Escape Room, Axe Throwing Business Coming To Downtown Plainfield

PLAINFIELD, IL — Jason Seneker has traveled the world designing and building escape room concepts for businesses. Now, the Joliet resident will open an escape room business in downtown Plainfield, with hopes that the new location will be his showcase for international clients.

Earlier this month, the Plainfield Village Board approved Seneker's plan for a combination escape room and axe-throwing business at 15115 S. Des Plaines Street. The business will likely have four escape rooms and three axe-throwing stations, with Seneker hoping to open early next year.

Seneker runs Legendary Escape Rooms in Aurora, where he also operates the popular "Basement of the Dead" haunted house. His other business, Legendary Escape Games, has designed hundreds of the group puzzle-solving games for businesses across the country and even in Europe.

Now, Seneker is planning to open a gameroom under the Legendary Escape Games brand, which the businessman plans to use as a showcase for his newest escape room designs and concepts. On top of being a new attraction in downtown Plainfield, the business could attract businessmen from around the world, coming to see his newest escape rooms.

"This is going to be our flagship location," Seneker said. "It will be a beacon for people all over the world to come and see."

Like axe throwing, escape rooms are an increasingly popular entertainment offering where groups are placed into a themed room and must find clues and solve puzzles within a set timeframe in an effort to "escape." Plainfield's first axe throwing business, Axe Factor Throwing, opened in August. The Wandering Dragon Game Shoppe & Escape Room has been in town since 2012 and has run a boardgame-themed escape room since 2016.

Seneker said he often drives through Plainfield on his way from his home in Joliet to his businesses in Aurora, and he thought an escape room business might make sense downtown. The business will not serve alcohol, and it is meant to complement downtown's bars and restaurants, Seneker said.

"It's the perfect package" for the business, Seneker said of downtown Plainfield. "I love the downtown area and have always wanted to do something there."

Because of his work designing escape rooms for other businesses, Seneker said his rooms are industry-leading. He plans to eventually incorporate technology like virtual realty into the games. At the very least, his escape rooms have different spins on classic themes.

Take the pirate-themed escape room that is planned for Plainfield. In most cases, Seneker said, the idea behind the pirate game is to find hidden treasure within the room. But in his new version, groups have to free a mermaid that was taken hostage by evil pirates.

The other escape room themes initially planned for the Plainfield business are: wizard, vintage circus and a steam-punk submarine casino (pictured above). Plainfield's rooms will be less horror-themed than the Aurora business, he said.

"We have a lot of fun playing with fantasy, sci-fi and history," Seneker said. "We like to put a new twist on it, and make it exciting."

After spending years building escape rooms for other business owners, Seneker said he is thrilled to start building his own empire of escape room businesses.

"We're very excited," he said.