Mind Trap: An Oral History
Mind Trap at Escape Room Arlington!
We often hear people asking if escape rooms are like haunted houses, or if they’re like the movie. People used to ask if they were like the movie Saw, though we get that question less often these days. While most of our escape rooms are family friendly, we do have one offering for those of you who are horror aficionados out there: Mind Trap! If you’ve looked for a fun night out with friends or the perfect idea for a birthday party, you’ve probably come across this horror-themed escape room; Mind Trap is one of the two rooms we started with when we first opened our doors in June of 2018. The room itself has an older history than that, however - Mind Trap has been with Ravenchase from the start! I won’t go into any spoilers here so if you haven’t played the room yet, then don’t worry!
Mind Trap in Richmond, in 2015. The vibe for the room was that of an office.
Ravenchase Adventures began in Richmond back in 2005 hosting puzzle adventures, scavenger hunts, and the like. Escape Rooms started popping up around the world several years later and were a great fit for us, so we hopped on that train early. When Ravenchase’s Escape Room RVA first opened in Richmond in 2015, Mind Trap was the first room we made! We had big dreams for the room – a certain-serial-killer-from-a-specific-movie inspired escape room where the players explore the office of a homicidal psychologist and try to escape before they’re his next victims. The room featured cozy rugs, a cozy loveseat set I’m slight jealous of, and a nice desk and office chair I could also use in my daily life. I’ve heard rumors of a laser maze that existed in this room, but I’d never been to the original room so I cannot say for certain. Some of the props and puzzles you might have seen in the room back then are still in the room today!
When our Herndon location first opened in 2016, they took Mind Trap from its Richmond location and gave it a boost from a year’s worth of hindsight. The Herndon owners’ love of great 80’s movies inspired them to take the story in a direction more influenced by a certain known serial killer movie that you may know of – the players are now at a dinner party instead of an office, they are the first guests to arrive, and find themselves locked inside. You can probably see where this is going - there’s fava beans and Chianti involved. The room featured great homages to the movie in its puzzles, and focused its story and set dressing to keep us at the forefront of the industry.
Mind Trap in Herndon, which launched in 2016 though this photo may have been taken later. The creepy dinner party aesthetic was fully realized in this version of the room!
When we launched in 2018, we were lucky to open at the same time as Herndon was retiring their Mind Trap room to replace it with The Mystery of Room 213 (which you should definitely check out!). As Herndon had updated and improved the room from its first incarnation, we strove to do the same. There was not much to improve on in terms of story, but we updated the aesthetic, the puzzles, and the technology to make an even more immersive experience and stay at the forefront of the world of escape rooms. We’re proud of what we’ve created through iterations of design and years of experience, and we hope you get to play the room sometime soon!