Imagine you’re deep in the woods. A killer is on the loose. You stumble into a remote cabin — and the door locks behind you. The only way out is to solve a series of hidden clues before time runs out.
That’s the premise behind The Cabin Escape Room, one of Montrose’s newest entertainment experiences, where players step inside a movie-like set and work together to escape.
For owner Shari Sanderson, the Montrose location represents the latest stop in a journey that began nearly a decade ago with a single escape room experience.
“It started in 2016. I played an escape room game, and I ended up just loving it,” Sanderson said. “I started playing escape room games everywhere.”
Within a year, she opened her first escape room in Las Vegas. Today, she operates two locations there, with a total of eight rooms.
A friend mentioned to her that an escape room in Montrose would be a good idea, so she took one of her best concepts and brought it to town in November.
From the outside, it doesn’t look like much. The Cabin & The Shed is located at 10 S. Park Ave. in an alleyway next to J Pilates. It also shares the alley with Chow Down Pet Supply.
But when you step inside the narrow hall, you’re invited to play a game, or rather a series of games. Participants view a movie that puts them straight into the scary scenario. What happens next is up to the participants. There are challenges and scares and laughs, and it’s all designed to entertain the public.
“I’m a professional now because I watch people play nonstop every day,” she said. “I started learning and I started building.”
Sanderson said she approaches escape room design less like a puzzle-maker and more like a filmmaker.
“I started going to places like Disneyland and Universal Studios and watching movies to see how sets were done,” she said. “I decided I wanted to do movies that people actually just stepped onto the set — like you saw a movie, and then you felt like you were in that movie.”
That philosophy carries directly into the Montrose room, which places players inside a fully built cabin and large shed structure, rather than a simple decorated room.
“People pay $45 a person in Vegas, and they walk into an entire cabin and a massive shed,” Sanderson said. “So I took that same concept and built an entire cabin inside a building for Montrose.”
While the Montrose room was built locally, many of its games have been refined over years, and the Montrose price is set at $29 per person. People can try the escape room individually, or they can have as many friends and family they want to help. Teams of four to six are best for successfully escaping without “dying” to the killer in the woods.
“All of the games that were brought in are games that we’ve been working on for years,” she said. “I used some of my best games and put them all in one game.”
The experience also includes a short movie that sets the story in motion — a production Sanderson said originally cost about $5,000 to create in Las Vegas.
“The movie alone was $5,000,” she said. “It was produced by a director who does a lot of horror and thriller work, and we brought it here to Montrose.”
Beyond the scares, Sanderson said accessibility was a core design priority.
“The most important part for people to know in Montrose is this is adjustable,” she said. “An eight-year-old kid can go through it. We just remove the scary elements.”
Other aspects, including the difficulty level can also be changed.
“It can be really easy because we have a book that walks you through,” she said. “Or it can be really difficult where we remove stuff and you’re on your own.”
Groups can even request a game master to enter the room with younger players.
“A game master can go in with your eight-year-old as a missing hiker and play the game with them,” Sanderson said. “They take them through. It’s so much fun.”
The game masters that serve Montrose are Candice Carles and Daniel Reyes, depending on the day. They serve as a guide, an instructor — and they even show off their acting skills by playing a part in the experience
Sanderson believes the appeal goes far beyond scares.
“It’s family fun,” she said. “It’s an opportunity for families to get together without cell phones, without internet, and actually spend time together like they probably haven’t done in a long time.”
She frequently sees moments where different generations shine.
“It’s really fun when your eight-year-old figures something out before you do,” she said. “And I’ve seen grandma and grandpa standing there figuring something out, going, ‘Hey, I know what this is,’ and they’re punching in the numbers.”
For teens, the dynamic can be very different.
“If you want a scary type thing, you’ll see all your teenagers bunched together hiding under a blanket and laughing hysterically,” she said.
Sanderson said most players walk away talking about the experience for weeks.
“It’s an experience that people walk away from talking about two or three weeks later,” she said. “They’re constantly remembering. That was so much fun. I wish we could go back.”
Although Sanderson initially hesitated about opening in Montrose, the community changed her mind.
“My family member talked me into opening one in Montrose, and I thought it was too little,” she said. “But it turned out to be one of the best experiences I’ve had.”
Unlike Las Vegas, where many customers are tourists, Montrose has brought a different type of audience.
“Here I get families and dates and birthday parties,” she said. “It’s so community. It’s so embracing.”
The Montrose location officially opened in late November.
Sanderson sees escape rooms as more than entertainment — she sees them as community-building tools.
“It’s team building, but it’s also team and family bonding,” she said.
She envisions partnerships with schools, businesses and organizations, and even hopes to eventually build small escape room installations inside other local businesses.
“If there is a business out there and you want to bring more business into your business, contact me,” Sanderson said. “I’m ready to build little escape rooms within businesses if they have a small area.”
Looking ahead, Sanderson said seasonal and additional themed rooms are possible if community support continues.
“At Christmas there will be a Christmas-themed room coming in,” she said. “And if I get a good response, more will be added.”
For Sanderson, Montrose’s escape room represents something rare for a small town.
“It costs several hundred thousand dollars for one escape room,” she said. “For Montrose to have this is like having a luxury item. It’s a super cool amenity.”
And at its core, she said, the goal is simple.
“A game master is someone who understands this is an opportunity to create a memory for a group of people,” she said. “That’s what this is about — creating memories.”
Justin Tubbs is the Montrose Business Times editor. He can be reached by email at justin@montrosebusinesstimes.com or by phone at 970-765-0915 or mobile at 254-246-2260.
