Test your physical and mental strength at this unique escape room facility opening near LoSo
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Inside The Quest for the Temple of Light at Keepers of Balance. Photo: Alexis Clinton/Axios
A massive adventure-style escape room facility, featuring physical and mental challenges, will open in LoSo this winter.
Why it matters: "Keepers of Balance" will be an immersive experience for the whole family. It'll be akin to entering an "Indiana Jones" or "Mission Impossible" movie, with a blend of local history.
What to expect: Keepers of Balance is located inside an 8,000-square-foot building at 125 West Woodlawn Road. It features three immersive games with storylines of good versus evil — "Infiltration," "Temple of Light" and "Beyond Darkness."
- In each game, players will have to navigate through several escape rooms and challenges, including physical ones like sliding down elevator shafts and crawling through vents.
- As a bonus, players will learn a bit about Charlotte's history in some of the games, which have references to the Dunhill Hotel and Meck Dec, for example.
- It'll also have an "Ancient Outpost" beer garden, which will have beer, wine, seltzers and a food menu with shareable plates.
Context: Keepers of Balance owner and Charlotte native Nick Maus teamed up with former project designers from Universal Studios and Disney parks, and consulted with a German escape room designer to create the unique games.
- "We wanted to build an experience that would be the closest thing to what you'd experience if you were the movie star," Maus tells Axios.
How it works: Games take about an hour and a half to play and can accommodate groups of up to six to eight people.
- Pricing will start at $55 per person.
Below is a breakdown of each game.
Beyond Darkness
This game takes place inside the Mayfair Manor Hotel (now the Dunhill Hotel in Uptown). Expect references to the haunted ghost stories the hotel is known for. Your goal is to prevent evil from being released into the world.
Temple of Light
This "Indiana Jones"-inspired game challenges players to capture a light that represents goodness that you can disperse into the world.
Infiltration
This "Mission Impossible"-esque game forces you to choose between good and evil. You're tasked with stealing the Meck Dec (AKA the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence). The game has different outcomes depending on which side you choose.
What's next: After their initial opening this winter, they'll add more games and escape rooms.
- One game that'll open in the future will be called the "Cuban Missile Crisis," and will be set inside a Russian military facility. Players will be able to zip line through fake explosions while wearing bulletproof vests that shock you to imitate the feeling of being shot.
- "It's going to be a small miniature war zone. It's our most ambitious game," Maus said.