Taking Escape Rooms to the Next Level

Daniel Gravenor is ready to level up.

In the two years since opening Next Level Escapes with his wife and co-owner, Meghan Pesclovitch, he has taken a generic storefront in a suburban strip mall and created a place where problem-solving and imagination take hold.

“I’m a jack of all trades here,” said Gravenor, who spent the seven years prior to starting the business in data analysis. “I’ve always liked to tinker with things.” Building escape rooms has brought his skill sets together in a pursuit that would be a challenge to explain to someone as recently as 10 years ago.

Puzzles, riddles and brainteasers are timeless, however. “We want people to feel they are in the scenario,” said Gravenor, in a way that fits with the eras portrayed. For example, there are no electronics in Next Level Escapes’ Saloon and Train rooms, both set in the Wild West. Here, the items Gravenor has selected and built allow the storylines to play out without the distraction technology might bring, he said.

Those rooms, and a third Office-themed escape room are designed for smaller groups. “Some escape rooms are really big. We wanted a more intimate setting for you to interact with your friends,” he said. The Train should be attempted with two to four people at most, for example, while the Office accommodates a maximum of seven participants. Clues are available in English and French, important considering the business location in the heart of Manitoba’s francophone community at 390 Provencher Blvd.

Gravenor has worked to dispel the idea that all escape rooms are frightening, or that you are trapped. “It’s a test of the mind, a way to interact with friends and complete a task,” he said. Interestingly, it often provides a window to see how others think.

“People think differently. You never know who might find the right answer,” he said, adding it may be the eight-year-old or 80-year-old in the room who solves a puzzle.

Next Level rooms don’t require outside knowledge, either. “It’s a test of your mind, not trivia.”

All photos by Claudine Gervais