Puzzle & Padlocks new escape room experience in Jasper

Beth Underwood knew one thing after she and the group she was with failed to escape from the puzzling room at Escape French Lick.

“I came out of there saying Jasper needs one of these,” she said.

This was right in the middle of Covid-19, though, so Beth shoved the idea to the back of her mind. But, as the pandemic ran its course and life began to return to normal, she realized it was time to bring her idea to life.

In November, she began to work out ideas for the first room of Puzzles & Padlocks Escape Room. First, Beth put her creative and fun sides to work on a treasure-themed puzzle room called Pirates of the Patoka. “The Patoka runs 167 miles from its start to the Wabash,” she explained. “The Pirates of the Patoka cruise up and down the river and the reservoir plundering the towns.”

Led by Pirate Pete, the pirates have captured the Nine Pieces of Eight and hidden them in Jasper.

Drawing on what she had enjoyed at the escape rooms she had attempted, Beth decided her escape rooms would be nonlinear stories. This means that participants don’t have to solve a puzzle or portion of the room before moving to the next step. Linear rooms follow a stricter story progression, and when groups work together, this can cause the fun to stall.
She wants everyone to be able to work on something as they attempt to beat the room.

However, this made it more challenging to create.

Once the first iteration of Pirates on the Patoka was complete, she quickly found out it was a bit too hard. “The first three test groups couldn’t escape,” Beth admitted (somewhat proudly).

She said it was hard watching them struggle, though. “I just wanted to go in and help them,” she laughed.

But, she knew they needed to adjust some puzzles or add something to get past one portion of the room. So, through the course of four groups attempting to escape, the team tweaked the room a bit until finally, the fourth group solved it. “I think we are in a good spot for this room,” she said.

Most importantly, everyone had fun.

She feels Pirates of the Patoka is a great, immersive experience. And working out the puzzles for the themed room has been a blast.

To create the rooms, Beth has relied on help from her oldest brother, Mike Bonifer, to help flesh out the storylines. Admittedly, he was skeptical about Patoka River pirates at first but eventually embraced his sister’s idea.

Now, he’s also helping her with the second escape room for the new attraction at 402 McCrillus Street (former Mehringer Plumbing location near the Thyen-Clark Cultural Center). Beth’s not ready to reveal the next room yet, but she did say she plans on changing it up every few months to give escape artists more challenging stories.

Eventually, the new attraction will have three escape room scenarios.

The family-friendly escape room adventure is booking appointments now. To make your attempt at Pirates of the Patoka, check out the website here or call 812-559-0767. You can also follow Puzzles and Padlocks on Facebook here.

“I’m really looking forward to having people come in and play and have fun,” Beth said.