Andrew Preble, creator and owner of Escape My Room, New Orleans
Escape My Room: An Oral History
Interview by Paul Oswell
Escape My Room is the brainchild of Andrew Preble, and opened in New Orleans in 2015. As the escape room reaches its tenth birthday, we sat down with Andrew to find out about its conception, and the rewards and challenges of running an attraction like this one.
Out All Day: Andrew, thanks for talking to us! Let’s go right back to just before you thought of starting an Escape Room in New Orleans - what was going on in your life back then, professionally?
Andrew Preble: I grew up in Abita Springs, but moved abroad when I was 19. I had been living in Berlin, and I moved back to New Orleans around 2011/12. I only planned to stay a year or so, but then I was inspired by the entrepreneurial spirit which seemed to blossom post-Katrina. I worked on a few tech startups, but in the back of my mind, I wanted to do something mysterious and puzzly.
How did you get inspired to start your own room? Had you been to a particularly exciting one yourself? What was the culture around Escape Rooms then - were they a popular activity already or did you feel like you were going out on a limb somewhat?
I was inspired by the article Mystery on 5th Avenue which I had saved when it was first published, and by events like Midnight Madness. As the tech stuff was winding down, I decided to start hosting large-scale 'puzzle hunts'. These were successful, but a huge pain to produce. In early 2014, I first saw someone post about an escape room on social media. I went to the company’s website, but I didn’t really understand what it was. It wasn’t until this article came out that I had the “aha moment” and realized what they were. It was also something I felt like I could pull off pretty easily since I had been designing the puzzle hunts. They were so new, that I think the closest one that was open was in Houston. I almost didn’t want to go because I didn’t want to be influenced too much, but in the end I decided to go. It wasn’t a great experience, but it was helpful because I learned what not to do. Even though they were new, I wasn’t worried about the success.
Having been to your room, I can say I was impressed by how narratively driven it was. Would you say that it's the story that informs the room, is the backstory the most important trigger for you?
Creating the story is a little bit of everything. Some of our stories/rooms are based more around constraints, and some come first from inspiration. Even though constraints are boring, I find they help give a reason for being and can lead to more creative outcomes. I knew from the beginning that I wanted to tell uniquely New Orleans stories, and I was inspired by some of the crazy family stories I’ve heard others tell in the past.
What other elements would you say need to be the strongest for a successful or engaging escape room?
The best escape rooms tell an intriguing story through good sets and good puzzles. Ideally the guest should become the protagonist and tell their own version of the story.
I imagine one of the most fun (and perhaps frustrating?!) parts of making a room is the set design. Did you have some help there or could you translate your vision easily enough? Where did you go to source some of the props?
Creating the sets is definitely a blend of fun and frustration. I grew up with two artist parents, and my mom was making sets for the school plays in elementary school. My dad was renovating houses, and I also worked briefly for an uncle who was a contractor. That being said, I don’t think I’m naturally all that handy, so our early sets were based around what I had the skills to create. Many of our props are donated or found free on the curb. Some also came from my dad. He’s a hoarder who once claimed to be an antique dealer.
What do you look for when you’re casting for actors and storytellers?
Although many of our staff do have an acting or improv background, when hiring we mainly look for outgoing and creative people who can reliably show up on time. The rest can be trained.
Tell me about the first few days after opening for the first time. Did you feel like things were working out right from the start, or did the need for tweaks become apparent once people started trying it out?
Before opening, it was mostly just me with a lot of support from my girlfriend and dad. I put tickets on sale a few days to a week before opening, and almost instantly we sold a ton of tickets. That’s when I decided I should probably hire people, but the first few months were a lot of long hours of attending to guests. We had a few weeks of testing prior to opening that worked out many issues, but our escape rooms are almost always being tweaked to make them better. You never truly know how a guest is going to interact with the set or puzzle you designed. It’s part of the process to test everything as often as possible to make sure you get it right.
Were there any completely unforeseen challenges that appeared after opening?
We have had very few creative challenges. Almost all have been what any other small business owner goes through. Three months after we opened we realized we needed more space, but the landlord (the federal government) didn’t want to lease us more even though the building was empty, so we signed a new lease just a couple months later and moved.
You expanded from one room to the four rooms that you have now - walk us through the evolution, did the additional rooms come quickly, and was it an easy job to integrate their stories and maintain coherence in the world building?
From before we opened the first room, I had the idea that I wanted each room to be a part of the same overarching narrative. Creating new rooms is dictated almost more by the constraints (time, money, marketability, etc) than it is the 'story'. Building a new room always takes a long time and costs way more than you think. I think our first room cost less than $10k and around 6 months, the second one around $25k and about a year, and the third around $100k and at least a year.
I expect that’s a difficult part of the job, creating an attraction that rewards your taking it on/committing to the bit in a comprehensive manner, but then perhaps also hoping that it has enough charm or difficulty for people to come back. Is repeat business something that you think about or do you mostly focus on blowing people away once and then just having word of mouth do its thing?
The industry has certainly evolved a lot since when we first started. We were one of the first in the world to have a comprehensive story with a fully themed waiting room and experience that starts from the moment you step inside to the moment you step outside. Our difficulty has certainly gotten a little bit easier, but for the most part, we want everyone to have a good time regardless of whether or not they escape within the time.
You must have traveled and seen quite a few by now - where are some of your favorite other escape rooms?
The highest concentration of exceptional rooms is in the Netherlands right now, and Athens has some great ones as well. In the Netherlands, The Dome at Mama Bazooka, The Alchemist at Sherlocked, and The End at Dark Park are all top notch. In the US, Southern California has a lot of amazing rooms. Closer to home, 13th Gate in Baton Rouge has some of the best sets you’ll find in the United States. The Top Escape Rooms Project (TERPECA) has been ranking rooms since 2018, and that’s a good resource to check out if anyone’s traveling and wants to look up a good room. Morty is an app that’s been around for a few years and is also a good resource to check reviews before booking.
Something like climate change almost feels like a real, global escape room that we all have to figure out as the clock ticks. Do you think that real-life existential threats drive enthusiasm for escape rooms?
I think humans have always had real-world threats to our existence, and we have always sought out entertainment as a way to grapple with the thought of those threats. I don’t think escape rooms are any different in that regard, but I do think the whole immersive entertainment industry came into existence at a time when we started to feel more disconnected from each other. It’s definitely a paradox that I’m sure someone smarter than me has thought about because on the one hand we have instant, nearly free communication with anyone, and on the other hand, loneliness is now an epidemic. Escape rooms bring people back together to do something physical with each other that they may have only done digitally in a video game. More passive forms of entertainment still have their time and place, but I think active entertainment will play a larger and larger role in the future. Who doesn’t want to play the main character in their own adventure?
What are some of the most rewarding things about having run this facility for so many years now? If you could, what would you go back and tell yourself as you opened up Escape My Room for the first time?
I think one of the mind-blowing things when I actually think about it is that we’ve hosted well over 100,000 guests in 10 years, and I can probably count the number of total negative guest interactions on one hand. The whole team at Escape My Room does an incredible job making sure everyone has a good time, and that things run as smoothly as possible.
More information, plus ticketing and reservations can be made here at the Escape My Room website
Interview by Paul Oswell
Escape My Room is the brainchild of Andrew Preble, and opened in New Orleans in 2015. As the escape room reaches its tenth birthday, we sat down with Andrew to find out about its conception, and the rewards and challenges of running an attraction like this one.
Out All Day: Andrew, thanks for talking to us! Let’s go right back to just before you thought of starting an Escape Room in New Orleans - what was going on in your life back then, professionally?
Andrew Preble: I grew up in Abita Springs, but moved abroad when I was 19. I had been living in Berlin, and I moved back to New Orleans around 2011/12. I only planned to stay a year or so, but then I was inspired by the entrepreneurial spirit which seemed to blossom post-Katrina. I worked on a few tech startups, but in the back of my mind, I wanted to do something mysterious and puzzly.
How did you get inspired to start your own room? Had you been to a particularly exciting one yourself? What was the culture around Escape Rooms then - were they a popular activity already or did you feel like you were going out on a limb somewhat?
I was inspired by the article Mystery on 5th Avenue which I had saved when it was first published, and by events like Midnight Madness. As the tech stuff was winding down, I decided to start hosting large-scale 'puzzle hunts'. These were successful, but a huge pain to produce. In early 2014, I first saw someone post about an escape room on social media. I went to the company’s website, but I didn’t really understand what it was. It wasn’t until this article came out that I had the “aha moment” and realized what they were. It was also something I felt like I could pull off pretty easily since I had been designing the puzzle hunts. They were so new, that I think the closest one that was open was in Houston. I almost didn’t want to go because I didn’t want to be influenced too much, but in the end I decided to go. It wasn’t a great experience, but it was helpful because I learned what not to do. Even though they were new, I wasn’t worried about the success.
Having been to your room, I can say I was impressed by how narratively driven it was. Would you say that it's the story that informs the room, is the backstory the most important trigger for you?
Creating the story is a little bit of everything. Some of our stories/rooms are based more around constraints, and some come first from inspiration. Even though constraints are boring, I find they help give a reason for being and can lead to more creative outcomes. I knew from the beginning that I wanted to tell uniquely New Orleans stories, and I was inspired by some of the crazy family stories I’ve heard others tell in the past.
What other elements would you say need to be the strongest for a successful or engaging escape room?
The best escape rooms tell an intriguing story through good sets and good puzzles. Ideally the guest should become the protagonist and tell their own version of the story.
I imagine one of the most fun (and perhaps frustrating?!) parts of making a room is the set design. Did you have some help there or could you translate your vision easily enough? Where did you go to source some of the props?
Creating the sets is definitely a blend of fun and frustration. I grew up with two artist parents, and my mom was making sets for the school plays in elementary school. My dad was renovating houses, and I also worked briefly for an uncle who was a contractor. That being said, I don’t think I’m naturally all that handy, so our early sets were based around what I had the skills to create. Many of our props are donated or found free on the curb. Some also came from my dad. He’s a hoarder who once claimed to be an antique dealer.
What do you look for when you’re casting for actors and storytellers?
Although many of our staff do have an acting or improv background, when hiring we mainly look for outgoing and creative people who can reliably show up on time. The rest can be trained.
Tell me about the first few days after opening for the first time. Did you feel like things were working out right from the start, or did the need for tweaks become apparent once people started trying it out?
Before opening, it was mostly just me with a lot of support from my girlfriend and dad. I put tickets on sale a few days to a week before opening, and almost instantly we sold a ton of tickets. That’s when I decided I should probably hire people, but the first few months were a lot of long hours of attending to guests. We had a few weeks of testing prior to opening that worked out many issues, but our escape rooms are almost always being tweaked to make them better. You never truly know how a guest is going to interact with the set or puzzle you designed. It’s part of the process to test everything as often as possible to make sure you get it right.
Were there any completely unforeseen challenges that appeared after opening?
We have had very few creative challenges. Almost all have been what any other small business owner goes through. Three months after we opened we realized we needed more space, but the landlord (the federal government) didn’t want to lease us more even though the building was empty, so we signed a new lease just a couple months later and moved.
You expanded from one room to the four rooms that you have now - walk us through the evolution, did the additional rooms come quickly, and was it an easy job to integrate their stories and maintain coherence in the world building?
From before we opened the first room, I had the idea that I wanted each room to be a part of the same overarching narrative. Creating new rooms is dictated almost more by the constraints (time, money, marketability, etc) than it is the 'story'. Building a new room always takes a long time and costs way more than you think. I think our first room cost less than $10k and around 6 months, the second one around $25k and about a year, and the third around $100k and at least a year.
I expect that’s a difficult part of the job, creating an attraction that rewards your taking it on/committing to the bit in a comprehensive manner, but then perhaps also hoping that it has enough charm or difficulty for people to come back. Is repeat business something that you think about or do you mostly focus on blowing people away once and then just having word of mouth do its thing?
The industry has certainly evolved a lot since when we first started. We were one of the first in the world to have a comprehensive story with a fully themed waiting room and experience that starts from the moment you step inside to the moment you step outside. Our difficulty has certainly gotten a little bit easier, but for the most part, we want everyone to have a good time regardless of whether or not they escape within the time.
You must have traveled and seen quite a few by now - where are some of your favorite other escape rooms?
The highest concentration of exceptional rooms is in the Netherlands right now, and Athens has some great ones as well. In the Netherlands, The Dome at Mama Bazooka, The Alchemist at Sherlocked, and The End at Dark Park are all top notch. In the US, Southern California has a lot of amazing rooms. Closer to home, 13th Gate in Baton Rouge has some of the best sets you’ll find in the United States. The Top Escape Rooms Project (TERPECA) has been ranking rooms since 2018, and that’s a good resource to check out if anyone’s traveling and wants to look up a good room. Morty is an app that’s been around for a few years and is also a good resource to check reviews before booking.
Something like climate change almost feels like a real, global escape room that we all have to figure out as the clock ticks. Do you think that real-life existential threats drive enthusiasm for escape rooms?
I think humans have always had real-world threats to our existence, and we have always sought out entertainment as a way to grapple with the thought of those threats. I don’t think escape rooms are any different in that regard, but I do think the whole immersive entertainment industry came into existence at a time when we started to feel more disconnected from each other. It’s definitely a paradox that I’m sure someone smarter than me has thought about because on the one hand we have instant, nearly free communication with anyone, and on the other hand, loneliness is now an epidemic. Escape rooms bring people back together to do something physical with each other that they may have only done digitally in a video game. More passive forms of entertainment still have their time and place, but I think active entertainment will play a larger and larger role in the future. Who doesn’t want to play the main character in their own adventure?
What are some of the most rewarding things about having run this facility for so many years now? If you could, what would you go back and tell yourself as you opened up Escape My Room for the first time?
I think one of the mind-blowing things when I actually think about it is that we’ve hosted well over 100,000 guests in 10 years, and I can probably count the number of total negative guest interactions on one hand. The whole team at Escape My Room does an incredible job making sure everyone has a good time, and that things run as smoothly as possible.
More information, plus ticketing and reservations can be made here at the Escape My Room website
