An escape room opened recently in Coralville.

By Sandra Omari-Boateng
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Now, getting locked in a strange room with only a few clues to escape is an experience that can be enjoyed by the whole family.

The Outfox Escape Room opened recently in Coralville. In an escape room, participants are “locked” in a space and must work together to solve a series of puzzles within an hour to escape.

“Last December, my daughters and I went to Prague, and they had an escape room,” owner Carolyn Beyer said. “My younger daughter suggested that we go, and we did. We had a blast, and I came back and thought. ‘Why don’t we have this? We need this,’ so I decided to make it happen, and it fell together.”

The Outfox opened on Labor Day, and many people have been interested and have gone to try to solve the puzzles, said Sorrel Westbrook, the game master at the Outfox.

The one room available to play is called the Lost Will Room, in which participants try to locate a missing will of their fictional deceased father in order to keep their stepmother from taking their inheritance. They must solve clues to escape the room in time — just one hour. The owners are currently planning a second dinosaur-themed room.

Reaction to the new attraction by customers has been mostly positive.

“I liked the theme; I thought it could be spookier, but I understand it is for the whole family,” said Alex DeMartino a first-time escape-room player who was able to solve the puzzles and escape the room in under an hour.

Beyer said a lot of time goes into creating each of the escape-room challenges.

“We work really hard on the puzzles. We have a think tank, and we try to make the puzzles so that they aren’t too difficult because that could be dismaying,” Beyer said. “We try to make them difficult enough so they aren’t too simple, either.”

So far, the quickest time anyone has solved the room and escaped was in 35 minutes and 43 seconds. About 75 percent of groups don’t complete it in the hour they are given.

“This was my first time trying an escape room, and I think that it’s a unique activity, and it’s really cool that we have one in the area, and I’m excited to see what the dinosaur one will be like,” DeMartino said.

The Outfox Escape Room is located on 2401 Coral Court, Suite 3. Its hours are Thursdays 6-10 p.m, Fridays and Saturdays noon-midnight, and Sundays noon-6 p.m.

Additional reporting by Austin Love.