Halloween

October 10 2017

Resident Artist: Dan Litzinger

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If you have made it down to Cross Roads Escape Games, you may have noticed the fun poppy art of Dan Litzinger for sale on the wall, or on your very own Hex Room t-shirt! Dan Litzinger is a painter and film editor living the dream in beautiful Glendale, California. Originally from Atlanta, Dan discovered his love for painting and pop art while attending the prestigious Savannah College of Art and Design and Graduated Magna Cum Laude in 2003. His addition to popular fiction and film leads him to create simple but bold art based on his passions. A frequent contributor to the Los Angeles group art exhibit scene, he loves to bring a retro cool and fun energy to works that revel in his storytelling fetish.

Litzinger’s fun horror themed paintings are a perfect complement to the games at Cross Roads. We always hear such high praise for Litzinger’s art when guests come in, so we sat down with him and asked him some of the common questions we hear among our players.

CREG: What got you interested in art?
DL: Starting in first grade, I dreamed of being a newspaper comic strip artist. Then in seventh grade, an art teacher (Ms. Kimberly Robinson!) showed me Roy Lichtenstein’s work and that was a real game changer for me. Comics were “real art” in museums! I got my Bachelor of Fine Art from Savannah College of Art and Design with a major in Film/Television and I’ve been a working editor for 8 years.

CREG: Why do you focus on horror?
DL: I’ve been interested in horror from a young age – probably too young, because my older brothers would show me movies that were a bit too scary for me. But I loved and still love the feeling of being scared in the theater, when you know you’re in a safe place. I do believe in ghosts, so I’m a real sucker for haunted house movies.

CREG: What about pop art inspired you to create these paintings?
DL: The first large painting I did was a direct parody of Lichtenstein’s “Drowning Girl” painting, but with young Jason Voorhees drowning instead. I just thought it was funny and I hadn’t seen it done before. I took the painting around Monsterpalooza and it got such a great response, I continued working on pop art paintings of films. I’ve had my own booth at Monsterpalooza for a couple years now!

‘Drowning Boy’ by Dan Litzinger, 36″ x36″, Price: $400

CREG:What is your favorite type of horror?
DL: Slasher. They’re generally very simple and visceral. The creativity comes from the kills and that’s what brings the audience in, even though you should be rooting against the villain. I think sometimes horror films are a safe way of dealing with real life horrors we see on the news.

CREG: What is your favorite movie and/or director?
DL: My favorite movie of all time is Die Hard. But for horror it’s Sam Raimi’s “Evil Dead 2.” For me, it strikes the absolute perfect balance between horror and comedy.

Dan Litzinger’s art and t-shirts are for sale on his website HERE or at Cross Roads Escape Games. Litzinger also is the designer behind our popular Hex Room t-shirts available in both men’s and woman’s styles sold only at Cross Roads Escape Games in Anaheim. Dan updates his art at our location, so make sure to stop by and see some of this amazing pieces in person! We currently have the original Twilight Zone “You Unlock This Door With The Key Of Imagination” showing in our lobby and available for $425. All proceeds go straight to the artist.

Madison Rhoades
CEO, Co-Owner, & Creative Director
Cross Roads Escape Games

September 25 2017

Escape Rooms vs Haunts- What to choose this Halloween Season?

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Horror goes hand in hand with escape rooms, in fact, most of our guests think all escape rooms are scary. While not all escape rooms are horror-themed, Halloween is a great time to seek out the ones that are.

Escape Rooms are designed to be thrilling experiences that involve teamwork and communication. Only those with a level head, common sense, and calm under pressure can make it. What better way to test those skills then with a life or death situation?

Describing an escape room almost sounds like describing the plot to a movie from the SAW franchise: you are locked in a room where you must solve puzzles to escape. Other horror movies with similar trapped or hostage plots reinforce the idea that escape rooms can be scary places. Indeed, horror helps increase the tension, suspense, and urgency. This is what people love about horror themed escape rooms: the stressful situation tests your skills just like you are in a real horror film.

Hex Room review

This Halloween season, you probably have a few haunts already planned, and although haunts are fun, escape rooms really take the intensity and realism to the next level. In a haunt, you are probably going to be in a train of people with masked monsters jumping out at you from the left and right. As fun as this is, it does get dull rather fast. Horror themed escape rooms put you right in the action. You are completely immersed; you can go wherever you want and touch whatever you want.

You can’t make choices and you can’t lose in a haunt. Horror escape rooms are a thrilling experience with a payoff in the end. Escape rooms give you a sense of accomplishment when you finish. Whether you win or lose, your team can look back at what you accomplished in the time allotted.

Our horror themed game, The Hex Room, puts you right in the center of your own horror film. First, you are cast as a stereotypical horror movie character: Jock, Prom Queen, Virgin, Nerd, Rebel, or Detective. From there you are placed in a room on your own. It is up to you to rejoin the rest of your teammates or be left behind. Who will live? Who will die?

I highly recommend adding a horror escape room or two to your list this Halloween season. Make sure to book your Hex Room game early, we will sell out!

Madison Rhoades
CEO, Co-Owner, & Creative Director
Cross Roads Escape Games

August 14 2017

What Makes The Hex Room So Unique?

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Since The Hex Room opened back in January of 2016, it has received rave reviews from fans and critics who consistently claim it as their new favorite escape room. But what makes The Hex Room so unique and popular? Is it the room’s dedication to absolute immersion? Is it the set design perhaps? Though these aspects play a huge role in people’s experience, I believe that the number one reason for the Hex Room’s popularity is its unique style of game play.

Owner and creator of The Hex Room, Madison Rhoades, says, “My husband and I created The Hex Room because we wanted something new. We played about 50 escape rooms, and they were starting to all blend together. We wanted something that gave each player an individual experience and their own moment to shine, without having to battle over it with other players. We also wanted to create an escape room that was replayable. We love escape rooms so much, but once we played one we really enjoyed, it was impossible to replay it with new friends without already knowing all the answers. It was a huge challenge to create this unique design, but after a lot of testing, it all came together in the end!”

In a standard escape room, you and your team all start in a single room with clues to find and puzzles to solve. You are told to communicate and work as a team, but not everyone needs to participate. Sometimes there aren’t enough puzzles for the number of people in the room. Sometimes people are shy and let the more assertive players take the lead. Either way, it is possible for parts of your team to do all the work while other parts of your team do very little. This is the biggest difference between the standard escape room, and the Hex Room.

In the Hex Room, each person is divided into separate rooms based on a personality quiz that is taken before entering the room. Each person is given costume pieces based on which stereotypical horror movie character their personalities best match; such as the Detective, Rebel, Jock, Nerd, Prom Queen, and Virgin. You are then led into the rooms one by one. Once divided, it becomes each player’s imperative to try and escape their individual room. Though the team is divided, everyone must still work together to escape. Each player must search their rooms for clues to help themselves and their team mates.

HEX_Characters

In the Hex Room, everyone must work as a team and effectively communicate between their individual rooms. They must be able to tell their team mates what they see and what they have; they must ask for and pass clues between their rooms; and they must actively participate throughout their experience if they are to have any chance of escaping alive.

When six players enter the Hex Room, they will leave with six completely different experiences; each of them feeling a sense of accomplishment for their contributions to their team. There are no passive observers in The Hex Room, only active players!

Once each player is inside their room, they are instructed to remove their blindfolds and are instantly immersed within their own horror film. Cross Roads is dedicated to making each player feel as though they have stepped out of their normal lives and into the extraordinary adventure. This engaging environment makes players want to participate and see more of what the room has to offer. I have, on several occasions, had a player admit to me that they normally just stand around and let their team mates do all the work, but in the Hex Room they felt so completely immersed and engaged in the experience that the thought of standing around never even occurred to them. This is the magic of the Hex Room.

As mentioned before, The Hex Room is also the only replayable escape room in SoCal. Because each player has such an individualized experience, you can come back and play again as a different character and enjoy the game all over again with new friends or family members. We have had multiple guests play up to 6 times because they wanted to experience every room.

The Hex Room has a stressful and demanding style of game play that requires each member of the team to push themselves to escape. When this is combined with our movie quality set design and immersive ambiance, players are compelled to suspend their belief for an hour and experience what it feels like to step into the shoes of a horror film character. This completely unique style of escape game is exactly why the Hex Room has become the #1 escape room in both Orange County and Los Angeles.

If you are a fan, or even if you have not played yet, make sure to check out our pinned post on our Facebook page for a chance to win 2 free tickets and an awesome box of horror swag by tagging who you and your friends would play as in The Hex Room! Contest ends September 4th.

Jason Sakal
Manager & Game Master
Cross Roads Escape Games

Escape Room Classes at Halloween Conventions

July 4 2017

Thinking About Opening Your Own Escape Room?

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Every day we meet enthusiasts who love escape rooms so much they want to open their own, so they come to us for advice. We, the owners and creators of Cross Roads Escape Games, have decided to host a class at the Halloween conventions: Midsummer Scream and ScareLA. These classes will have tips, advice, and an open Q&A with myself and my husband, Luke, to answer all your questions and everything we learned while on this rollercoaster of opening an Escape Room.

Our class will have 2 parts.

Part 1 will take place at Midsummer Scream, a Halloween convention in Long Beach, on Sunday July 30th at 2:30pm. We will be in Classroom A and the seating is first come first served. The information can be found here. Our class is called: How To Start Your Own Escape Room Experience, and it will talk about just that. If this is something you are serious about, I highly recommend coming. The #1 hardest part to opening an escape room is getting through the city and knowing what permits you need. Any escape room owner will agree that getting approval from the city is the absolute worst, hardest, and stressful part. This is mainly because people have no idea where to start, I know we didn’t. We want you to learn from our mistakes and know exactly what you are getting into before you are in too deep.

Part 2 will take place at ScareLA, a Halloween convention in downtown Los Angeles, on Sunday August 6th at 5pm. This is one you will need to register for once you buy tickets and you can do so here. This class will focus on what to do once you have a location and permits taken care of. We will give design tips, operating tips, what research you should do, and resources to use. This class will be great for anyone who currently operates a haunt or an immersive theatre show and wants to add escape room elements to it, or for anyone who is interested in escape rooms and game design.

Now, you may be thinking to yourself, “This is awesome! But why would Cross Roads be giving me (a competitor) this advice in an already crowded market?” Well, I’m glad you asked. Luke and I love escape rooms, we are huge enthusiasts that have played well over 100 escape rooms each and we do not see other escape rooms as competitors. Every company has their own games, and they are all (hopefully) different. Escape room are not a common thing to replay, and we love referring our guests to our favorite games in the area and vice versa. We truly think that we are stronger as a community then as competitors.

If this is something you are serious in doing and you cannot make the classes, I encourage you to think outside the box when designing your escape room. Go big or go home.

A quick disclaimer: Your experience of opening your business will be different than ours. The city you choose may have different guidelines and regulations that you must abide by. All we can tell you is what we did and what we learned from our process, in hopes that it will help you. Also, we will not be giving away any personal financial information. The advice and information that we will be giving out is a one-time thing. We will not be answering questions or emails about opening an escape room outside of these 2 classes.

Madison Rhoades
CEO, Co-Owner, Creative Director
Cross Roads Escape Games

UPDATE 8/5/17: Christine Barger aka The Haunt Girl was able to videotape our first talk at Midsummer Scream. You can view it on her website here.