Name:

Chris

Location:

Orlando, Florida

Game Count:

≈1,000

First Game:

The Tomb

5 Wits 

Favorite Game:

Big Maw Bertha’s Fussin’ & ‘A Feudin’ Moonshine Hill Hootenanny

► click here to read more about it ◄

Escape Game Origin Story:

On an annual Halloween season trip to Southern California, we were searching to see if there might be a new haunted house we’ve never seen. What we found, instead, was this thing we’d never heard of called a “escape game.” At first glance we weren’t sure if it would be the right fit for our group; none of us were video gamers, so the innate concern that we might not be good at the puzzles weighed heavily. But at the same time, these three games we came across were all scary-themed, so we decided to give it a shot. The third of those ‘introductory’ games ended up being The Basement, barely a week after its initial opening. It’s a game that long became a benchmark for Escape Authority in the years to follow. Interestingly enough, a nagging sense of “I feel like I’ve done something like this before” would eventually lead to the realization that I’d actually played an escape game more than two years earlier – though not branded as such. Company nomenclature aside, 5 Wits’ The Tomb would actually be my first escape game way back in 2012; we just didn’t know it at the time!

More About Me:

I’ve been a passionate fan of theme parks ever since I was a small child. That love would grow with time to include roller coasters and haunted attractions – two things I now literally travel the world to experience more of as often as I can. In the process, I’ve been to some twenty-five different countries, and ridden over 1,300 different roller coasters between them. Today, those adventures are equal parts pleasure and professional research excursions.

I knew before entering high school that I wanted to become an attraction designer. I’ve quite literally never considered any other role. At 18, I moved to Orlando and spent a bit of time working at the theme parks. Although that was never intended to be my path, it did provide an incredibly beneficial ability to also view creative design through the perspective of guest reaction, not to mention an understanding of capacity, efficiency, maintenance, service recovery, hospitality and even employee satisfaction. Today, I factor all of those things into any new project that I sit down to design.

My first professional attraction design project was in a modest coordinator position – essentially the spot everyone begins their journey – for a nighttime show called Mistify at SeaWorld Orlando in 2004. From there I spent six months during 2005 in Atlanta to open and hand over a 4D theater show at the Georgia Aquarium as its stage manager. I’ve had a heavy hand in graphic design, consulting and other facets of planning throughout the years. In 2008 I managed sightline testing for Universal Studios Hollywood’s upcoming King Kong 360º-3D attraction. At the same time, I worked on several very cool upgrades and new projects at Hershey’s Chocolate World, including taking my first Creative Director role in 2010 on Hershey’s Create Your Own Candy Bar attraction.

In 2015, professional focus shifted quite a bit toward custom escape game design, building to the opening of my first game, The Legend of Atlantis, in 2016. (Separately, in 2016 I would also found this very site, which quickly became an industry standard.) Back to design, that same client would immediately engage me for two follow-up games in 2017 – Big Maw Bertha’s Fussin’ & A’ Feudin’ Moonshine Hill Hootenanny and Christmas is Canceled, as well as The Haunting of Hyde House in 2018.

In another dramatic shift, 2018 also found me in the role of Creative Director for a multi-million dollar, officially licensed major dark ride at Trans Studio in Indonesia – Pacific Rim: Shatterdome Strike. In it, I did something never before done, having guests actually get off the ride vehicle mid-way through for an immersive theater walk-through segment, all before getting back in the car to travel through the attraction’s finale. Simultaneously, I also served in a consulting and advisory role for another dark ride at Trans Studio, Road Rage, where I implemented the world’s first and only instance of escape games for the preshow of a theme park attraction.

I was fortunate to claim yet another opportunity to create a world’s first in 2019, when I created the new replayable interactive genre known as a Create Your Own Adventure Game. The first instance of this concept, Professor Bleehall’s Odditorium Emporium & Pie Shoppe instantly became wildly successful, with popular limited engagements in Southern California and NYC, as well as a permanent version just outside of Detroit.

In 2022, I was invited to lead the design as Creative Director for a brand new haunted house at SeaWorld San Antonio’s Howl-O-Scream, Atlantis: The Cursed Chasm. Ironically, my first escape game to open and my first full-fledged haunt carry the same theme, both times chosen by their respective clients.

2024 brought with it the debut of one of my most elaborately ambitious traditional escape games yet, The Boogeyman. Later in the year, I’d proudly celebrate the 10th anniversary of a community attraction I build and produce each Halloween season, Peachstone Scream! Throughout its decade of thrills, each years unique shows have evolved to become the purest form of hybrid attractions blending escape game puzzles with intimate immersive theater-style actor interactions, drawing guests into the storyworld in a way never before accomplished by an escape game.

For me, the key is constantly moving forward, and always reinventing the wheel. My passion – some might say obsession – is creating memorable things never before seen; things you won’t find elsewhere; things you know will be memorable. That philosophy still guides my career as an attraction designer, now twenty years later through Chris + Creative, aiming always to unlock the possibilities and escape the ordinary.