Improbable Escapes set to lock in west end expansion
Improbable Escapes, the popular escape room business that opened downtown in 2015, announced today that they are expanding to Kingston’s west end this fall. The new location, called Wonderland Escape Rooms & Board Game Lounge, will offer two escape rooms, a licensed board game cafe, and a party room.
“Ever since we first opened in 2015, we’ve always wanted to open a board game cafe,” says Melissa Eapen, Director of Business Development. “We’re officially out of space at our current location, and we found a spot this past December.”
The business has been hard at work since then getting permits and approvals together, but it’s expected to be another month or so before they can announce the exact location. For now, all they can say it’s near the corner of Bath and Gardiners.
“We’re trying to figure out how we’ll announce the location,” says Eapen. “We’ll probably make a game out of it.”
The front part of the store will be the cafe, which is expected to have 250 board games, with coffee, tea, and local craft beers on tap. The cafe will be themed around Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, specifically the Mad Hatter’s tea party. The first escape room to open will be based on J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan and The Lost Boys characters.
“We’ll be going back to the original source material for a lot of what we do, as opposed to the Disney versions,” says Eapen. “It will be nostalgic for adults and fresh but familiar for kids. We have lots of fairy tales and storybooks in mind.”
The company’s initial announcements earlier today highlighted the family-friendly aspect of the new business.
“We only have one adult-themed game at our downtown location right now, but some people still view us as adult-only,” says Eapen. “Everything at this location will be family-friendly. We also want lots of customer participation, and to have lots of interactions with every aspect of what we do. It gives us the ability to make better decisions about what to offer.”
Wonderland Escape Rooms & Board Game Lounge is expected to open this September.