The Origin Story: How We Began 

Hello world, my name is Andy, one of the creators here at The Box Escape Room.

I get the question a lot, “How did you guys get the idea to start an Escape Room?” A Whim. That was honestly how our origin story begins. I remember it clearly; it was 11 pm on a Friday night in July, Hilton and I were Facebook messaging each other back and forth talking about our other business, MoonRising Productions (media company). Out of nowhere, he brings up the idea of opening an escape room. Given, I had mentioned to him that I had wanted to open an escape room further down the road, he immediately became interested. And just like that, we started going over potential plans.

“We could put the game master area here…”

“Let’s do a space themed room…”

Just some of the thoughts thrown out into the open air. We talked back and forth and waited until Hilda got home to discuss with her our thoughts over Skype. As tired as she was after coming home from her waitressing job, it didn’t take much to get her on board. We talked until 3 am that night, planning over details, brainstorming about themes and researching potential space all before we even had a location; the drive and passion were unforgettable. Looking back now, it’s crazy to think that we’ve built a business from the ground up and at the time we barely had any money or resources.

A whim, that’s how we started. Not ever realizing the many countless sleepless nights to come, or the countless hours of drawing up plans, marketing, budgeting, we still pushed forward. Why? Honestly, looking back now, I don’t think I really know what my real reason was for opening a business at the time. However, as they say, hindsight is 20/20. I think there is an innate part of everyone where we want to have a sense of ownership. There’s a sense of pride in opening your own business, especially in being able to say “I built this from the ground up”.

I’ve come to realize that all those hours of work, all those missed hours of sleep and all the mileage put on my car driving around trying to find a “for lease” sign, never really seemed like work. The main reason was that every time I started getting tired or fatigued from work, the visions of the future would wake me up. Those visions were what kept me up at night and excited to start the next day because I knew I was that much closer to it.

A whim may have been the key to our origin, but it was the passion and the drive that got us to keep going especially when we had to stare rejection or failure in the face numerous times. Dreams are powerful motivators, but it’s the drive that makes dreams into reality.

Best to all,

Andy Nguyen (Co-Owner of The Box Escape Room)