Josh Czarda has created three puzzle rooms in a West End shopping center. (PHOTO: RichmondBizSense.com)
HENRICO COUNTY, Va. — It could be a string of numbers hidden beneath the toy robots. It might be a phrase printed on the Victorian record player, or something hidden inside the antique trunk that’s wrapped in locks and chains. In addition to being the clues that solve a mystery, these seemingly random objects are the keys to Josh Czarda’s success.
Czarda earlier this month opened Escape Room RVA, a company that creates live-action puzzle adventures at 7001 Three Chopt Road in the Village Shopping Center. The venture hosts groups looking to test their intellectual mettle as they navigate their way through 15 or 16 puzzles in order to unlock the door out of the room.
Escape Room RVA currently has three puzzle rooms. (PHOTO: RichmondBizSense.com)
Escape Room is accessed through an entrance on the back of the shopping center, behind the Martin’s. Fittingly, the actual 3,500 square feet that Czarda has transformed into three mysterious rooms are underground, beneath shoppers perusing the grocery store’s aisles of cereal and produce.
Escape Room RVA sits behind a Martin’s in the West End. (PHOTO: RichmondBizSense.com)
One day last week, a team of employees from local athletic events organizer Sports Backers were trying to work their way out of the Steam Punk Room, scouring its Thomas Jefferson-designed cipher wheel and vintage prints of bird and insect classifications for clues.
The nonprofit co-workers had an hour to try to escape and hopefully do some team building along the way.
A Sports Backers employee works to dig up a clue. (PHOTO: RichmondBizSense.com)
To continue reading about Escape Room RVA, click here.
