The Great Escape! Video Game Maker Creates Real-Life Puzzle Rooms

Notes from Chris

Episode 927

Nate Martin loves video games. Growing up, they were his favorite form of entertainment and played a massive role in his life. He loved games so much, he decided to learn all about them in school, earning a Bachelor of Science in Real-Time Interactive Simulation and Computer Science.

This eventually led to a career at Microsoft, followed by a stint running the online services division at Electronic Arts (EA), one of the largest video game companies in the world.

While there, he worked on several well-known games—Battlefield 4, Plants vs. Zombies, and Dragon Age among others. But he wanted to have even more of an impact… and after doing some math, realizing he’d have to work until he was at least 200 years old before becoming the CEO, Nate started thinking about other ways he could make his mark.

It was while working as a senior project manager at EA that he learned about escape rooms. The concept was already quite popular in Japan, where it originated, and Europe, but nobody was really doing it in the U.S. In a typical escape room, a group of 6-10 people are locked in a themed room for an hour. To “break out,” you have to work together to solve a series of puzzles. There’s often a guide or attendant in the room who can help if you get stuck, and it can be a lot of fun to do it with people you know.

The way Nate saw it, real-life escape rooms were the direct, physical manifestation of adventure games that he’d known and loved for decades. It was the next level of gaming!

The more he and his co-founder, Lindsay Morse, got to talking about the escape room concept, the more they wanted to do it. “Someone should bring this to Seattle,” they thought. So, they decided to do just that.

Nate took a “shoot first, ask questions later” approach to getting Puzzle Break off the ground. He held a sincere belief that they should just figure it out as they went. If they succeeded, they could expand. And if they failed, they could do something else.

He and Lindsay also avoided traditional first-steps taken by startups, like market research, saying they had neither the experience nor the patience for it.

Instead, Nate drew inspiration from some of those video games he adored growing up as well as the ones he encountered in adulthood: games like Myst, The Room, and The Legend of Kyrandia. He focused on creating something centered around finding clues, solving puzzles, and joining forces with real people in real life.

And business has grown. Since launching in August 2013, Puzzle Break has gone on to boast seven-figure revenue, five locations, multiple portable experiences for corporate clients, and over a dozen experiences across the Royal Caribbean Cruise Line.

When attracting customers’ attention these days, Nate said they’ve adopted a more traditional approach in the form of Google Ads. Facebook is too far removed from a purchasing decision in his sector and so he doesn’t use it.

Nate left his day job with Electronic Arts to man the helm at Puzzle Break just three months after opening its doors.

He plans to keep cranking out the maximum amount of enjoyment for the maximum amount of people. He’s got several new Puzzle Break locations and experiences in development.

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MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

• Puzzle Break: Break on through to the other side—learn more about this adventurous side hustle over on Nate's website!

SEE ALSO:

• Epic Scavenger Hunt Becomes 6-Figure Income: An event planner creates a competitive scavenger hunt game that takes place across Boston. Can you really make money while having so much fun?
• Paintball Enthusiast Builds Epic Field in New Zealand: A pilot instructor harkens back to his youth by building a fun, safe space for kids of all ages to play paintball
• Un-Tours Of Myanmar Offer Adventure and Unpredictability: His friends kept asking him to lead tours of Myanmar, and he finally agreed. But he wasn’t going to stick to the usual sights—these ‘un-tours’ would be anything but typical

Inspiration is good; inspiration combined with action is better. Now get back to work!

Yours in the revolution,