Welp, here we are again, Sprightly Fam... Another escape room blog filled with tons of awesome (cough cough useless) tid bits of knowledge from your favorite escape artists and team-builders (that's us: Denise and Kara). We wanted to take a minute to celebrate the fact that Sprightly is turning ONE YEAR OLD soon (Whattt?!). But let's be honest, we'll likely keep this post short and sweet... we have old Survivor episodes to catch up on and it's technically our day off. #sorrynotsorry We told you that we're game nerds. And yes, we do realize that Survivor has been on TV for about 20 years now. #so2000
And yep, we said it...
Sprightly Escapes (a.k.a. the greatest, most wonderfully awesome escape room in Denver) is turning ONE!
Yes, you read that correctly. Sprightly Escapes: The Denver Escape Room Experience is turning ONE. YEAR. OLD. soon. Facebook was kind enough to remind us the other day that booking went live for our first escape room about a year ago. C-R-A-Z-Y. Like... humans could actually book to play OUR ESCAPE ROOM. One that we designed... out of our own brains. #weird
We still can't really believe it. Time has flown (#timeflies) and, sheesh, have we shed some major blood, sweat and tears over the last year. I'm pretty sure no one ever said that owning a small business is easy, but if they did, WHAT WERE THEY THINKING? Aside from the necessary challenges that come with any year one of a small business, we also shared...
Tons of laughs with awesome folks...
...about 1 million nerdy escape room stories with fellow #enthusiasts...
...nearly 100 moments with incredibly inspiring teams...
...countless "ah-ha" moments from newbies who got their first taste of escape room awesomeness.
We consumed LOTS of coffee and pastries from our favorite neighbors (another shout out for our friends at Quince Essential Coffee).
We fixed a lot of props. We learned how to paper mache. We learned to build things that we never imagined we'd know how to build or create.
We continued to hone our vision and skills for what it actually means to build team and how a truly meaningful team-building experience should look, sound, and feel for each person involved.
We met neighbors (and their dogs and babies) who just wanted to stop in, say "hi!" and support a local East Colfax, Denver business.
We met folks from the Springs. People traveling from Florida... New York... South Dakota... Mississippi... London... China. The list goes on and on.
We watched some really stellar escape room games where teams simply dominated the puzzles...
...and we watched some pretty rough ones where people just didn't have a clue as to what was happening in the room. #wehaveallbeenthere
So, how did the most fun, unique, brilliant, and amazing escape room in Denver come to life?
Well, if you know anything about us, we're do-ers. We became obsessed with escape rooms (we're pushing 100 escape rooms played across the country!) and we started to set a vision for the type of experience we could create - an experience that is meaningful, unique, immersive and feels personal to each and every group that comes through the door. We, of course, also started to brainstorm puzzle ideas and story lines that would take people out of their day-to-day life and into a different reality ;-)
So, per the recommendation of a good friend, we went to grab a cup of joe at Quince Essential Coffee. As we were sipping a double shot of espresso (Kara) and a traditional, yet delicious cup of hot coffee (Denise), we looked next door and saw a sign in the yard that a quirky 100-year old house was on the market for commercial use. And boom, these do-ers made it happen. We officially married our love for escape rooms with our love, passion and skills for developing teams. Could it get any better?
So, what’s in store for this amazing team-building and escape room experience that we call Sprightly Escapes?
Well, we're still shaping our long-term vision for Sprightly Escapes: The Denver Escape Room Experience each and every day. That's the nature of the beast, eh? We know that Sprightly's future will consist of immersive, themed experiences that truly bring you into a story. #duh We also know it will consist of constant learning so that we continue to become the best team-building facilitators in Denver. And we know it will continue to consist of awesome #sprightlymoments with you, our Sprightly Fam.
So that's that. The big one year old. (Just to clarify, we don't actually turn 1 until June, but you get the gist).
Keep being awesome, folks. Your support and encouragement keeps us doin' what we're doin'. We heart you.
Denise and Kara
PS. Enough with the sappy walk down memory lane, GET YOUR BOOTY OVER TO SPRIGHTLY ESCAPES: THE DENVER ESCAPE ROOM EXPERIENCE. 60 minutes to escape an abandoned motel OR 60 minutes to stop an evil time traveler from rewriting history. Take your pick... and good luck ;-)
PPS. For anyone interested, these are our kiddos (about a year ago), and these pictures capture their responses when we told them we were officially ready to open Sprightly Escapes: The Denver Escape Room Experience. Notice that they didn't seem too amused...
(Pickles, The Cat)
(Rocky, The Pup)