Downtown has always been a good place to escape, but now that\u2019s become literal, thanks to some offbeat forms of entertainment that have popped up in recent months.<\/p>\n
Case in point: There are now two \u201cescape rooms,\u201d a growing form of entertainment where groups of people are locked into a room for up to an hour or until they solve a series of puzzles or clues.<\/p>\n
The Great Room Escape San Diego, a creation by the same people who operate the popular Halloween attraction the Haunted Hotel Downtown, opened June 5 at 424 Market St., the same location as the hotel.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re using a lab set that we also use for the Haunted Hotel, but this is family friendly,\u201d said co-owner Greg DeFatta. \u201cWe don\u2019t want people to associate an \u2018escape room\u2019 with scares or fear. That said, the room we\u2019re using as a set does have a zombie.\u201d<\/p>\n Escape rooms have been popular in Europe, but have only recently started up in the San Diego market.<\/p>\n [Editor\u2019s Note: see \u201cHinting Around,\u201d in the June edition, Vol. 16, Issue 6<\/a> of San Diego Downtown News.]<\/em><\/p>\n DeFatta hopes to make the Great Room Escape stand apart by applying the same standard of special effects that have distinguished the Haunted Hotel.<\/p>\n The Great Room Escape is open Thursdays through Sundays for $34.95 per person. DeFatta said groups ranging from four people to 12 can go through together. He hopes the room is able to satisfy people during the times of the year when the Haunted Hotel isn\u2019t open.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have an incredible location, but we realized we\u2019re not tapping into the tourist market as much as we should,\u201d he said. \u201cThere are not a lot of entertainment options for families, even though a lot of them stay down here.\u201d<\/p>\n The Great Room Escape is not the first escape room to open Downtown. That honor goes to the Puzzalarium at 841 14th St. It\u2019s the brainchild of Stevon Streeper, a designer of both video games and board games.<\/p>\n Open since September, Streeper prefers the term \u201cimmersions\u201d to \u201cescape rooms\u201d because \u201cyou can do so much more than clues.\u201d<\/p>\n Open Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from 1 \u2013 10 p.m., Streeper\u2019s Puzzalarium charges $25 each for groups of four people.<\/p>\n \u201cThree people will do OK, and five is all right, but it\u2019s best for four people,\u201d Streeper said.<\/p>\n A mysterious person known as the Puzzlemaster offers hints and clues to the guests.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Puzzlemaster also keeps track of score,\u201d Streeper said. \u201cWe\u2019re the first \u2018escape room\u2019 to offer scores and that allows for a larger complexity. It\u2019s like being in a movie rather than watching one.\u201d<\/p>\n So far, the Puzzalarium is doing well despite no money spent on advertising.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re booked a month ahead,\u201d Streeper said.<\/p>\n Not interested in puzzles, but want a different kind of escape?<\/p>\n You can go to a taping of \u201cTonight in San Diego,\u201d a late night Internet talk show which tapes every Monday night at the Horton Grand Theater at 444 Fourth Ave.<\/p>\n For $7, guests can watch the taping, which usually includes comedy, skits and a top local band, according to show creator Fale Luis.<\/p>\n \u201cWe want to show San Diego music is more than indie rock or ska,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Some shows have featured San Diegans demonstrating the finer points of air guitar, a popular disc jockey attempting to dance like Vanilla Ice, and even a segment on weird Father\u2019s Day gifts.<\/p>\n \u201cHonestly, the people watching the taping have no idea what they\u2019re getting into, but they see how much we put into it and want to bring people back to the show,\u201d Luis said. \u201cEspecially because there\u2019s nothing else going on Downtown on a Monday.\u201d<\/p>\n The show will be filming its third season through September, using the same set as whatever play is being presented by the theater.<\/p>\n Luis wants to continue using the Horton Grand Theater for future seasons, but has big dreams for the next step.<\/p>\n \u201cBy fall, we hope to have enough product that we can show some of the local TV stations what we have and they\u2019ll put us on there,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Learn more about these three fun and exciting things to do Downtown by visiting their respective websites; the Great Room Escape, greatroomescape.com<\/a>; Puzzalarium, puzzalarium.com<\/a>; and \u201cTonight in San Diego,\u201d tonightinsandiego.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n![\"Moye](\"https:\/\/sandiegodowntownnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Moye-TISDwebtop.jpg\")
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