A SIXTY MINUTE ADRENALINE RUSH

Experience the fastest hour of your life where every second counts!  Presenting “Escape Room Yuma”.  Located on South Main Street in downtown Yuma, Arizona, “Escape Room Yuma” is an interactive mystery waiting to be solved.  Your group will find themselves in a themed room and you must use observation, out of the box thinking, teamwork and communication to gather clues, discover hidden objects and solve riddles in order to win the game. 

Escape Room Yuma Owner AJ Hughes

Although “Escape Room Yuma” just opened in August 2017, owner AJ Hughes opened “Escape Room Tucson” in 2013.   Escape rooms were inspired by escape-the-room style video computer games.  The first interactive “Escape Room” idea was developed in Japan in 2007 by 35-year-old Takao Kato. 

When I first met owner AJ Hughes, I was curious to know what inspired her to open an “Escape Room”.  She relayed a story of meeting several couples during her travels around the globe.  These couples were spending 1-2 months traveling and playing “Escape Rooms”.   Immediately she knew that she wanted to start her own business and thus was the genesis of her creative writings, games and puzzles for her first “Escape Room”.  Since creating that first game, AJ has built, created and designed over 380 escape rooms.  Now when a game is retired in Tucson or Yuma, it is sold to other “Escape Room” owners for use in other parts of the world. 

Your adventure will begin the moment you enter the lobby.  You will be asked to arrive 15 minutes before your start time.  You will watch a brief introduction video narrated by owner AJ.  This will be a brief welcome and introduction to the fundamentals of the game.  Next will be your introductory video specifically designed for your theme room.  Once that is over your will be asked to lock all personal items in a locker as you will not be allowed to take anything into the theme room.  No need to try to search for any background information.  Everything you need is contained within the room.  The escape room will hold many secrets, some simple and superficial, and others secured and hidden away. Your thinking and problem solving skills will be put to the test, as you calculate your escape or solve your assignment.  

Once inside the room the game master will greet you, close you in and remain with you throughout the game.   The game master is allowed to give you up to three clues if needed but bear in mind that you won't be told what to do.  The clue will be a puzzle as well.  You will be allowed up to three hints.  Make sure you really need the hint before you seek for help and all participants in the group must agree to ask for the hint. 

Sixty minutes to solve the puzzle

The escape room is designed to be unsolvable by one person.  The puzzles and clues will be logical and straightforward.  Perhaps the elements of the room will be relevant to solving the puzzle, but perhaps some will be insignificant and used for decoy.   Beginning clues are likely to be easier to find or solve.  You may find that your group has collected 10 things in the first half hour but you may not use any of the items until closer to the end.  Everything has been designed to keep you challenged to the last minute.  Should you solve the puzzle, you will only have minutes or seconds left on the clock.

You will find puzzles in three distinct categories:

Logical – Using basic logic, common sense and sometimes the most basic of math skills you discover patterns, messages and sequences to figure out, for example, a combination to a lock.

Physical – By interacting with items in the room and the room itself you figure out the meaning and use of a particular contraption in the room. But remember, there is no need to use a lot of force. All of our physical games do not require the use of physical force. If you can’t lift it with the strength of your pinkie, it doesn’t need to be lifted. The nature of all of our rooms is that they are played as if you were a cat burglar that does not want to be caught, because sometimes the order in which you find things may matter for solving the puzzle.

Collaborative – Some puzzles will require multiple team members to work together in unison to be solved. This is intentional to promote teamwork. It doesn’t matter how loud you get, but you will have to listen to each other and synchronize your actions in order to solve the puzzle.

Use the clues to win the game

AJ has designed all the rooms to create an authentic and fun experience.  She has gone to great expense, paying strict attention to detail with unmatched realism and a captivating storyline. Every detail in the escape room, whether significant or not, is logical and realistic.

The Yuma location currently offers three rooms: 

Da Vinci’s Office                               Challenging                 2-5 players

Bomb Squad                                     Medium Difficulty     2-10 players

Cold War Espionage                        Challenging                2-8 player

Bomb Squad

Cold War Espionage

Da Vinci's Office

The Sleepy Hollow room will be opening soon. 

My game was Da Vinci’s Office and with a total team of 6 we managed to win the game with 2:00 minutes to spare. It was truly exhilarating. 

Current rates are $24 per person for the sixty minute experience. 

For more information you can contact Escape Room Yuma at 928-210-7470 or email EscapeRoomYuma@gmail.com