We were lucky to catch up with Logan Pressley recently and have shared our conversation below.

Logan, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s start with a story that highlights an important way in which your brand diverges from the industry standard.

The escape room industry as a whole has shied away from low-budget productions. While it is true that you will find a lot of duds here and there, the relationship between the quality of a set and the quality of gameplay in an escape room is loose at best. I was very struck with one room in particular which I had played before venturing into being an owner. This room in particular had almost no theming and even had a few game design quirks that needed to be ironed out, but had somehow become one of my favorite escape rooms.

When I decided to finally open my own business, I didn’t set out to make something very low on theme, but I did make sure that the set was in scope for what I could make with my own two hands and that the game design was flawless. I launched with two very classic lock and key type rooms and they were absolute hits. Folks appreciated that everything in the room worked, that the game flow was seamless, and that we could deliver a very personal experience by always having one game master to one game.

Going into our second year I actually reduced out advertising budget, but our bookings went up 47% due entirely to word of mouth. Sure, some people love big flashy games, but I think a lot of people would prefer that the puzzles be well designed and that is feedback that we hear now on a daily basis.

Logan, 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 have now been an escape room owner for about two years, but my journey here was not a straight path. I graduated college in May 2020, which was probably the worst time to wrap a degree. With all of my job offers suddenly vanishing during lockdown, I defaulted to stone masonry. My family has been digging holes and pouring concrete for generations, so that’s something I new, but I also knew the toll that can take on someone’s body over 30+ years.

I began saving every penny I could so that by the beginning of 2023, I could open a business of my own. After falling in love with escape rooms on a vacation, I decided that’s where I would plant my life savings. By being scrappy with my money (and working a few too many 100+ hour weeks) I was able to open my own location with no debt and a lot of motivation to make it work.

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

I’m not a very materialistic person. Towards the end of my time saving to open my business, I started to be a bit more deliberate about how I budgeted, but even early into my professional life I was very frugal. My college-life budget involved a lot of pizza rolls, splitting rent with a roommate, and very little spending and I didn’t see much need to change that even when I had a bit of money in my pocket, so my expenses never really topped $1,200-$1,500 per month.

What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?

Delivering a very personal experience has been key for me. I’ve seen some escape rooms have one game master run 2-3 or even more games at a time and it always takes away from the experience. I made a commitment when I first opened my doors to always have one game master to one game and aside from a few parties or weird circumstances, I have managed to stick to that.

What that means is that there is someone there who’s only job is to personalize your experience from the moment you walk in the door to the moment you walk out ~90 minutes later. I get to hear a lot of people’s stories and they get to hear mine. Also, having physically been in my shop for 14-16 hours every day in that first year after opening, I got to see a lot of those faces return to play agin.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.EscapismVB.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/escapism_games/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/logan-pressley-65a4b9311/