For the first few minutes, nothing seems to make sense.
You and your friends have been locked in a room, without any directions. Glancing at the varying items located around you, you search for anything that stands out.
Then the clues emerge. And the question becomes, can you find your way out?
That’s the quandary facing every visitor to Escapology, a new escape room experience on the southside of Indianapolis. People need to solve puzzles to make their way out of the room, all before time runs out.
The sensation of working their way through the different scenarios is an exhilarating feeling, said Charity Cupp, owner of the southside Escapology.
“For me, I like having to solve problems — having to solve the clues and all of the things in the rooms,” she said. “It’s fun to bring a group of people, where you have to learn how to work together and communicate.”
Escapology is a worldwide franchise of escape room experiences, with locations all over the U.S. and beyond. The southside location is the second one opened in Indiana, together with another in Fort Wayne.
Cupp was motivated to open Escapology after trying escape rooms throughout the state, and realizing options south of Indianapolis were lacking.
“As an avid escape room player myself, I’ve been all around the state of Indiana, especially in Indianapolis. There really aren’t any south of Indy, so I wanted to give people down here more options to play,” she said.
Cupp has been working on Escapology for nearly three years. The idea came in 2020, and construction on the location, which is just north of Greenwood across County Line Road, started in 2022.
In December, Cupp was able to get into the space and outfitting it with the steam punk-themed imagery and quirky decorations.
The idea behind the game is simple — even if the mission is not. Players are locked inside a themed room and must complete their mission before time runs out. During the 60-minute experience, players are immersed into a real-life adventure where they must find hidden clues, crack codes, solve challenging puzzles and escape.
“It’s cool to see how, since the beginning of the escape room trend, all of the tech that’s in them,” Cupp said.
When it opened on March 25, the southside Escapology had two distinct themes for people to check out.
The first is called “Th3 C0d3,” and it pits players against Nitr0, the world’s greatest hacker, who has lured you, an up-and-coming FBI agent in the cyber crime unit, to an apartment to frame you for a crime.
A second experience is more lighthearted, though no less challenging. In “Scooby-Doo and the Spooky Castle Adventure,” you’re investigating reports of monsters and ghosts terrorizing the town of Crystal Cove and surrounding areas. The local Baroness Maria Richman has gone missing and it is suspected that the ghost sightings have something to do with it.
“It feels like you’re basically in the cartoon,” Cupp said.
Plans are in place for additional experiences moving forward. Escapology is open every day of the week, and online reservations are encouraged.
Despite only being open for less than two weeks, Cupp is excited for people to discover the intrigue surrounding escape rooms.
“I hope people take away a fun experience, and they want to come back,” Cupp said. “For me to want to come back, I have to have fun and have to be challenged. So the goal is to get them to have fun but have them change the ways they think about solving problems. “
