Today we’d like to introduce you to Nicholas Madden.
Red Door didn’t start off as a business, it started as a game… a very strange game in a church.
After playing his first escape game in October 2014, Dan Huynh (founder) discovered a passion for this new concept that is currently sweeping the world. He wanted to bring this amazing experience to the college students at his church and so decided to design his own escape game. It was meant to be an enjoyable game as well as a team building exercise for all players. He used his church’s century old building as the eerie setting for the game which also helped develop the story of the game as well. Thus, the escape episode ‘CONFINEMENT’ was created.
The participants loved the game and immediately requested another one be created. Because of the feedback, Dan began to consider how to bring this experience to even more people. After some research and brainstorming, Dan and his wife partnered with a longtime friend and together created Red Door Escape Room in Southlake, Texas. Their passion in providing communities with exciting memories and a new experience has grown so much over the year.
Red Door in Southlake has now grown to host 6 different episodes and has hundreds of 5-star reviews, making it the #1 escape room in the DFW metro. In order to stay on the cutting edge of the industry, Red Door will be opening its second location in Plano during Summer of 2017… with all new games!
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It has been a challenging road, but definitely rewarding. The most challenging part of starting Red Door was creating a consistent brand experience across all sorts of events. We pride ourselves on being professional and reliable, and that is difficult in a business that has such a wide range of customers. Customers come to play our episodes for all sorts of occasions- birthday parties, corporate events, family night, girls night out, you name it, and we need to deliver a great Red Door experience no matter what the occasion. That means our games need to be perfect for groups of 2, but also groups of 10; our suite needs to have a bar for drinks, but also a setup for corporate presentations; and our staff needs to be trained to handle a variety of special occasions. While overwhelming early on, we are now able to consistently deliver a great experience for all sorts of events… which is why people refer Red Door to their friends, family and co-workers.
Please tell us about Red Door Escape Room.
Red Door is an escape room, meaning we build immersive episodes where groups of 2-10 people have 60 minutes to figure out puzzle, hints and clues to escape from a series of rooms. Our episodes range from Prison Break to FBI investigations and each episode is completely unique. We design our games so that groups need to work together and communicate in order to succeed, which is a main reason for our growing popularity.
People love escape rooms because of their hands-on and collaborative nature- and the growth of the industry shows. There are now numerous escape rooms in the DFW metro, but Red Door stands apart because of our values and the quality of the customer experience. We put our customer experience before all else, and folks can tell.
Our design team invests countless hours into the puzzles and immersive-ness in our games. When you’re locked in Prison, you feel like you’re in Prison and when you’re walking through an enchanted forest, you feel like you’re in an enchanted forest. All of our props are custom made in house and all of our story lines are original.
We know that escape rooms are perfect for team bonding, so we make booking for groups easy. We have a large suite for parties and corporate outings (BYOB) and we design our games so that everyone can stay engaged an involved. We love bringing joy to people and we know we have succeeded when a group of adults emerge from an episode celebrating their escape at the top of their lungs 🙂
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
My favorite memory from childhood is the 1-2-3 plan that our family did on occasional Friday nights. My dad coined the name and my 3 siblings and I quickly came to love it. The plan was (1) we pick up a pizza (2) we drive to the beach (born and raised in San Diego) and (3) we watch the sunset and eat pizza.
My siblings and I came to love those nights- the endless, silly jokes and the taste of piping hot pizza while watching the green flash. (For those that don’t know, the green flash happens right when the sun completely dips below the ocean line… only a few have ever seen it). When we are all back home for vacations or holidays, it’s one of the first things we do.
Pricing:
- $28 per person – up to 8 people per episode
- $300-400 for our birthday party packages
- $750-1500 for groups up to 100 people to rent the entire facility
Contact Info:
- Address: 280 Commerce St.
Ste. 285 - Website: www.reddoorescape.com
- Phone: 817 488 4848
- Email: info@reddoorescape.com
- Instagram: @reddoorescape
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/reddoorescaperoom/
- Twitter: @reddoorescape
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/red-door-escape-room-southlake
- Other: https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g56693-d8450237-Reviews-Red_Door_Escape_Room-Southlake_Texas.html
Image Credit:
Our Awesome Staff
Getting in touch: VoyageDallas is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
