- Shannon O’Daniel
We visited the Memphis Escape Rooms when they opened earlier in the summer with promises of expansion. Now the folks behind the puzzle games are debuting two new rooms — one of which opened at the end of September and another starting October 16th.
The room opening in two weeks, called Carnival Asylum, will be a limited run until October 31st. The story behind the escape room is as creepy as it gets. At a carnival, a disgruntled former employee — called Jester the Clown, no less — has taken over the event and locked visitors inside. This time, escapees will only have 45 minutes (compared to the usual one hour) to finish, completing carnival games as quickly as possible to get hidden keys that unlock the exit gates. More friends (or enemies?) can be accommodated in this room too, handling up to 10 people at once. Starting today, folks can reserve Carnival Asylum.
“While we aren’t deviating from our ‘no haunted house’ rule, we are excited to offer a room designed specifically for Halloween with just the right amount of craziness,” said Keith Edwards, one of the co-founders of Memphis Escape Rooms. “Atypical from the standard Halloween experience, we are combining adrenaline with interaction, challenging participants to keep their wits while being a little freaked out.”
The release of Carnival Asylum comes right after the opening of Parallax, a futuristic doomsday room. In the middle of war between the United States and a nation-state, an artificial intelligence system named Parallax must be stopped. Adrenaline junkies who partake in the room must find the code to disarm the hostile device.
“When writing the rooms, we keep two objectives at the forefront: to be unique and fun,” Edwards said. “We’re confident Parallax accomplished both beautifully and will be yet another fun addition to the Memphis entertainment landscape.
