Horror escape room Time is Key will reopen for the first time since the pandemic
An escape room that had people climbing walls and running away out of fear is set to reopen in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs.
South East
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A horror themed escape room that had people “climbing up walls” trying to escape and “using their date as a human shield” is set to reopen for the first time in three years.
Time is Key Escape room, originally located in a dingy Dandenong warehouse, has set its sights on reopening by the end of the year at a new location in Melbourne’s east with more rooms and a “higher quality” of effects.
The original escape room located in Dandenong - which required people to use clues and their to wits escape “Bradshaw Manor” - gained a cult following prior to its closure in March 2020 due to its psychological thriller-like storyline and scares, which co-owner Leesa Lowe said resulted in many people “bursting out” unable to finish.
“We had a tally going of people who wet themselves and had people sprinting out of the emergency door crying,” she said.
“We had one person who used his date as a human shield for one of the scares. I think a lot of the time when people got scared they forgot where they were and that they were in an escape room.
“There was a particular jump scare where we had a group of teenage girls come in and they all fell huddled to the floor and one even started climbing the wall trying to get out”.
The original escape room had a 12+ age limit, which will be increased with the new set up.
The new team behind the business including Ms Lowe, her husband Jayson who wrote the original story, as well as Ammon and Steph Mohring, intend to relocate to a bigger warehouse in Melbourne’s east and be ready to go by December.
A new facility is yet to be purchased.
“We’d like to open up with a much bigger budget this time and do it properly,” Mr Lowe said.
“What people loved was the puzzles and the stories but we want to give people somewhere with the highest quality. If people loved it then thinking about how much people would love it with better facilities is something that’s very exciting”.
