you lose the game, and another team will enter to attempt their escape.
Husband-and-wife team Darren and Carrie Guido have taken the popular “escape the room” internet games and brought them to life in Albuquerque.
The newly opened NM Escape Room gives teams of up to eight people 60 minutes to solve their puzzles and escape a locked room.
Darren Guido said the concept is simple: find the clues, unravel the riddles and open the locked door.
“This room has a keypad,” he said. “When you solve the puzzles, find clues and objects, they give you clues to the code. The code lets you escape.”
The theme of the escape room will change periodically. The room presently in operation at NM Escape Room is called “Blood Map.” Its theme is based on historical fiction about Jesse James’ murder by Bob Ford over a treasure map. As the narrative goes, Ford hid the map in his office at NM Escape Room, and the players have to find it in order to escape the room.
Colleen Claphan, an advertising traffic manager at KNKT and Star Radio, said she had never heard of escape the room games until she attended NM Escape Room’s grand opening, but now she’s excited about them. Claphan said she tried the escape room one time and was hooked.
“Going there now has opened our eyes to what we can do next,” she said.
Sky Carlisle, owner of Carlisle Media Consulting, said he worked directly with the Guidos to create the NM Escape Room. He said they chose Albuquerque because, in addition to being natives, they wanted to help stimulate the economy and bring fun to Albuquerque residents.
Darren Guido said that even though there’s some mystery in the game, he doesn’t want people to confuse NM Escape Room with haunted houses.
“They are not at all the same thing,” he said. “Haunted houses are meant to be scary; this is meant to be an entertaining puzzle-solving game. It’s a separate thing we’re doing.”
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NM Escape Room is located at 3916 Carlisle Blvd. NE, Suite C. For more information, visit nmescaperoom.com.
Kevin Haaf is a freelance reporter for the Daily Lobo. He can be reached at culture@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @DailyLobo.
