Madison is the CEO, Co-owner, and Creative Director of Cross Roads Escape Games. She graduated USC with a B.A. in Fine Art and Theatre in 2013 and begin designing sets for theaters across Los Angeles. She was the Lead Scenic Painter for The Queen Mary's Dark Harbor from 2013-2015 and has some pretty crazy ghost stories from her time aboard the ship. Her and her husband, Luke, opened Cross Roads Escape Games in January of 2016 and has been creating immersive experiences ever since!
2022 was a big year for us! A small team of people runs Cross Roads Escape Games, and every year, we are so proud of what we have accomplished. The husband-and-wife team, Luke and Madison, opened Cross Roads in January 2016 and designed all the experiences with the help of their staff and skilled programmers. You can read about our beginnings HERE. At the end of the year, we like to reflect on some of the events that happened and get excited for what is to come next!
2022 in review:
In February, owners Luke and Madison had the pleasure of playing an escape room with Jeff Goldblum for his ‘Puzzles’ episode of ‘The World According to Jeff Goldblum’ on Disney +. You can read all about our experience behind the scenes in our blog post HERE.
On May 1st, we said goodbye to The Psych Ward game and began a hectic 4-month build of The Weeping Witch.
Luke taking apart The Psych Ward
In September, we opened The Weeping Witch with fantastic feedback from the press and our guests. It sold out for 3 months solid. It’s a game we are so proud of, and we look forward to bringing more games to you at this same level of theatrical storytelling.
October 1st was National Escape Room Day. Last year we started the tradition of hosting a massive free event at Stereo Brewing, open to all escape room enthusiasts. This year, we celebrated again with eight mini-games from many different SoCal escape rooms, raffle prizes, food trucks, and beer.
To end the year, we were honored to win multiple awards. We were finalists for the 4th year in the International Top Escape Room Project (TERPECA) and were awarded Top Escape Room by the Morty escape room tracker app. We love what we do and are very grateful for the recognition.
So, what is next?
2023 is shaping up to be another busy year! We still have plans to revamp The Hex Room. We want to redesign all the rooms with new puzzles and special effects to bring them up to the same level we achieved with The Weeping Witch. Also coming soon, we have a fun feline-themed game designed (on paper), which will eventually take the place of The Fun House. Will these two projects happen in 2023? I hope so! But it all comes down to having the time and the money. Make sure to send your friends to Cross Roads so we can continue to grow and improve!
Our biggest project for 2023, which has already been a year in the making, is opening a brand-new business: Slashers Axe Throwing & Ales! We are elevating the sport of axe throwing by giving it a unique 1980s horror movie twist with the story, theming, special effects, and games! Slashers Axe Throwing & Ales is coming to Costa Mesa in the Fall of 2023. Follow Slashers_AxeThrowing on Instagram for updates!
Thank you for helping us make it to 2023. We wouldn’t be here without your support!
Join us at Stereo Brewing in Orange County on Saturday, October 1st, from 6:00pm- 11:00pm! There will be prizes, mini-games, food trucks, beer, and exclusive discount codes to local escape rooms!
This event is FREE to attend, and mini-games are FREE to play!
Play exclusive escape room mini-games by: Cross Roads Escape Games Terminus Escape Square Escape Room Ministry of Peculiarities Funbi Games Intrepid Escape Rooms Exit Game OC Trapped!
Win amazing prizes from: Cross Roads Escape Games Not Another Escape Room Exit Game OC Red Lantern Escape Rooms Legacy Escape Two Bit Circus Terminus Escape The Laboratory Wild Goose Escapes Funbi Games Mind Trap Escape Room Wizards and Wires Unlocked and more!
AND receive exclusive discount codes to some of the best escape rooms in SoCal!
PARKING: Stereo Brewing is located in an industrial area. All the surrounding businesses will be closed, so feel free to park in any parking lot or on the street.
ADDITIONAL INFO: The event takes place both indoors and outdoors. Open to all ages.
Game Design: Madison & Luke Rhoades Scenic Design: Madison Rhoades Lighting Design: Ian Momii Special Effects: Christian Mutter Sound Design: Dan Waldkirch Lighting and Sound Technician: Ian Momii Master Carpenter: Luke Rhoades
Voice Cast:
Weeping Witch: Jonica Patella Little Girl Radio Ghost: Wendy Hellmuth Man Radio Ghost: Eric O’Keeffe Ghost Doll: Lois Hellmuth
Special thanks to Lauren Orgill, Blake Orgill, Geoff Durham, Sean Christopher, Creepy Duck Design, Slaughterhouse FX, Cooper Floors, Slater Wood, and all of our Beta Testers!
Crew Biographies:
Madison Rhoades (Game Designer & Scenic Designer)
Madison Rhoades is the Co-Owner and Creative Director of Cross Roads Escape Games. She graduated with a B.A. in Fine Arts and Theatre from USC in 2013. After falling in love with escape rooms, she and her husband opened Cross Roads Escape Games in 2016 and together have designed The Hex Room, The Fun House, The Psych Ward, and two mini-games. Madison is excited to be stepping beyond the veil again after writing, directing, and designing the interactive theatre show, The Séance, in 2019.
Luke Rhoades (Game Designer & Master Carpenter)
Luke Rhoades is the Co-Owner and Technical Director of Cross Roads Escape Games. He graduated Vanguard University in 2014 with a B.A. in Theatre. Upon graduating Luke was the Master Carpenter at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in Hollywood. He opened his own Escape Room business with his wife in 2016.
Ian Momii (Lighting Designer)
Ian’s background ranges all over the live event spectrum, having his hands in anything from theatre and concerts to corporate events and award shows. Locally in Los Angeles he is likely best known for his work as Lighting Designer and Technical Supervisor for Delusion from 2014-2021 and Scout Expedition Co.’s The Nest. Other recent work includes Ceaseless Fun Loser and JFI Night Fever. Ian is honored to be brought back to work on The Weeping Witch after helping Cross Roads Escape Games on their production of The Seance.
Dan Waldkirch (Sound Designer)
Dan Waldkirch is a musician, artist, and chess player from Wauwatosa, Wisconsin. His music has been heard on over 40 primetime television shows and major motion pictures, including It’sAlways Sunny in Philadelphia, The Twilight Zone, and Minari. He composed the music and sound for all of Cross Roads’ escape rooms and experiences, and his football musical The Unsackable Man recently enjoyed a four-week run at Zombie Joe’s Underground in North Hollywood. He’s excited to work on The Weeping Witch, but even more excited to play it!
Christian Mutter (Special Effects)
Christian is an avid maker and tinkerer who loves to find inventive ways of mixing art and science. He graduated from California State University Fullerton in 2019 with a BS in Mechanical Engineering. He now works at ArtCenter as a shop instructor helping students realize their creative ideas. Christian is thrilled to be back at Cross Roads after having worked on The Seance.
Save $8 per ticket! Available only at Midsummer Scream 2022
Come by our booth at Midsummer Scream 2022 to purchase tickets for only $30 per person! Tickets are valid for 1 single-person admission for any of our games (including our newest game, The Weeping Witch), and they never expire!
Save $8 per ticket when you buy it from our booth at Midsummer Scream 2022! All you need to do is visit our booth (Aisle 100, Booth #188) during Midsummer Scream Friday, July 29th- Sunday, July 31st, at the Long Beach Convention Center. This ticket will come with a unique code valid for one admission ticket that you can use when purchasing your game online or in-store, as long as the game is reserved in advance.
This 3-day sale is at our booth at Midsummer Scream while supplies last. Only 500 discount tickets in stock. Max of 8 tickets per customer can be purchased with either cash or card.
Midsummer Scream is a yearly Halloween and Horror Convention at the Long Beach Convention Center. Tickets are required to enter the convention. Purchase your tickets to Midsummer Scream HERE.
Ticket Terms and Conditions: This single-use admittance code is valid for one single-person ticket to an escape game at Cross Roads Escape Games in Anaheim. The game must be reserved in advance. Not valid for gift cards. Does not expire. The code on the card is your ticket, do not lose it, or it cannot be used.
Easter Eggs will be hidden inside all three of our games between April 13th-17th. Find all the eggs to help solve the bonus puzzle to win 25% off your next game!
Our Easter Egg challenge has always been a huge hit every year! In the past, we have offered gift cards and tickets donated from other companies as a prize for finding all the hidden eggs. Last week we took a poll on Instagram, and you all voted that you wanted your prize this year to be a discount on a future game, so we are giving away 25% off discount codes!
This year we are going to switch things up. In the past, players had to find all 10 golden eggs and escape to win. This year, there will be 12 eggs to find, each with a different clue. Players must find all 12 eggs to help them solve a bonus puzzle in the game to win! The catch, the box to unlock your prize is locked away towards the end of the game.
Will you be able to get to the end of the game, find the eggs, and solve the bonus puzzle before the time runs out?
You have one week to find out! Come play one of our three games between April 13th-17th, 2022 to experience this added challenge.
On Sunday, April 10th, 2022, we will have 6 games open for public bookings. If you have always wanted to play The Hex Room or The Trust Experiment (formally known as The Psych Ward) but struggled to get a group of 5 together, this is your chance!
The Hex Room will be open for public bookings for the 4:20pm, 6:00pm, and 7:40pm games. The Trust Experiment will be available for public bookings for the 4:30pm, 6:10pm, and 7:50pm games. Tickets are $38 per person per game.
Tickets must be reserved in advance. To book, please click HERE and select April 10th.
If you purchase a ticket during any of the above times on April 10th, you will play with strangers. This is a great chance to meet new people and build an escape room team!
DISCLAIMER: Both The Hex Room and The Trust Experiment still require at least 5 players for these games to function. If at least 5 tickets are not purchased for a time slot, the game may be canceled. In that event, you will be notified 1 hour before the game and be issued a full refund for your ticket for that game. Our other standard cancellation and refund policies still apply.
You may have noticed that The Psych Ward is no longer listed on our website. Do not fear! It’s not gone! The game still exists, but it has a new name- The Trust Experiment. The previous title, The Psych Ward, did not accurately describe the true nature of the game. We decided a name change would help customers better understand what they are getting into, and we changed it to The Trust Experiment.
Why did you change the name?
We noticed that many people were hesitant about booking because they thought the game would be scary. Understandable with how many great horror films occur in Psychiatric Hospitals, but our game is not scary. It misled people who avoided it because they didn’t want to be scared and misguided people who thought it WAS going to be scary. We want to set people’s expectations appropriately and then exceed them.
Also, the game is more than just escaping a Psych Ward. The original name made it seem like this was an ordinary escape room, but this game is unique. Players must compete against one another, build alliances, betray friends, steal points, and so much more.
Why did you choose The Trust Experiment?
We played around with many names, but it seemed to click when our Manager, Geoff, suggested the name The Trust Experiment. With a name like The Trust Experiment, you know it will not be a traditional escape room. You know there will be some trust involved and that you will be tested on it. But why? And will you succeed? Only one way to find out…
Why was it ever called The Psych Ward?
We kept the name The Psych Ward because it fit so nicely with The Hex Room and The Fun House. They were all names of places, and it seemed appropriate to name this game after where it is placed.
Did anything change in the game?
It depends on when you played! The game opened in Dec. 2018 and went through a few adjustments the first few months. It got a big update and change to the strategy and sabotage element in Sept. 2019. Sadly, the game was closed for almost a year due to the pandemic and reopened in March 2021 with a handful of new puzzles. So if you played before March 2021, yes, the game has changed! With all that said, the game is also repayable since the teams are randomized for every game, and there are more puzzles then can be completed in an hour!
Learn more and get tickets to The Trust Experiment here!
Help us end the curse! A Leprechaun played one of our games and didn’t escape. He was so upset that he cursed us to wear tiny hats for the rest of our lives. The only way we can end the curse is to find a group clever enough to escape our games with all 20 of his gold coins. Please help us! If you can find them and escape either The Fun House, The Hex Room, or The Psych Ward, we will repay you with some great discounts to use on your next game!
What you could win:
10-14 coins and escape: 10% off discount
15-17 coins and escape: 25% off discount
18-19 coins and escape: 50% off discount
All 20 coins and escape: 100% off discount
Games must be played between 3/16/22-3/20/22. Winning discount codes are valid for 1 year.
Oh no! Geoff is cursed with wearing a tiny hat! Will you help him?
Owners and Creators of Cross Roads Escape Games, Luke & Madison, along with the owners and creators of Exit Game OC, Jeremiah & Christine, played ‘Wrongfully Convicted’ at Escape Revolutions with the one and only, Jeff Goldblum!
We are good friends with the owners of Exit Game OC, Jeremiah, and Christine, who opened just a few months ago down the street from Cross Roads. Christine is also a YouTube star and has been doing videos on Escape Rooms for years. She and her husband have played over 500 escape rooms! The show looked for enthusiasts to play with Jeff, so she was contacted. They needed two others to join her, so she name-dropped us (who have played a modest 250 escape rooms), and after a short video interview, we were in!
Playing an Escape Room with Jeff Goldblum
We were told that the game was modified for filming, so big spoilers or answers were not given away to people who still wanted to play. This was understandable, but it also made it much harder to play. Navigating through the game and not knowing what was relevant to us was very difficult. Not to mention that we were being watched by a crowd of people (the film crew), who were expecting us to fly through the game because we were “experts,” which made it very stressful. Oh, and Jeff made it impossible to focus.
Jeff is an incredibly nice guy, naturally funny, and unpredictable. It took us 6 hours to play the 1-hour escape room because Jeff likes to talk… a lot. Before we started playing, the director told us our job was to keep Jeff on track. Easier said than done.
To be fair, this was Jeff’s first escape room, so he was overwhelmed, confused, and amazed. He was new to what a clue is and how to piece together a code. There is a learning curve for solving escape room-type puzzles, so we had to help guide him through our thought process.
Jeff is easily distracted and jumps from story to story and question to question. He tests your movie knowledge, constantly quoting lines from movies and quizzing you on what movie it’s from and who said it. It was not only hard to get him to focus, but also hard to focus yourself.
One thing Jeff is great at is making you laugh. As stressed as I was, Jeff is a hilarious guy, and it’s hard to take anything too seriously with him around.
Something you didn’t see in the episode is that we figure out a four-digit code for a number lock, and we tell Jeff to be the one to put the code in. Before he does, Christine asks him if he is familiar with that kind of lock and if he knows how to enter the code. Jeff goes into this 10-minute spiel about how he is a “lockmaster,” and his “middle name is Lock,” and he has been “opening locks since he was five years old.” Finally, once he finishes his speech and puts in the numbers, he pulls down on the lock, and it doesn’t open. He looks at us like, “you gave me the wrong code!” So, Christine looks over and says, “oh, you lined it up wrong,” and points to where the code should have gone. He looks back at us and says, “Well, how was I supposed to know that?!” To which I respond with, “Jeff, you just took the last 10 minutes to tell us your middle name was Lock, we thought you knew!” That got a big laugh out of Jeff and the film crew.
Jeff is big into word association games. We noticed him playing a game with himself during breaks where he would say the name of an actor, then a movie that actor was in, then a new actor from that movie, a movie that actor was in, and so on. We jumped in and played a few rounds with him (he was really good).
After the 6 hours of playing the escape room, we finally escape, and we are taken outside for Jeff to interview us and ask us some questions. The director tells Jeff, “Ask them what they like about solving puzzles.” Well, instead of asking us, he answers the question himself. Director says, “That was great; now ask THEM the question.” He turns to us, and instead of asking the question again, he notices an ear hair on Jeremiah, PLUCKS IT FROM HIS EAR, puts it in his pocket, and says, “I’m going to keep this to remember you by. This was such a great day, I’m going to remember it forever.” There is no controlling this man or knowing what he will do next.
Overall, it was a really fun day. The game was challenging, but Jeff made it a blast. He wanted to know all about us and was interested in our story. He cares a lot about other people, goes out of his way to make you laugh, and takes it upon himself to make sure you have a good time. I hope he continues playing escape rooms and had as much fun as we did.
Escape Rooms created by game enthusiasts for game enthusiasts. Owners Luke and Madison Rhoades come from a theatre and haunt background and found escape rooms to be the perfect backbone for their #1 rated company- Cross Roads Escape Games. Celebrating their 6th year in business, here is the story of the creators and designers of Cross Roads and how it all came to be.
ABOUT US
Luke and I are high school sweethearts, and we got married shortly after finishing college. I graduated from the University of Southern California with a B.A. in Fine Art and a minor in Theatrical Set Design. I designed and painted sets around Los Angeles and was the lead scenic painter for The Queen Mary’s Dark Harbor for three incredible years. Luke graduated from the Vanguard University of Southern California with a B.A. in Theatre Performance and Scenic Construction. He worked as the Master Carpenter at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in Hollywood. I would often get set design jobs and hire Luke as my technical director and carpenter for almost all of my shows. We were a great tag team duo. I would design it, he would build it, and then I would paint it.
THE FIRST ESCAPE ROOM
On Oct. 31st, 2014, we played our first escape room. We had no idea what we were getting into. I thought I bought tickets for a haunted house, so we were completely shocked when we found out that they would put us in a room with eight other strangers and lock the door. Our group did terrible. It was chaos trying to get ten people on the same page, but that was part of the fun. I remember the time being about halfway up when I realized we had not opened a single key lock. I yelled at the group, “How have we not found a single key?!?!” The girl next to me goes, “Oh! I found a few keys!” and starts to remove about 5-10 keys from her pocket that she decided to put there for safekeeping (and not use?).
Afterward, our game master comes in with a look of disappointment and tells us that we only made it about 60% of the way through. It didn’t matter to us if we won or lost or how far we got, the experience was unlike anything we had ever done, and we were hooked. The idea for The Hex Room came later that same night.
THE BEGINNING
We decided to take a chance. We quit our jobs and used our ten years’ worth of savings that we were keeping for a future house. It was one of those scenarios where we would always live a life of ‘what if’ if we didn’t give it a shot. And what better time to try and fail than when you are young? So we did. We found a location in Anaheim, California, battled the city for permits (that’s a whole story I won’t get into today), and put ourselves in a hole of loans and credit card debt (our savings was drained very quickly). With the help of some amazing family and friends, Cross Roads Escape Games opened one year later.
Cross Roads… get it? Luke and Madison Rhoades… ok, good.
THE GOAL
We wanted to create something that felt so real, you forgot it was a game. Imagine being transported to a new world where you can go anywhere and touch anything you want? To desperately try to find clues to help unlock the secrets to your escape? All our games are designed by us and built from the ground up. Not only is the production value outstanding, but even the game design is different.
We love games. Board games, card games, video games, and now escape games. Once we were hooked on escape games, we played every one that was available to us. Playing escape rooms was a great learning experience. We saw what we liked, and what we didn’t like. Our biggest issue was that no matter where we went, no matter what the mission was, the game was the same. We knew we had to change that up with ours.
CREATING THE HEX ROOM
As huge horror fans, we would always watch movies and say something along the lines of, “If that was me, I would have never run up the stairs!” or, “If I was in that situation, I would have done this…” Now with this new immersive theatre at our fingertips, we decided to create just that: a real-life horror movie scenario where people can find out if they would actually live or die in a horror film.
The Hex Room opened on January 15th, 2016. Unlike traditional escape rooms, The Hex Room takes immersion to the next step and makes players live out a real-life horror movie. Before your game begins, each player takes a quiz to determine which stereotypical horror movie victim they are. You can be cast as the Jock, Rebel, Prom Queen, Virgin, Nerd, or Detective. Once in costume, players are placed in a room by themselves. Their goal is to overcome their individual challenges and still work together as a team, although physically divided. If they are successful, they can rejoin their friends and escape. If not, they can be left behind to die.
CREATING THE FUN HOUSE
The Hex Room became a revolutionary game, but maybe a bit too advanced for its time. When we opened, Escape Rooms were still such a new concept; only a handful of people knew what they were, even fewer played one before. People loved The Hex Room, but we knew that it was a bit overwhelming to a new player, so we also created The Fun House.
The Fun House is the necessary introductory that people needed to escape rooms. People were together for the experience instead of being divided at the start. If someone felt uncomfortable doing something “scary,” we had The Fun House to offer instead. Although the gameplay is more of a traditional escape room, we still had a lot of new ideas to offer. The game became self-aware with lots of fun tricks and jokes along the way, not to mention the amazing Zoltar. Have you met him yet?
The Fun House also allowed us to introduce kids to the world of Escape Rooms. When Fun House opened in April of 2016, it was the only game that allowed players of any age to attend. The following year, we modified the game to change out challenging puzzles to a “KIDS” version, allowing groups of kids to play and succeed on their own.
CREATING THE PSYCH WARD
We are determined to always bring the next level of interactive entertainment, and we went all-in on The Psych Ward, which opened in December of 2018. Being inspired by immersive theatre experiences like Delusion and getting hooked on social deduction games like Werewolf and Secret Hitler, we decided to combine immersive theatre, competitive board games, and escape rooms into one fully automated game.
Because of its complexity, The Psych Ward took about 18 months to complete. We worked with the amazing technical team, Diablo Sound, which helped us program all the puzzles, scoring, and theatrical effects. The game took a few revisions, but we are very proud of the new elements we added and challenging ourselves with the unique design and automation. The Psych Ward is a game-changer that you must play!
WHAT’S NEXT
We revisited our theatre roots and wrote, directed, designed, and produced The Séance, which had a limited run in 2019. This show was an immersive theatre piece with some escape room elements. We had plans to bring back the show to a new location, which sadly got canceled due to the pandemic. There is still a chance it might happen; we are just waiting for the right venue and the right time.
We also announced a revamped Hex Room for 2020, which got postponed. We had everything ordered, contractors scheduled, and then the world shut down. Orders were pushed back, contractors had to cancel, and the whole project was put on hold. I am glad that it did though, these past years, we have been able to use the money we would have spent on the revamp towards keeping our doors open and our employees paid. It has also given me more time to think of even better puzzles and effects! The revamp will still happen as soon as the funds are restored. I am so excited to show you what we have planned!
We have also used all of 2021 to work on a new project that is bigger and totally different from anything we have done before! If all goes according to plan, we will have a big announcement for you in a few months. Stay tuned!
THANK YOU for being amazing and supportive fans. I read every single review that comes our way on google and yelp, and hearing about your fun experience is why we do what we do. I know it has been a long time since we have brought you something new, but big things are in the works. Thank you for being patient and understanding. It will be worth the wait!
Madison Rhoades CEO and Co-owner Cross Roads Escape Games
Madison Rhoades (Game Designer & Scenic Designer)
Luke Rhoades (Game Designer & Master Carpenter)
Ian Momii (Lighting Designer)
Dan Waldkirch (Sound Designer)
Christian Mutter (Special Effects) 
