S1E4: Escape Room Storytelling Through Spectacle, CU Adventures Anne & Chris Lukeman

In this episode, David and Peih-Gee chat with Chris and Anne Lukeman, owners of the escape room company CU Adventures and the escape room shirt company Solve Our Shirts.

We talk about how a trip to Wisconsin and to two attractions in particular "opened their eyes to a level of weird that became a commercial business." Those attractions were Wizard Quest, a fantasy-themed scavenger hunt and House on the Rock, which Anne describes as a "skyscraper hobbit-hole of kitsch." We learn about their background in indie filmmaking and how it has influenced their escape room design process. As part of his design philosophy, Chris says that anywhere in one of their escape rooms, “it should feel like a picturesque, lived-in space, and either tell part of the story, inform part of the puzzle, or be weird, or be funny. It HAS to do one of those things."

They talk to us about the pros and cons of operating in a smaller community. We find out why they decided to release their remote game Lost Temple as a print-and-play. David and Peih-Gee gush over Solve Our Shirts, their latest project, which is an escape room in a t-shirt. Chris and Anne tell us about their plans to expand with a fantasy-themed mini-golf course with additional gamification, a bar, and gaming rooms.

Show Notes

Hosted by David Spira & Peih-Gee Law

Produced by Lisa Spira

Music by Ryan Elder

Logo by Janine Pracht