Today we’d like to introduce you to Michael Paquin, Sabrina Paquin, Amanda Paquin, Jeff Schmidt, and Amy Hopkinson.
Michael, Sabrina, Amanda, Jeff and Amy please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
We as a family have always struggled to find something that is new and exciting that would entertain all of us. After many years of the same old bowling alleys and movie theater trips we decided to do something about it. We have always enjoyed playing the escape the room apps online as a family and had the great idea of “Wouldn’t this be better in real life?!” Our family is a very artsy group having multiple skill sets that helped creates this business venture. Michael was a master carpenter with many years of designing and building experience. The children have always had a passion for the arts; putting these skills to use, finding creative solutions to their boredom. As a family we have a theater background in both acting and set building, so the development of the escape room idea was a natural result of working together.
After several attempts at finding a location that would fit our business, we decided that our current location, the 3rd floor of 1 Exchange St in Worcester, would best suit our needs. We have been at this location for 2 years now and have continued to have consistent growth with our design changes as well as innovative ideas. With our expansion to the 4th floor we have just release our 5th escape room. It is a one-of-a-kind immersive game in partnership with Starship Horizons Bridge Simulator. The Starship Escape is aboard the starship Janus. There has been an explosion and all but 1 crew member has fled the ship. You and your group must board Janus, repair all systems and return the ship back home to Earth using the simulator that has been specially designed for our game. We also have the ability to rent the game out for just the simulation experience. Starship Horizons has 6 simulations available at our immersive location, making it feel like you are actually in the bridge of a star ship. There is a plan to make more games available with the official release of the simulator in 2018.
To broaden our customer base we have designed rooms specifically for team building. This brings in large corporate groups, sports teams and field trips from local schools and businesses. This is a fun new way to bring people together to achieve a common goal.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
We have hit many road blacks along the way; mostly in marketing and social media presence. Our local press has not supported us for reasons unknown and we have worked very hard to get to the point we are at now. Word of mouth has been our strong point in getting the word out about our business. Our motto is “Failure is not an option” and “Nothing good comes without hard work and sacrifice.”
Live Action Escapes – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
We are an Escape Room, basically what that means is we lock you in a room and you have to solve puzzles and riddles to meet your end goal and escape the room. We have 5 rooms available right now, each with their own theme and immersive set built to make the experience as realistic as possible. For example, Michael used to collect antiques. In The Study you are immersed into the Victorian era with the use of actual Victorian antiques and decor. We have put together our own design team that hard on creating new and innovative rooms to keep relevant in an ever changing market.
We are also the first company to operate a mobile escape room in New England. It is a 30 foot camper called “Don’t Miss the Bus!”. The outside of the camper was hand painted by our staff with 60’s/70’s hippy style art. The objective of this game is to find the missing concert tickets before the bus leaves without you. It had the option for a 10, 20 and 30 minute game play. It can be rented out for any parties, grand openings, team building events and more!
We are proud of the team that we have been able to create with new staff outside of our family. They have quickly adapted to the crazy work life of running an escape room, and have joined us to create one big family. They work very hard to ensure that all of the customers have a fantastic experience from the minute they walk off the elevator, to the escape (or not) from their room. We have currently created 10 jobs in our market and are looking to add more positions as we continue our growth.
What is “success” or “successful” for you?
Success to us means that we have a sustainable, thriving business with happy customers, employees and owners. We strive to be the best in the business that we can.
We follow trends, keep up with the new “it” things and try our best to adapt these into your escape room experience. This ensures that our customers are always satisfied.
Pricing:
- All games are $27 per person
Contact Info:
- Address: 1 Exchange Street
3rd Floor - Website: WWW.LiveActionEscapes.Com
- Phone: 5087531856
- Email: PuzzleMaster@LiveActionEscapes.Com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/liveactionescapes/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LiveActionEscapes/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/escaperoomslive
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/live-action-escapes-worcester-3
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