You are instructed to meet at 701 Loyola Ave., 15 minutes before your appointment time with Madame DeLaporte. Once inside, you’re to take the elevator to the 4th floor, exit to the eerily vacant level and proceed down the end off the hall. A door marked “Escape My Room” stands out. As you open the door, you’re transported into a 19th century parlor room with antiques and artifacts that could keep one busy for days.
“The year is 1990,” reads the Escape My Room website, “and Odette DeLaporte has invited you to her study. As the last remaining heir in New Orleans to the DeLaporte fortune, she needs your help locating a treasure, which went missing a long time ago. The reclusive matriarch has not been seen in public for quite some time, yet she has agreed to meet with you with the hope that you can recover what’s been lost.”
There were six of us there to accept the challenge and case brought before us by DeLaporte. Each group that enters is given 60 minutes to help her and escape the room successfully. Many fall short of the task at hand, but we swiftly made it out with six minutes to spare.
Once the backstory is read aloud and paperwork is signed, you’re locked in a room for 60 minutes, guided into the “study” and the game begins. A folder on the entryway table begins the mission with a letter signed by Madame DeLaporte. Each letter or clue leads you to a puzzle or riddle and so on. It is up to you to put all the clues together to move on to the next section. Symbols on cups, keys in hidden areas and secret latches lead you through the hour. “I’ve never done anything like it,” says fellow escapee Kimberley Singletary, “Escape My Room successfully takes the creepy, quirky side of New Orleans and places you right in the action, working as a team to solve puzzles and hunt for clues, all while the clock is ticking. It was the fastest hour of my life. Can’t wait for the next one to open up!”
Escape My Room is the brainchild of Andrew Preble and room designer Michelle Calabro. For a year, the pair meticulously thought out and designed each aspect of the escape challenge. This interactive room brings puzzles and challenges to all those locked inside trying to escape it’s doors.
Escape My Room is great for team building between coworkers or those trying to gage strengths and weaknesses in a group setting. Available by appointment only, visit EscapeMyRoom.com for more information and appointment times.
