The Beast Escape Room – Glen Carbon, IL
Tucked away in the quiet little burg of Glen Carbon (across the creek from St. Louis, MO, for those of you unfamiliar) is a beast of an escape room.
Aptly named…based purely on the challenge level.
Granted there were only two of us (our original plans had fallen through) in a room with a 22% success rate. The website even warned about low escape rates for groups of less than four.
I figured that we’d either be triumphant or humbled.
Met the owner Kyle and chatted with him. A gamer with great sense of puzzles. (An enthusiastic owner breeds an immeasurably better experience, in my opinion.) A good owner/operator never loses sight of the fact that fancy decor fades into the background in the heat of challenge. A good owner/operator never forgets that his goal is for his guests to have a good time, regardless of successfully finishing the room or not. A good owner/operator polls his guests about improving their experience.
Kyle is a good owner/operator.
This was a multi-room challenge, with some unique twists and puzzles. We were challenged to say the least. The key to small group success is communicating with your partner or team. Brandi (my girlfriend and fellow escape room guru) accompanied me on this one. We kept each other up to speed as we plowed into the puzzles, grunted in frustration and high-fived at the end as we beat it with just a few minutes to spare.
Fun – 10 locks
Environment – 7 locks (wasn’t fancy but didn’t need to be)
Staff – 10 locks
Challenge – 9 locks
http://www.beastescaperoom.com
PS – Kyle tagged us in a Facebook post with the hashtag #escaperoomjunkies. I am considering changing the name of this blog to that. LOL.
Midwest Escapologists 
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