We recently connected with Heather Chandler and have shared our conversation below.

Heather, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – walk us through the story?

In late 2018, I took a chance.

I’d spent 25 years as a video game producer. Many of the games I’d worked on were wildly successful, including Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter, Star Trek: Rivals, and the runaway hit Fortnite.

But I kept thinking about trying something new.

My husband was in the same boat. He’d spent years working as a writer and designer in the video game industry, on numerous high-profile titles. But he was eager to try something new, to gamble on a different kind of project: escape rooms.

I was intrigued. I didn’t know much about these games, other than what he told me after he’d played one. But it seemed like fun, and sounded like it could be a viable business venture.

While his focus has always been on creativity, I’ve always been the practical one who examines the risks and rewards. So I researched escape rooms, their popularity, the potential earnings, and so on. However, there were no conclusive answers — essentially, some are successful, and others aren’t.

Nevertheless, I decided to take the plunge. We wrote up a business proposal, took out the loans, and signed a lease.

It was a completely different kind of game development. Instead of creating virtual worlds, I supervised the creation of real-world experiences: time machines, doomsday devices, and ancient caverns full of treasure chests. All of this required a lot of hammering, nailing, and drilling.

In the video game industry, I frequently managed teams of hundreds of seasoned programmers and designers; as an escape room owner, the team consisted of a half-dozen teenagers, many with zero work experience.

The process was rewarding, but it was unfamiliar territory, and I had to learn a lot very quickly.

However, it’s all worked out quite well. We’re up to 13 employees, we’ve added two new rooms, and we’ve expanded into various other types of games, all of which have found an audience. The risk paid off!

Heather, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I’m a game producer.

I started working on video games at Activision in the 1990s, working on PlayStation games like Apocalypse (starring Bruce Willis). In the 2000s, I worked for Electronic Arts, Ubisoft, and a half-dozen other studios on hit games like Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter and Star Trek: Rivals.

My biggest game was easily Fortnite. I spent three years as a Senior Producer on the project, and it broke numerous records and became a cultural phenomenon.

However, another game I’m also proud of is not as well-known.

Never Alone was based on the stories of the Iñupiaq people, and was created by the first indigenous-owned video game developer and publisher in US history. Never Alone won a BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) award, was an exhibit at the Smithsonian, and is currently featured at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

In 2018, I decided to make a change, and I opened up Whole Brain Escape, an escape room in the small town of Apex, North Carolina.

In addition to the games we offer at the business, we’ve created games as fundraisers and community activities for the Department of Parks and Recreation, the Downtown Business Association, and the local Public School Foundation.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

In late 2018, I decided to quit my job in the video game industry and start my own business.

Being a small business owner is risky. Will the idea take flight? Can you navigate this unfamiliar territory? Which way should you go? There was no roadmap to follow, just my instincts.

In January of 2019, I opened my new business: an escape room.

Customers buy tickets for a game, then spend an hour solving puzzles and working together to unravel a mystery. During the first few weeks, ticket sales were sporadic. After that, word got out, and games started selling out weeks in advance.

I hired employees to greet customers, operate the rooms, and reset the games afterwards. In less than a year, the business was exceeding my expectations.

I had more time to myself than I’d ever enjoyed while working in the video game industry. I got involved in my community, and rediscovered long-neglected hobbies. Things were going great.

Then Covid-19 hit, and I had to shut the business down for most of 2020.

However, I still had to pay rent, even though my business was shut down and gathering dust.

I decided that it was time to get to work. I shifted focus to new types of games: virtual escape rooms, board games, card games, and team-building exercises. I even worked on a couple of new video games.

As soon as we were given the green light to reopen the business, I started interviewing new staff. I spent time rebuilding our social media platforms, reconnecting with customers. It took time, but I got the business back to the level it had been before Covid-19, and then we surpassed that. After a lot of work, and a good deal of grinding, I got the business back up and running.

Can you tell us the story behind how you met your business partner?

I met him at a bar.

In 2000, I started work at a video game studio in Charlottesville, Virginia. I had just moved to the east coast from Los Angeles, and didn’t know anyone in town.

Someone at the office sent out an email to everyone, saying that I’d just started work, and inviting everyone to come out after work for a few beers.

The group assembled at a bar, and I happened to sit across the table from a guy who worked at a different office. We talked about serial killers all night.

After a few months, we started dating. After a couple of years, we got married.

Over the next couple of decades, we worked on numerous projects: video games, comic books, tabletop role-playing games, and we even co-wrote a nonfiction book. In 2018, we started an escape room together. I manage the business, and he designs the puzzles!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.wholebrainescape.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wholebrainesc/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wholebrainesc/