We were lucky to catch up with Alex recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Alex, thanks for joining us today. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?
My mission is to have as many people as possible experience my Murder Mystery Scavenger Hunts. The first course was a passion project that I was driven to design just to challenge myself to see what I could do. I had played other scavenger hunts and clue based games, and though I enjoyed them, I though I might be able to do something different and better. So, I set out to design the game that I would want to play. I didn’t think it would turn into a business. At most, I thought some friends and family might play it. But I obsessed over it, and it came out better than I imagined. So, I decided to try to market it to see if strangers might actually show up enjoy it. That was 2013 and it’s grown into a full time occupation. And though I want as many people to play it as possible, I’ve learned that this activiy is not for everyone. For people who read the description and think it sounds like fun, it will far exceed their expectations. But to some people, it sounds like work because of the amount of problem solving creative thinking it requires. I don’t want those people to sign up. I can have 9 teams play and tell me what a wonderful time they had. But that 10th team that doesn’t is the one that stays in your head the longest. So, I guess my mission is to have an many people as possible ENJOY the hunts.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers
I answered part of this question about how I got started in my previous response, so I’ll focus on the other part. I provide entertainment. It’s an activity designed to be fun and challenging for adults. There’s not a lot of that out there. Sign up as a single team and play with friends and family on the weekends, and we do corporate teambuilding events on weekdays. I’m most proud at the end of an event day when people are finishing the hunt and I get to see how excited they are from their experience. It’s incredibly rewarding, after close to a year designing the clues for a hunt, to see people follow my breadcrumbs, and rave about it afterwards. I get to overhear people at teambuilding event tell each other that this is by far the best teambuilding event they’ve done with their company. My reviews on sites like Yelp and Trip Advisor have almost all 5-star ratings for all 5 of our locations. I’ve heard Jerry Seinfeld say something like, I don’t care what they think about me. I want them to love the jokes. That’s kinda how I feel. I get the most satisfaction when I see people love my game.
Have you ever had to pivot?
Covid. That was a tough one. I was used to being very busy and all of a sudden, everything stopped. I took off a couple weeks expecting it would get back to normal… but as you know, this did not blow over quickly. I had heard about some subscription type clue solving games. Once a month they mail you a part of the game, and the next month you get another part. After 6 months, you have enough to solve the murder. Sounded like fun, but it didn’t seem like something I could design. But I bought one to play for fun. It was completely underwelming. The first $25 box had 3 puzzles and a lot of backstory to read, That’s it??!! My dislike for this game, which is VERY popular and makes a LOT of money, motivated me because nowI knew I could do something better. They essentially lowered the bar, so I had confidence I could clear it. So, with my live scavenger hunts shut down, I created an online version you could play at home: Sherlock In Your Homes – SherlockInYourHomes.com. And I designed the game I had hoped the other game would be. But I removed the subscription model. That’s a great way to bleed money out of your customers, but I’m more interested in providing a great value. For one payment of $25, you get the entire game. I reduced cost by having it all online, and rather than going through the mail, you must print some pages yourself to play. It’s a solid 3 – 5 hours of entertainment that can be done in 1 sitting, or you can break it up over several days.
Can you open up about how you funded your business?
Easy one for me. Very little capital was needed. Almost the whole investment was my time. Designing the first Murder Mystery Scavenger Hunt took about a year. Most clues are designed to be solved with landmarks and info on paper. For the clues that required props, I crafted them myself through trial and error. It was time consuming, but not expensive. I had very little overhead because I based the business out of my house, and for event days, I partnered with restaurants in the area to use as the starting and ending points for the hunts. They benefit because I bring potential customers through their doors, and I benfit by not having the overhead of rent.
Contact Info:
- Website: MurderMysteryScavengerHunt.com
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/murder-mystery-scavenger-hunt-san-diego
- Other: I have a total of 5 yelp pages, one for each location: Laguna Beach: https://www.yelp.com/biz/murder-mystery-scavenger-hunt-laguna-beach-2?osq=murder+mystery+scavenger+hunt Newport Beach https://www.yelp.com/biz/murder-mystery-scavenger-hunt-newport-beach-newport-beach?osq=murder+mystery+scavenger+hunt%3A+newport+beach Dana Point: https://www.yelp.com/biz/murder-mystery-scavenger-hunt-dana-point-dana-point San Clemente https://www.yelp.com/biz/murder-mystery-scavenger-hunt-san-clemente-san-clemente?osq=Murder+Mystery+Scavenger+Hunt Old Town San Diego https://www.yelp.com/biz/murder-mystery-scavenger-hunt-san-diego