Most SoCal Escape Room owners do not see one another as competition, in fact there is a great community of Escape Room staff that gets together about once a month and we talk about our favorite thing- Escape Rooms!
Brian Corbitt, from Countdown LA, has been very influential in the escape room community and was the first person to extend an olive branch to other escape room owners and got us working together. I’ve always been a big fan of teamwork (I mean, isn’t this what escape rooms are all about?), so I decided to contribute and take over the Escape Room Enthusiasts of SoCal Meetup group.
Have you joined Meetup.com yet? It’s a great site and app that allows you to connect and meet up with people who have similar interests as you. Since you are reading this blog, I assume that you might be interested in Escape Rooms, and I encourage you to join our group!
Every other month I host the very popular event, Discounts and Drinks, for the SoCal Escape Room community. This is something I created to try and gather enthusiasts to meet one another and to meet the owners and creators of some of their favorite games. At the events, we reserve a private room where you can mingle with people who have similar interests, get exclusive discounts to over 20 escape rooms, and meet new people that could become great teammates if you are ever trying to find more people to play with! I know a lot of people go specifically looking to find people to play The Hex Room with to make the 5-person minimum.
This event usually takes place in a reserved space in restaurant/ bar that is hosting a great Happy Hour for Escape Room Enthusiasts to enjoy. Escape Room Owners are contacted and encouraged to come and bring exclusive discounts to their games! I’ve seen these discounts can range from anything between $5 off to 50% off. It’s really a fun night of meeting people and hearing about what are everyone’s favorite and adding more to your ‘must do’ list. I try to bounce from Los Angeles, Orange County and San Diego to get as many people involved as I can, and try to turn everyone into an escape room enthusiast!
Whether you are an enthusiast, or first time player, you are invited to join us for any or all our events! Please RSVP on the Meetup page for the next one in Los Angeles on Sunday, August 20th! If you can’t make it, I hope you can join the group to be notified when more are scheduled near you!
I look forward to meeting you at the next one,
Madison Rhoades
CEO, Co-Owner, Creative Director
Cross Roads Escape Games
UPDATE:
I also wanted to share with you the Facebook group: Escape Room Artists (ERA SoCal), which has been a great source to hear from enthusiasts about their favorite games and to get recommendations. Also, if you are reading this and the Aug. 20th Meetup has passed, don’t worry, there are more! Make sure to check out our Meetup page to see when the next one is scheduled!