Lose the Lock!

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If you’re like me, you love escape rooms. Finding clues, solving puzzles, and discovering hidden doors, fill us with joy, wonder and, if you succeed, a sense of accomplishment. Together my business partner and I have over a decade of experience running a multi-location escape room company, Last Minute Escape. However, like many small businesses, the pandemic hit us hard, and we are down to a single location in Wayne – with one big difference: it’s not an escape room anymore.

Even before the pandemic, we knew we wanted to try something new. So, we explored some different ideas while keeping in mind what people loved about our escape rooms specifically, and what the shortcomings were of the experience in general. We eventually came up with Go Time Games – a sort of fusion between escape rooms, game shows and boardwalk games.

When you book an experience with Go Time Games, you don’t have to pick a specific room to play. You get to play through every challenge during your time. Instead of spending 60 minutes in one scenario, you’re constantly moving to a new challenge every few minutes, so there is little to no downtime. With this format, there is truly something for everyone to enjoy, because each game is unique. Do you enjoy escape rooms? Great, you’re going to love our Puzzle Room. Are you a trivia fan? Get ready to buzz in on Fact Attack. Got great aim? You’ll be right on target in Alien Invasion.

The other big difference is the goal – instead of trying to escape the room, your team is simply trying to score as many points as possible. After each game, we’ll add your score to your running total, and you’ll have a grand total after playing all the games.

Most of the time when you walk into an escape room, the first thing people usually ask is “Where do we start?” At Go Time Games, when you walk into one of our challenges, you’re going to look around and think, “Ah ok I see what we’re doing here.” It’s more intuitive, but your gamemaster will still go over the basic rules with you.

Escape room companies will typically max groups at 8 or 10 players, and at that point you’ve got a crowded space where not everyone really gets to participate. Some puzzles certainly require teamwork, but there are many times when there is only one thing that can be worked on, and you’ve got 4-5 people standing around, looking over shoulders to see what’s going on. At Go Time Games, teams are composed of 2-5 players which ensures that everyone gets an equal opportunity to play. And the way the games are designed, everyone is always going to be involved.

If you do have a larger group, we can split you up into teams for a direct competition. Back when we were an escape room, we always had large groups who wanted to compete against each other – bachelorette parties, family reunions, work groups – the problem with that is, unless you have two identical escape rooms, it’s not an even playing field. At Go Time Games, each team will be playing the same games, so you’ll have a concrete score to compare against your opponents. Plus, we archive all our previous scores so you can see how you stack up against the rest, even if it’s just one team.

Odds are you’re not going to play an escape room that you have already done. With Go Time Games, you can replay these challenges on your next visit and try to beat your previous score. We wanted to get that type of arcade nostalgia, scoring a “personal best” but with more of a hands-on teamwork setting. So come play games with us! You can learn more at www.gotimegames.com or call us at 201-919-6252 - and be sure to visit us on Instagram @go_time_games. Beat your Best, Beat the Rest!

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