Escape room entertainment concept coming to Asheville

You pay someone to lock you in a room — that's the premise behind a new entertainment concept, the escape room. Then you and your friends have to figure out how to get out by solving puzzles and finding clues.

None of this is quite what it seems: First, most of these businesses don't actually lock you in the room. There are laws against that sort of thing. And second, you're not just trapped. There's a whole entertainment concept that goes along with the space, as if you're experiencing a play from onstage or living inside a board game.

The entertainment experts behind The Pubcycle will open an escape room later this year, hoping to make it the most entertaining and dramatic escape room anywhere. They have already proven their prowess as hosts and actors with their quirky, pedal-powered BYOB tour of Asheville.

Shawn Verbrugghe, who owns both businesses, said he has visited several escape rooms in other cities and found them thin on plot. This one will be different.

"They were missing a lot of context, storyline," he said. "What we've come up with (are) ways to truly entertain people."

The Conundrum, as the business will be called, is in the basement of the Battery Park Hotel. Descending the steps below the tall brick building sets the mood. Inside, a lounge and three escape rooms with unique concepts await.

The lounge, which is open to the public and not just hopeful escapees, will serve beer and wine and include interactive components based on a steampunk theme. (The steampunk aesthetic is based on a Victorian industrial look with lots of Edison bulbs, pipes and exposed mechanical elements.)

From there, escapees in groups of two to six are greeted by an affable host, a developed character created to entertain and immerse visitors in the experience. The host escorts them through a set of doors at the back of the bar and becomes very serious when he explains the scenario to them in a briefing room Verbrugghe describes as a "creepy FBI office."

Then, escapees move to the actual escape room. The Conundrum's developers have already decided on two themes: the attic of a grand manor and a brewery called Wunderbrugghen's Brewery Brouhaha. The attic theme feels spooky, like a haunted house immersion, whereas the brewery is wholesome fun that would be good for families, Verbrugghe said.

Inside each room, escapees contend with games and clues that fit the plot. (Verbrugghe said giving away those details would ruin the fun.) Their hosts monitor their progress via video camera and standby to interject with new plot elements or give them clues if they get stuck.

It's not a trivia game, Verbrugghe explained.

"It's using your mind and strategy and teamwork," he said. "It's an experience."

So who's going to come to the escape rooms? Families, couples, corporate retreats — anyone interested in problem-solving and indoor fun.

Chase McNeill, a pubcycle host, said The Conundrum adds diversity to Asheville's downtown entertainment offerings.

"This is an actual activity that people can participate in that doesn't have to do with eating or drinking," he said. "(And) it's nice to be indoors for a change."

Escape rooms aren't new; the first ones started in Japan around 2007. But they're just becoming widely known. The Conundrum hopes to become an entertainment hub at which puzzle enthusiasts can compete for high scores.

As with any trend, others are thinking along the same lines. For other emerging escape room concepts, check out Great Escape on Woodfin Place and A-Escape on New Leicester Highway.

Verbrugghe hopes to open The Conundrum in late November. Tickets will cost about $25 per person, he said. For more information, visit entertheconundrum.com.