Today we’d like to introduce you to Matt Graves.
Hi Matt , we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I heard about escape rooms back in 2018 and had to learn more. I played a few in Duluth, MN and was hooked. It sounded like a fun business, but living in the sparsely populated area of Northern Minnesota, I wanted to get more information. I began working with the UMD Center for Economic Development to complete a feasibility study and decided on running mobile escape rooms instead of a brick-and-mortar location.
I then traveled to the TransWorld’s 24th Annual Halloween & Attractions Show in St. Louis, Missouri, where there were also numerous escape room related classes, presentations, and vendors. I got connected with Mindgames Productions who I purchased my first couple tents from. I built the puzzles and have done progressively more of the work as I’ve added additional rooms.
I started the business in 2019, booked a few events, then was quickly competing with COVID. I was incredibly thankful that my low overhead meant I could just hibernate the business through that time. There were some sparse, small events that trickled in then it started taking off in 2021. Business tripled in 2022 and added about 25% per year after, even without advertising for the last 5 years. I take that as a testament to the quality of the experience and my own professionalism.
I have a full-time job in addition so it’s a lot to handle. However, I’m fully committed to the idea of going full time if business keeps going this direction.
I’ve grown from two rooms to 4 themes and 5 rooms for enclosed rooms, plus 2 open-aired jail cells. There’s Immunity Quest (a tiki island survival game), Wizard Academy (a magician school), Tomb Escape (an Egyptian tomb you must unlock), and Mars: Out of Air (a Mars colony where the CO2 scrubber needs to be restarted). The Mars game has two identical rooms so participants can race.
It’s been a fun, challenging, sometimes stressful, logistically heavy, hilarious journey that involves moving game pieces, making quick repairs, watching participants stretch their minds and wits, and listening as they yell and scream when opening something or winning. It’s also been rewarding to watch the ah-ha moments during team building events.
I concentrate on all night grad parties, college fun days, and team building for businesses. That team building can be either the game itself or a more in-depth presentation, practice, observation, and debrief.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It hasn’t been smooth throughout.
There was COVID…
There were a couple events where organizers bet me that I couldn’t fit all of the props in totes and bags on the sidewalk back into my Kia Soul. Of course I did, since they made it there initially, but it was a challenge to load and unload my daily driver for events.
There’s the ongoing struggle of scheduling around my full-time job, missing social events, and having a weird sleep schedule or no schedule at all during high school graduation time when party organizers will book me as late as 5am.
There’s the learning curve of filing taxes correctly.
There’s the stress of rowdy participants sometimes breaking puzzle pieces that are vital to the game and requiring an immediate fix or replacement before the next group.
There’s the challenge of music with heavy bass interacting with one of my puzzles–confusing the play.
There’s the challenge of often using volunteers to run some of the rooms and those people sometimes being individuals who aren’t even familiar with the concept of an escape room.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
It’s in the name. I offer mobile escape rooms, which are essentially immersive themed games that you enter and have a mission to accomplish before the time runs out. It’s a way to work together, think in a different way, and meet the challenge. I specialize in professional experiences at the client’s location. I am known for communicating well, being on time, and generally being the highlight of events.
One thing I’m proud of is how I rely on my prior training and experience with observing and debriefing outdoor experiences to quickly extract insights about how individuals work within a team. I’ve surprised people with how I can identify someone’s daily actions from watching them solve a puzzle. When people are in a new setting and don’t have a framework for how to act, their real self emerges. They have no filter to hide behind.
One of my other favorite things is when adults (usually men) talk down about the escape rooms and how they don’t want to participate. Then…they come out and ask if they can go in the other one, how it was so fun, and how they never knew that escape rooms could be so fun.
Can you tell us more about what you were like growing up?
I was outdoors most of the time. Instead of team sports, my buddies and I would go canoeing, climbing, backpacking, or mountain biking after school or for the weekend. I earned my Eagle scout and encouraged others to be outside. I thru-hiked the Appalachian Trail the year after high school, and have since biked cross country, canoed the entire Yukon River, and have led, soloed, and taken friends on numerous high adventure, backcountry trips.
I’ve always been a bit different and uncaring about what others think, and in the end most people are enticed by my choices.
I’ve always like board games, puzzles, and be resourceful as well, which has lent itself nicely to running escape rooms.
I also grew up on a farm and had an incredible work ethic instilled throughout my childhood. That’s certainly helped to keep me going to grind through those difficult times with 10 days straight of full-time work with escape rooms every night.
Pricing:
- All pricing is based on the time, number or rooms, plus transportation, and is therefore quoted per event.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.outmobileescaperooms.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100057453668790
