escape rooms. “You will go in and feel like you’re on a shipwrecked island. The Vegas room will feel like an apartment in Vegas. There will be a lot of cool puzzles to solve. Escape rooms are not only for someone who likes puzzles, but even someone who is not really good at it will begin to enjoy it.”
Madara said Escapopolis believes in the private family or friend experience.
“All rooms are private; you will never have issues where you and your son or a friend come and get put with a group of five other people you don’t know. This is your room,” Madara said. “You booked it. We did a room with random people, and it’s weird. You don’t get into character. We want it to be you and your family, or you and your friends.”
Wysocki said the desire to open their own escape room business began with – what else? – TikTok.
“I saw it on TikTok, and we had never done an escape room. We would look for them in the area and do them. We found that if we booked at the last minute, not many were available,” she said. “We thought, if it’s always booked why not just open one ourselves?”
The couple first looked at franchising an escape room but passed when they were told it was a half-million-dollar franchising fee.
“We made our own brand,” Madara said.
The current seasonal escape room involves Jack Frost sabotaging the opening of Santa’s workshop. Participants must complete a checklist of numerous tasks to “clean up” the workshop. The escape room has it all – hidden objects, surprises, messages hidden in plain view, secret keys, and combinations, and, most importantly, a sense of accomplishment when completing it in the 30-minute timeframe.
Wysocki said there will be an Easter-themed room in the Spring, a pirate-themed escape room come summertime, and a Halloween-themed room in the Fall.
Madara said the average time for an escape room mission is 25 to 35 minutes. A group of seven adults was able to complete the Santa’s Workshop escape room in under 19 minutes.
Escapopolis allows groups of two to 10 people in the escape rooms. The cost is $20 per person for the seasonal 30-minute room, and once opened, the three other themed rooms will be $35 per person for an hour of playtime.
Since opening last week, about 18 groups have come through so far and there are bookings already in advance.
“Within two years, we’ll have five rooms,” Madara said.
Madara and Wysocki have about 3,400-square-feet of space on their lower level to design their fantastic puzzles. Furthermore, there will be two party rooms down the line to coincide with the themed rooms.
“We’re not doing hidden fees or booking fees,” Madara said. “We keep our prices honest, and we don’t try to backdoor you.”
Madara said Escapopolis is the perfect way for a group to have fun on a weekend or kill time before dinner at a nearby restaurant.
“Everything’s right here,” Madara said. “And now we are too.”
Escapopolis is open Wednesday to Sunday, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. You can book online through its website. Call them at 267-822-1545 or email [email protected]. It offers gift cards, as well as puzzle and mystery games for sale.
Follow Escapopolis on Facebook and Instagram for updates, specials and more. Read the latest reviews on TripAdvisor and Yelp.
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