Breaking out of the escape room barrier

In the Willamette Valley, the entertainment industry, more specifically escape rooms, are not often the talk of the community. The escape room business is relatively new within the entertainment industry and even newer to the Willamette Valley. In the pandemic, however, these businesses have had a harder time than most. Having to shut down and re-open the facilities several times in the last year, the owners have had to find other ways to drive in business while still maintaining COVID guidelines.

Escape Tech and the Exitus Escape Rooms both, have made the most of what they can while in the middle of this pandemic. Both have created alternative ways of boosting revenue within their business because according to Jason Chaney, the owner of Escape Tech, this business is hard to make money from.

While the two are in proximity to each other, both created different projects to keep business afloat as well as keeping guidelines in place. Escape Tech has been doing remote escape rooms and is now in the process of expediting a new option called the Social Gaming Lounge. Exitus made a wrecking room and paint room available where patrons can participate in destroying breakable objects or splattering the walls with a variety of paints.

Created by a couple of locally raised buddies aiming to entertain the community, Exitus has become a fan favorite in downtown Salem.  Located underneath the Fork Forty dining hall, this unique entertainment business has been gaining a lot of traffic with their interlaced business, Wreckingballers. Owner and creator, Travis Noble, had said that the wrecking room idea wasn’t necessarily crafted because of COVID, but rather something else he was thinking of adding to the entertainment umbrella. It has since proven to be more successful compared to the escapes rooms for the time being, “It’s new and everyone has some stress to let go of,” said Noble, “it brings us great joy that we can be here to help in a really unique, fun, and safe way.” Noble is also releasing new escape rooms throughout 2021.

Escape Tech has been in the works of making several projects prior to the pandemic hitting but the most profitable has been the remote escape rooms launched last February and new rooms launching this year. By introducing the option for remote escape rooms, Escape Tech has made it possible for businesses and people from across the country to have access to their amenities as it was initially made for friends in other states to be able to play with each other.

In addition to the remote rooms, Jason Chaney and his team have recently launched their newest project – the social gaming lounge. Designed by gamers for gamers, the lounge is curated fun for people of all ages. “We wanted to start providing a way for people to game together in person,” Chaney said.  With six high end gaming PC’s, automatic game configuration, and. Escape Tech is making gaming easier and more fun than ever.

For these businesses, their innovative ideas have made the entertainment business in the Willamette Valley exciting and inviting.

Both EscapeTech and Exitus are both located on State Street in downtown Salem and open for the public to do in person sessions for escape rooms and their newer excursions. You can visit and participate with a limited group size to accommodate for COVID.