You’re locked in a dark room and the only way out is to work together to solve puzzles leading to the keys you need. That’s what escape rooms, which are being created throughout the world, are all about.

Now, for the month of February only, Tamaqua has its very own escape room project, designed and created by students with the help of some willing adults.

Billed as “The Art of Escape,” the project is a cooperative effort between the Tamaqua Community Arts Center, Raiders STEP-Up and gifted students in the Tamaqua Area Middle School. They were also assisted, including financial help, by the John E. Morgan Foundation, Graver’s Tree Farm, Charlotte Solt Realty, Charles X. Block’s, the No. 9 Coal Mine and Museum, Mike Hadesty and Capriotti’s Catering.

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The three driving adult forces behind the project are Leona Rega of the arts center, and Tamaqua Area School District educators Caitlin Miller and Ruth Ann Gardiner. All three agree the idea came from a far-ranging discussion in 2018 with students, who shared their need for inexpensive, family-oriented fun.

Gardiner discussed the idea with gifted students at the Tamaqua Area Middle School, while Miller took the idea to the Raider STEP-Up group. The planning began in earnest.

The gifted students traveled to an escape room to get ideas. The location, 602 Pine St., was provided by the Tamaqua Area Community Partnership, thanks to the property being donated by Peggy and Floyd Zimmerman. It was decided to have two rooms, dubbed “Escape the Wabash” and “Escape the Past.”

Middle school students provided designs, clues and ideas to transform one of the escape rooms into 1950s-era Tamaqua, complete with “artifacts” from each year of the decade.

Tamaqua Senior High School students Meagan Sweeney and Jessica Hollenback, along with LCCC student Rebecca Ansbach, used skills they learned as stage crew for the Tamaqua Drama Club to create walls and install doors where needed.

Mike Hadesty, a mining engineer, and the No. 9 Coal Mine and Museum in Lansford provided equipment, tools and personal items used by miners when coal was king. Months of hard work transformed the home into two separate and distinct escape rooms.

As the transformation process began, middle school student Nelson Bensinger shared the fact that his grandparents previously lived in the home. Molding around the kitchen door still contained marks used to track his and his sister’s height. The molding was carefully removed and preserved for the family.

The escape rooms are set up so that four to six people enter the darkened room as the lock closes snugly behind them. They have one hour to work together to find what they need to get out. Game play is carefully monitored to ensure safety, and participants may ask for up to three clues if they get stumped. It’s not as easy as it sounds, because everyone must work together to decipher the clues.

Reservations are now being accepted from those who wish to “escape” the winter weather. The project will be open Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays in February only. To register your group, or for more information, call 570-668-1192 or email info@tamaquaarts.org.