No one really knows the exact moment someone thought about developing Escape Rooms… but people do agree that they started as video game challenges. Then in the early to mid 2000s, real escape rooms started making an appearance in several different countries. One estimate is that the first escape room built in the U.S. happened in 2012.
Now they are everywhere. You can’t escape them! Ha! Ha!
But, have you thought about building (or booking) an escape room for your church?
A group of children’s ministry workers in the Maryland/Virginia area thought about it AND did it.
The result. One Way Out EVAC.
One Way Out EVAC is a mobile escape room that can be brought to your church and set up in the gym, parking lot, or any large room. As the kids work their way through the clues, they learn about the Bible (though no prior knowledge of the Bible is required). The escape room has different themes, all centered around the gospel. The “answer” they were seeking the day I took the pictures was “How do you get to heaven?” The answer: John 14:6.
Why an escape room? Kids are challenged, learn problem solving, and learn to work as part of a team, and at the same time, they are checking out verses and thinking through what the Bible says.
For information about the One Way Out EVAC, you can go to their Facebook page … but if you live in another part of the country, why not construct your own escape room? You don’t have to build a mobile frame, but perhaps could use a small classroom at your church.
Here are some pictures of the One Way Out EVAC escape room to get you started. As you can see, the materials for the clues are not expensive – but are constructed from materials you or a friend might have in your house. The structure itself folds up so it can be moved from church to church.





