Made by Mom Gift Guide: Party Locker Games makes it easy to bring 'escape room' experience to your home
When Amy Koch looked around for an escape room experience that was suitable for her 10-year-old daughter and her friends, she came up empty. So she made her own - Party Locker Games.
Posted — UpdatedEscape rooms are on location adventure experiences that require players to solve puzzles, play logic games and answer questions to "escape" from a space, and they are growing in popularity. In the last few years, they've sprouted up across the Triangle.
I checked in with Koch, who teaches psychology at Raleigh Charter and lives in Raleigh, to learn more. Here's a Q&A:
So, I checked the Internet and found a downloadable kit for exactly this purpose. I paid $20 to download it and another $40 to print (there was a lot to print)! Then, two days before the party (ha!), I read through the game and realized that it wasn't at all what I had in mind! It was more like a scavenger hunt with a story, whereas I knew my daughter expected puzzles and riddles.
I spent the next two days creating my own escape room for her party. Surprisingly, given how rushed I was in making it, it was a giant success! I've created many birthday parties for my three kids over the years, but this one was the best (yet)!
Coincidentally, I had just assigned a project to my psychology students in which they have to spend 12 to 15 hours working toward a goal of their choice. I assign it every year and try to commit myself to completing the project as well. In past years, I've learned to knit, play new songs on guitar, draw cartoon faces, and I even did a live performance of Rapper's Delight (just a couple of verses).
This year, I decided to start an Etsy shop and sell the kit. I figured there had to be other parents out there who found birthday party ideas online, only to realize that gathering the supplies and putting together the parts ends up being expensive and time-consuming. Essentially, I made this kit for them.
Since opening my Etsy shop over the summer, I've added Escape Room-themed party favors, and most recently, a downloadable Christmas Lockout game. The Christmas game is a series of puzzles and riddles that lead guests to the location of gifts. I envision it as a fun game for multi-generation groups to play at a Christmas party, a fun family activity for Christmas Eve, or even as a way to make Christmas morning a bit more magical for older kids who no longer believe in Santa! Friends, families, and even customers are a great source for ideas. I have a bunch of ideas brewing, but finding time to create them is a bit trickier!
Related Topics
• Credits
Copyright 2024 by Capitol Broadcasting Company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.