by Mark Blume, Owner
Reno… Are You Ready To Experience Keystone Escape Games?
The world’s biggest little city is a mecca for activity-seekers and escape rooms top the list of fun things to do in our city. We introduced Keystone Escape Games to the Reno’s “to-do” scene in October 2019 and quickly became Reno’s highest-rated escape game (425+ five-star reviews as of April 2021).
But first, here’s a little history on how we got to be one of the most sought-after activities in the city. We’re not just another escape room. It has always been our mission to to be the best escape room experience in Reno. We’re here to shake up the Reno escape room experience and we’re doing it one room at a time!
Our first escape room to open was The Blood of the Original. This game is a unique, immersive vampire-inspired story – where the group will explore Sir Moriston’s victorian steampuck private study in search of the original vampires blood. They only have 61 minutes to find all the clues, solve all the puzzles, and escape. It is available for bookings, family gatherings, birthday party reservations, and is perfect for your next team building event.
Owners Lacey & Mark Blume
Opening An Escape Room In Reno – Why We Did It
My wife Lacey and I experienced several puzzle rooms in the past, fell in love with them, and thought this would be a fun business to operate. First and foremost, we are enthusiasts who simply enjoy the puzzle room experience. When we started this journey, we had done over 100 rooms.
So why do I think we’re qualified to build a new puzzle room in Reno? Tons of reasons! I have a fair bit of technical training and figured why not. Lacey comes from a very artistic background and, yep, off we went.
It is our goal to create rooms we would like to play.
It is our goal to create rooms we would like to play. We have worked with and continue to meet many great people in this process. We have learned so much about set design, game flow, what not to do, could just go on and on. Much more than we ever anticipated. In fact, it’s been downright fantastic!
Going from a player to a game developer has been a wonderful challenge, to say the least. Ultimately when we have completed our games and the players have played our first rooms, we hope, they and hopefully you will agree.
Building An Escape Room – The Process
Each room takes between six to nine months to complete. We build everything ourselves. We also write the stories and develop the gameplay. It’s no small task.
Additionally, we have more big plans for this place. We’re currently working on four more rooms. But as you can imagine, this is no easy task.
With the amount of effort we put into the props, puzzles, and electronics, each room can take some time to complete. In fact, each room takes between six to nine months to complete. After all, we’re not hiring a huge team. We build everything ourselves. Finally and most impressively, we also write the stories and develop the gameplay. It’s no small task. However, we love doing it. We hope you’ll love it too!
Before we first open the doors, we tested the game for several weeks. We make many tweeks and changes after observe players completing the game, all in attempt to make the experience as fun, smooth and immersive as possible. The result? A really fun escape room experience for Reno locals and visitors alike. We built this puzzle room with immersion in mind. And that goes for all our future games as well. We want you to be immersed in another world from the moment you walk in the door.
With each new room we open, we plan to up the ante. We’re making things cool and more complex each time. We have a real passion for this work and we can’t wait for you to try your hand at our escape games.
Images of us constructing the first room at Keystone Escape Games.
What’s Next For Keystone Escape Games?
As avid escape game players ourselves, this is a passion project for our family. To date, we’ve played hundreds of escape rooms all over the country. Our family absolutely loves them! I guess that should go without saying. And we’re not finished. We have plans to play many more.
Now, we’re bringing our passion directly to the Reno escape game scene. In other words, expect the best of the best from Keystone Escape Games. We hope to be the most immersive puzzle room in the area. But that’s not all! We’ve got some big ideas and an amazing creative team of imagineers to make our dream a reality.
We have some seriously awesome plans in the works for our escape games. Currently, we’re in the process of working on our next game, Dragon-Alley. Additionally, we’re planning and developing rooms Deep Space and Strain Z. We have no doubt they’re all going to be awesome.
Currently, we’re in the process of working on our next game, Dragon-Alley.
Stay tuned for more exciting news regarding our escape game experiences. We’ll be providing pictures and info as we redesign and rebuild this location from the ground up. Oh and yes. We are developing all our own puzzles and props! We told you. We’re not messing around with this one. We aim to provide the best escape room Reno has to offer.
Thank you and look forward to having to try your hand and brain at our creations.
Check out our stellar five-star reviews on Trip Advisor, Facebook, Google, and Yelp! We’re the highest-rated escape room in Reno. Are you ready to find out why? Book your escape game session now and find out!