Behind the door at 7228 Madison St., there are four rooms of themed, timed puzzles — one full of dark wood, exposed brick and clocks; a faux graveyard with lanterns as the only light; a model of the inside of a treehouse; and a gameshow studio with a spinning wheel and Scrabble board.
These are the four scenes that customers can choose from at Escape Factor in Forest Park. The Filipino-American business, owned by Jonathan Biag and Dexter Cura, has been open for nearly a decade and is now nominated as one of 20 finalists for USA Today’s 10 Best Readers’ Choice Awards in the category of Top 10 Best Escape Rooms nationwide.
“Wouldn’t that be cool to say, ‘Forest Park has the number one best escape room in the country, according to USA Today,’” said Biag, who added he was excited for Escape Factor to receive the nomination. “It helps shine a national spotlight on Forest Park.”
Escape rooms are often mission-based, where participants must work together to accomplish a series of puzzles to get out of the space before the hour is up. Escape Factor allows two-to-nine players in a room and often sees groups of families, friends or co-workers participating in the challenge.
“It’s an experience that really brings people together to actually communicate,” Cura said.
Biag and Cura, friends since middle school, designed the four escape room narratives and puzzles themselves. They teamed up in 2015, after Biag got laid off as a programmer and Cura, a self-described serial entrepreneur, enjoyed doing an escape room with Biag.
The duo says that, around the time they started their business, escape rooms were popping up around the country, but few had challenges that were new to them. Biag and Cura said they wanted to create better puzzles than the over 250 escape rooms they’ve completed to-date.
“Some of the puzzles weren’t that great,” Biag said. “We thought we could bring something that made people feel like they got challenged, whether they were new players that have never played before or enthusiasts that have played over 100 games.” He added that about half of Escape Factor’s customers are first-time escape room participants, and over 75% are from Forest Park or surrounding communities.
Biag and Cura make the puzzles difficult but doable for all players, even kids. While each group of participants can get three hints to complete the escape room, if someone asks for more, staff will always give another clue.
“Our goal is not to stump someone,” Biag said. “Our goal is to make sure that the group is having the best time ever and will talk about us for the next year and convince other people to come here. In order to do that, they need to have fun, they need to not get frustrated, they need to feel accomplished.”
“And if they totally want us hands-off, we’ll let them play how they want,” Cura added.
Escaping the clocks, gameshow studio, treehouse and graveyard
Of the four family-friendly escape rooms, The Timekeeper’s Trapped came first. Elements of the room were in Escape Factor’s initial location in Oak Park, which opened in 2016. But the first spot had a small footprint with little space for additional rooms, and the limited area for decor didn’t correspond with what Biag and Cura wanted to explore with their puzzles. So, the pair moved Escape Factor to Madison Street the summer of 2017.
At the Forest Park location, Biag and Cura developed a new storyline for The Timekeeper’s Trapped. Next, they added the Bonus Fun Time Game Show Challenge that’s set in a 1970s game show studio. Then came The Treehouse Raid at Fort Knocks, where participants are inside a teenage punk’s treehouse, searching for valuables he stole from the town. Finally, the Ghost in the Graveyard room, a challenge set in the cemetery at midnight, launched in 2020. Cura said the idea came from Forest Park having more dead residents than living ones.
The Bonus Fun Time Game Show Challenge is most popular — and Biag’s favorite escape room, mostly because it reminds him of watching game shows as a child with his grandfather — because of its rarity.
“It’s really hard to find something very unique,” Cura said. “I’ve never seen anything like this.”
Biag and Cura said they likely won’t add any additional escape rooms, since the four existing ones are already a hit among customers.
“Every room has its own redeeming qualities,” said Cura, who has a hard time picking a favorite. But the co-owners change up puzzles periodically to keep them challenging, but solvable. “We tweak all the time. If we find that our game masters are having to hint at the same puzzle every time, perhaps there’s something wrong with that. Let’s simplify it.”
Future goals for Escape Factor’s co-owners include catering more to businesses — both those who might want to bring workers in for an escape room experience, and those in Forest Park that want to partner with Escape Factor.
“Here in Forest Park, we do hear from a lot of the restaurants,” Biag said, where escape room participants often dine afterwards. “I think we’ve been able to successfully bring a lot of business to this area, specifically to Madison Street.” He added that they’ve spoken to Madison Street restaurants about partnering to offer a game-and-dinner deal.
To vote for the USA Today award, go to https://www.escape-factor.com/voteUSAToday and vote once a day through Sept. 22. Results will be announced Oct. 1.