By Christina Autry
“Be alert – solve the puzzles – find the clues – the curse is real!” The final, static-filled words of Dr. Jones task your group with locating the lost archaeologists and the Egyptian treasure they sought before they disappeared.
Together, can your team muster up the logic and creativity needed to complete your quest in 60 minutes, or will you become the next victims of the curse?
Mystery Room Houston in the Spring Branch District offers 4 decorated rooms that immerse you in precarious situations requiring quick thinking and teamwork, and depending on your level of escape room proficiency, a decent number of clues.
If pirates float your boat more than the “Mummy’s Curse,” challenge your group with their most difficult escape room option, “Pirates Plunder.” Drawing on your best skills of cooperation, finding the pirate’s treasure will prove to be the ultimate team-building or team-breaking experience.
Test your courage and your ability to work under pressure in the most popular room, “Helter Skelter,” in which you must save victims trapped in a serial killer’s lair before he returns. Make sure to sign up for this room on a Saturday, for the added fright of an actor playing the serial killer.
Matt Rinker, owner and operator of Mystery Room, says he was inspired to open this business back in August of 2016, after having his own escape room experience. “Went with a friend of mine to an escape room. It was fine, but not very decorative. We made sure that our rooms have good theatrics.”
Mystery Room Houston is highly sought-after by corporations for team development, as they can hold 44 participants among the 4 rooms. In response to many requests, Rinker will soon offer corporations the option to have pirate-themed puzzles and mysteries brought to company facilities. Amazingly enough, this packaged-and-delivered experience can include up to 300 participants.
Corporate guests are not the only ones solving puzzles and finding clues at Mystery Room Houston; they frequently host birthday parties for kids of all ages. “Our new room, opened 6 months ago, is Mission Critical, where you try to find a mad bomber. It’s for date night, or double-dates, and holds 2-4 people. It’s our easiest one.” After all, what could be more romantic than trying to hunt down a bomber?
Rinker is very aware of best safety practices for escape rooms. The room with a prison has breakaway bars, locks in the building can come undone easily if necessary, or unlock if the electricity goes out, and there are numerous sprinklers in every room. Safety is not a puzzle at Mystery Room.
It made sense to open up shop in the Marq’E Entertainment Center in the Spring Branch District, considering the affordability of the property, and the proximity to the Energy Corridor. The Marq’E has recently shifted to emphasize family-friendly businesses, to which Rinker and the community are both grateful.
Now, even on a Sunday night, you will see families, and people of all ages strolling around the center, headed for either the movie theater, one of a growing amount of dining options such as Maine-ly Sandwiches, the Soccer Hub for kids, the new Instagram room TFTI, and much more.
The everyday cost for a Mystery Room experience is $32, (with discounts for return customers, military, educators, first responders, and students), occasionally Rinker will host events that are absolutely free to the community. On Halloween, Mystery Room transforms their building into a free haunted house, complete with actors to ensure your night is not terror-free. For Christmas, Santa Clause happened to be hidden in the pirate room, ready to read a storybook to any children who solved the scavenger hunt around the Marq’E complex.
Come take a flight of the imagination, and put your skills to the test at Mystery Room Houston in the Spring Branch District. Who will win: you, or the room?
Mystery Room
7620 Katy Fwy #110,
Houston, TX 77024
832-623-6001
https://www.mysteryroomhouston.com/
https://www.facebook.com/mysteryroomhouston/
Instagram: @mysteryroomhouston
Twitter: @mysteryroomhous
