Nuketown Diner, Jack the Ripper, and Titanic are among the distinct themes at Odyssey Escape Game, an Alpharetta-based, internationally ranked escape room expanding to Suwanee this year.
Owner Michael Cook aims to create an immersive, polished experience with themes you might not typically find at an escape room.
“I stayed away from the tried-and-true escape room themes,” Cook told What Now Atlanta. “There’s a lot of them out there. I want what you’re experiencing at Odyssey to be original and unique.”
The new Suwanee location, which will be at 4000 Smithtown Road, will have four themes: Mankind’s Last Chance – A.I. Takeover, The Nuketown Diner, Jack the Ripper – Solve the Mystery, and Titanic – The Final Hour. Expect to engage all senses, with sights, sounds and temperatures all coming into play.
Cook comes up with the ideas himself, writing the game flow, sourcing the props, and physically building the games. His background as a writer (he’s the author of the Black Earth Saga series and the FalconClaw Detective series) keeps the wheels turning on new ideas.
Odyssey Escape Game began in Alpharetta in 2016. (The brand also has a location in Schaumburg, Illinois.) The company was ranked the #7 escape room in the world in 2019.
Cook hopes to bring Suwanee residents an escape room experience that’s fresh and challenging.
“People on that side of town are running out of escape rooms,” he said. “Once you’ve played all the escape rooms in a particular facility, where are you gonna go? It’s like seeing the same movie over and over.”
Escape rooms offer immersive experiences in which participants must solve riddles and puzzles to make it out of the room. They are commonly used for corporate team-building, family activities, date nights and social outings.
Cook used his prior experience developing another company to make improvements to the escape game experience. One of those improvements is a conference room with a live TV feed to the games, helpful for parents who want to view their children solving puzzles.
“People would be in the lobby and ask if there was a place where they could watch their kids play,” he said. “Parents want to take in the joy of their children having fun. Parents revel in that.”
Another unique element is multi-room games, keeping things fresh as players move from room to room, solving puzzles and cracking codes.
“The big reveal, going from room one to room two, or room two to room three, that’s a big deal,” Cook said.
Odyssey Escape Game in Suwanee is expected to open in June.
