Enjoy, entertain, escape

The dim light sways above, casting down onto the hallway ahead.

Brick walls lead the Dejong family toward the large, imposing barred door, flanked by mailbox, a rack of keys and an electrical panel extended from the wall.

There are 50 keys.

Which one goes where?

The timer at the start of the hallway beeps, and 45 minutes appear on a screen.

Tick, tock.

Owner of Breakout Kingsville Dustin Vermast, 38, has been running his escape room business over the last few years, while also working as Director of Sales with Security One.

“What draws people is the ability to win,” said Vermast. He thinks that feeling of success is what drives many people to come out and try to complete escape rooms.

“There’s that level of anxiety that people enjoy, and people look for an element of fear.”

Rushing through the keys, metal clinking and jangling rings through the hallway as the one-by-one testing of each key is executed by the Dejongs to find the single one that opens the mailbox. Eventually perusing through the old papers inside, but the disintegrating letters leads to nothing.

Two bolts secured by loose nuts inside the mailbox appear oddly important to the daughters Courtney, Kloie, Kim and their mother Karrie.

Loosening the nuts reveal a removable back panel that allows the group to unlock the bar holding the gate closed. Entering the entrance hallway, another solid door with a mail slot stands in the pathway to escape.

The clientele does not seem to be restricted by any variety of people that come through the front doors.

“It really does seem to be a broad range of folks,” Vermast said. “I’ve had six-year-old’s birthday parties, groups of 90-year-old seniors, high school kids, college kids; it never ceases to amaze me, the spectrum of individuals that come through here.”

It’s dark

Without a flashlight, it could be said that it’s very dark.

Framed posters line the walls opposed from each other along the short hallway to the second door. They feature different names and illustrations of magicians, acts, and other scenes, drawn like vintage movie posters with bold fonts and colours. If the group is quiet, they can hear a faint voice whispering overhead.

“It’s in the name.” 

Eyes begin to search the titles of the posters, and a pattern begins to form. Reaching through the mail slot in the door, a nine-digit keypad can be accessed blindly by one member of the group. By inputting the name they believe is the answer, an unmistakable click of a door unlocking is heard, and the solid door swings open to the Chamber of Hocus.

“After you’ve played for five minutes, it’s a movie and you’re the main character trying to accomplish a goal,” Vermast said.

If the group is not careful being distracted by the many visual pieces in the final room, they might trip on the step elevating the group to their next set of puzzles. The ascension is illuminated by a skylight letting soft moonlight in, and a lamp across the room.

There’s a glass case with a scattered deck of cards.

Two cabinets. A desk. A mannequin.

One arm is up holding a sword, the other is pointed down holding a flower, and a Guy Fawkes mask hides its face.

Where does the group start?

Vermast studied animation at St. Clair College, and he applies the creative mindset to how he crafts the rooms and puzzles with the help of his wife Kelly. Just as it is important that a team works together to solve a room, a team must work together to build it. He also enjoys going out to other escape room businesses to test his wit against other game masters, while finding inspiration for his own rooms.

After some searching and prodding furniture, a member of the group discovers a magnet on the desk near a picture frame, with a key resting inside.

Retrieving the key, it opens the cabinet that entirely concealed its contents. Opening the doors seems somewhat disappointing, where only a handful of old books lay on the shelf inside.

A few are moved and skimmed through for clues, uncovering another false back panel behind them.

Reaching a hand through the hole creates noise that sounds like it may be connected to something near the beginning of the adventure.

Returning to that first brick hallway, the electrical box appears to shift when the other team member has their hands inside. Teamwork is the only option to move forward through the game, which finds another key and a box locked with a four digit combination.

Finding the escape

“You’re a part of the story. You’re part of the solution. You’re part of the puzzle,” Vermast said. “There’s nothing that beats the feeling of escaping, winning and being the champion.”

Next is to find where the key can go to assist in the group’s escape.

Not the desk or the newly found box.

One cabinet is already unlocked, the other has no lock to place the key in.

Eventually, a keyhole is found on the glass table with cards inside. Sliding the key in, and turning causes the piles of cards to slide out of the display, and onto the floor beside the group.

Shuffling through the many aces through kings, a few cards stand out. Finding the connection between the cards and the mannequin leads to the solution for the locked box.

What is this inside?

A piece of paper with a phrase on it, and a picture… of the group at the beginning, outside at the first door.

The Dejong family attempted to best the Chamber of Hocus. With the experience of two of the daughters having tried escape rooms before, and the green escapists of their group enthusiastically getting into the game, they paved their way through the puzzles.

“We haven’t tried one before as a family,” Karrie said, “but we heard good things about it and we all enjoy riddles.”

The Dejongs all thoroughly enjoyed the team-building experience, and vowed to try another room again soon.

Confusion falls upon the group after seeing themselves on the printed photo, but after a quick reassurance, they’re back on their way to escape.

They gather around the paper with the mysterious phrase written on it. It reads:

“Heat and light change everything. All it takes is time. Magic, plus power, plus illusion, plus hallucination, will lead the way.”

This is the final puzzle and it gives the Dejong family their way out. While waiting for their interview in the party room, the Dejong family laughed and smiled, still buzzing from the thrill of success.

“We had a great time,” Karrie said. “The hands on was cool.”

Vermast said their reaction wasn’t uncommon: Win or lose, it’s hard not to have a good time challenging the mysteries of an escape room.

“But there’s nothing better than the feeling of winning,” Vermast said with a wink.