Playing to escape the world (and the room) in Post Falls
Mason Williams and Santino Guzman in the pirate adventure at 59:Escape Adventures in Post Falls try to solve the puzzles in time to escape the room.
POST FALLS — Home-grown puzzles abound at 59: Escape Adventures.
Owners Alicia and Eric Zaas began with over 4000 square feet of space cement floors at Riverbend Avenue and have created their own brainteasers to help families, friends and even coworkers bond over solving mysteries in an immersive experience.
Alicia recalled how before the couple made a career change and decided to dive into building their own escape rooms, the outlet malls had been unoccupied for more than 18 years.
“We were the first tenants in when Thomas Tedder bought the outlet malls in 2016,” Alicia said.
Alicia worked in the medical field and has experience with graphic design and Eric is an electrical engineer, so they had a wide range of skills that they were able to apply when creating their first escape room.
Game genres at the Post Falls entertainment venue include a heist, defeating a mad scientist, solving a mysterious disappearance and embarking on a pirate adventure to secure treasure.
“We’re in the business of joy and we bond people and families together,” Alicia said, adding that they focus on keeping game themes suspenseful, but not scary.
The time limit forces teams to find ways to work together under pressure. The goal the Zaas family had when they decided to get into the business almost 9 years ago was to connect generations through bonding during one of the games.
Alicia had a life-changing experience in an escape room after not seeing eye to eye with a family friend, the entire relationship shifted within 45 minutes of play.
The epiphany of having a relationship breakthrough take place because of a game prompted the family to change gears and get into the game running industry of escape rooms.
“We had to create everything from scratch,” Alicia said.
To create a new escape room, Alicia develops the lore, clues and puzzles for a room and Eric builds them. They have a scene shop for parts to create the room sets.
Those playing the games have to take charge of codebreaking and solving clues along the way, often leaving participants with a sense of accomplishment for testing out their collaboration skills in real time.
“You go through all the emotions in an escape game,” Alicia said.
Eric Zaas said seeing people return after a year or two and create a family tradition of trying out a new escape room theme once a year has been his favorite part of building up the business.
The couple said they feel inspired by their faith to share their positive experiences with others in the community through the power of play to strengthen bonds and experience empowerment.
Alicia develops the story for each new escape room, but she says she feels the inspiration comes from a higher power.
"It defies odds, it feels like God just gives me ideas,” Alicia said.
The two are currently in the middle of their fifth game build.
Watching the players come in and go from more reserved language to smiling, laughing and thanking the game master afterwards has been a continual reminder of why they chose scape game creation as their field.
“I love that we have a business that can connect people,” she said.
Players celebrate escaping one of the puzzle rooms at 59:Escape Adventures. Pictured: Geno Guzman, Luke Avelos, Mason Williams, Santino Guzman, Carter Smith, Geno Guzman Sr. and Dawson Faber.
