On the list of small businesses hit hardest by the pandemic, escape rooms had to be near the top. Many folks, after all, were not too keen on the idea of spending an hour with multiple people in an enclosed public space.
But while many escape rooms simply closed up shop, Champaign-Urbana Adventures In Time & Space decided to get creative. If people were wary of coming out to the escape room, then CU Adventures would bring the escape room to them.
Chris and Anne Lukeman, owners of the Illinois business, first released a pair of escape room puzzles that fans could print out and play at home. According to The News-Gazette, though, the Lukemans wanted something more immersive, something unique.
So, last December, they decided to try a T-shirt. But not just any T-shirt.
Ahoy! The Treasure Trove of Pirate Cove is shipping out! We wanted to share the completed pack for our new escape-room-in-a-shirt.
If you still want to send an SOS for the holidays, there is still time! https://t.co/XR0NrV7T23 pic.twitter.com/CHMrO2ELTL— CU Adventures (@cu_adventures) December 9, 2021
The Lukemans created a new puzzle, Escape From the Maze of the Minotaur, and put it on a shirt. They decorated both sides with hidden details, information and clues that players must use to solve the puzzle. Then, they bundled it with printed materials and props, and included a login that players can use to access online components of the game.
The “escape room in a shirt” was, as the website notes, everything players needed for a 60-90 minute game. And it was such a hit that the Lukemans released another shirt/puzzle—this one pirate-themed—this year, adding an audio component to further immerse players in the game.
“We really want players jumping around the dining room table as they have an idea to try something to solve the puzzles of the game,” Chris Lukeman told The News-Gazette. “For example, in The Treasure Trove of Pirate Cove, we even commissioned custom pirate sea shanty songs that give clues as to what people should pay closer attention to on the shirt.”
Both games are now available online. The game packs range in price from $35-$50 for one player to $90-$95 for deluxe couple’s editions. The Lukemans designed the games and shirts, with Dixon Graphics, a screen printer in Champaign, handling the printing.
https://twitter.com/sharonw/status/1464153309103624197?s=20
Everyone loves a good T-shirt, especially now when branded merchandise has taken off as a primary means for fans to support the things they love. But CU Adventures showed that T-shirts can be much more than merch. With great design and complementary printed and digital components, they can be an immersive storytelling experience.
