Ground Floor: Outfox Escape Room invites visitors to test their wits, work together

A unique vacation experience provided Carolyn Beyer with the inspiration for her new Coralville business, Outfox Escape Room.

Last Christmas, Beyer and her two adult daughters traveled to Prague, Czech Republic. During their stay, one daughter suggested they visit Mind Maze, an escape room that is listed on a travel website as one of the city's top attractions.

'I had never heard of an escape room,” Beyer said. 'I was skeptical. But it turned out to be a wonderful experience, a great family activity regardless of age.”

At Mind Maze, Beyer and her daughters were locked in a room in which they were presented with a series of puzzles that they had to solve in order to 'escape” from the room within a set period of time. Although they were unable to decipher all the clues before time ran out, the experience ended up being one of the highlights of the trip.

'I thought, ‘Why don't we have these in the United States?' ” Beyer said.

Upon her return home, Beyer, who is a lawyer with a practice in Iowa City, began researching escape rooms. She discovered that the concept, which is based on old point-and-click video games such as 'Escape the Chamber,” already had made its way into larger metropolitan areas.

'I realized that if I was going to be the one to bring an escape room to the area, I better get it rolling,” she said.

Beyer envisioned an escape room premised on the mystery of a hidden will and established a 'think tank” of acquaintances to help create puzzles within the story's framework.

'There's no manual or paradigm for creating an escape room,” Beyer said. 'You can't copy puzzles because of intellectual property issues. You have to make them up.”

Visitors to Outfox Escape Room are told they are in the study of their recently deceased relative, Daniel Black, who has named them as heirs to his sizable estate. Black's will is hidden somewhere in the study, and the heirs have one hour to decipher a series of clues that will lead them to it. If they fail to find the will in time, Black's fourth wife will inherit everything.

Beyer said her escape room, which opened Labor Day weekend, is a great interactive activity for families and friends, as well as a good team-building activity for corporations, clubs and other organizations.

'The room is constructed to appeal to a number of different kinds of intelligence,” she said.

Outfox Escape Room is open to the public Thursdays through Sundays. Sessions for groups of two to eight people must be booked and paid for online at a cost of $30 per person. Children under 12 must be accompanied by an adult.

Outfox also accepts bookings for corporate events and other private parties.

Beyer is constructing a second escape room at the Coralville location, which will feature a mad scientist's laboratory. Her long-term plans include adding a third room and an escape room just for children.

At a Glance

' Owner: Carolyn Beyer

' Business: Outfox Escape Room

' Address: 2401 Coral Ct., Suite 3, Coralville

' Telephone: (319) 545-2100

' Website: www.outfoxescaperoom.com