The Eva K. Bowlby Public Library is hosting an escape room on Friday, Feb. 14, with start times at 5 p.m., 6 p.m. and 7 p.m. The cost is $15 per person or $25 for a couple. The event is open to people ages 16 and up. The deadline for registration was Feb. 7. Although the escape room is a Valentine’s Day event tailored towards couples, groups of up to four people are allowed.
“The escape room will have a 1920s murder mystery theme,” said Megan Ealy, youth services director at Bowlby Library. “It’s based on the 1920s Gatsby theme, where there is a murder at a mansion and [participants] have to figure out who did it and why they did it to get out of the room.”
Gatsby-themed events are based on the setting of The Great Gatsby, a novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald that portrays the upper-class lifestyle of the 1920s.
Ealy said the decision to do the escape room came from a team-building activity.
“We attended a team-building exercise at the Morgantown escape room,” Ealy said. “We enjoyed it and I realized that it was something that would be easy to replicate.”
Ealy’s teen group helped her plan and design the escape room.
“My teen group was interested in it as well,” Ealy said, “so they have been a big factor in providing feedback to us and getting it together.”
The cost for the Bowlby Library escape room is low compared to the prices for other escape rooms.
“We do have a cost, it’s $15 for an individual and $25 for a couple,” she said. “Which, compared to other escape room experiences where the cost is $25 for an individual, we think that it is pretty reasonable for two people to attend for $25.”
Ealy said any interested participants had to register by the deadline due to limited availability.
“We have a few people signed up already. We only have three time slots because we are small and it’s our first time doing it. We can accommodate up to 12 people per time slot and we are about halfway there,” she said.
Although registration for this event has closed, Ealy said that there may be more like it in the future if there is enough interest.