Cornered Escape Rooms Opening After Months of Renovation

NEWBERG, Ore. — After months of anticipation, Cornered Escape Rooms is preparing to open June 5—pending final inspection from the City of Newberg—in the former My Personal Framer shop in the basement of 115 N. College St.

“We might have been a little overly ambitious,” said owner Tyler Jones. “But we were excited and wanted to start getting the community as excited as we were.”

Jones said his path to escape room ownership wasn’t direct. He first experienced an escape room when his brother took him to an arcade-themed one at age 30.

“I’ve always liked puzzles, and an escape room is really just puzzles and riddles,” he said. “I wouldn’t say I did my first one and thought, ‘This is what I want to do with my career,’ but I always looked forward to doing the next one.”

Jones’ former job in logistics for a plant supply company, which closed in 2023, left him with time to consider his next move.

“I went to my dad and we brainstormed about what I should do next,” he said. “After a little back and forth, he said, ‘Hey, you like escape rooms, and Newberg needs things to do. Let’s do an escape room.’ I thought that sounded better than getting an office job.”

Jones said premade escape rooms are often a safer bet for first-time operators. Creating puzzles from scratch takes time, energy, and resources that can delay opening. He researched several manufacturers in the U.S. and Canada, but the rooms were slightly too large for the building’s unique basement layout.

Eventually, he found a European supplier that could build to his specifications. He chose a steampunk train adventure — a theme he hadn’t seen regionally.

“We thought it could fit in well here,” he said. “It’s a little eccentric, a little old-fashioned — the idea of taking a train journey through wine country.”

According to The Escape Game, a national escape room creator, these games are immersive adventures where groups solve a series of puzzles using clues before time runs out. Players typically have 60 minutes to complete the objective. Players are closed, not locked, in a room filled with otherwise mundane objects that could clues, could be false leads, or could just be objects.

Games are designed for two to six players. Jones may give hints if players seem stuck but prefers to let them discover solutions themselves.

“From our side, it’s pretty obvious when players are stuck,” he said. “The last thing I want is for people to make no progress for the whole hour when sometimes all they need is that first clue.”

The premise of Cornered Escape Rooms’ first game is that players are passengers aboard a train crossing the United States. Within minutes, they learn the conductor and engineer are missing, the train is at full speed, and it’s heading toward an unfinished bridge.

“The theme is more important than you’d think,” Jones said. “Every great escape room has one and really commits to it. It immerses the players and that’s what makes it fun.”

Jones originally aimed to open by Halloween 2024, but delays made that goal impossible, especially after learning the escape room wouldn’t ship until January 2025.

“People were asking us all the time when we were opening,” he said. “It was nice to get the validation that people were interested. But it’s just an old house — we had to do a lot of work to get it set up to operate as a business.”

The basement, formerly a frame shop with bare concrete floors and no walls, is now nearly unrecognizable. It includes two rooms, a bathroom, and a foyer with a welcome desk, couches, and a television.

“There were electricians pulling old parts off the wall and asking if they could take them home because they don’t see things like that anymore,” he said.

While launching with just one escape room, Jones hopes to add another once he sees consistent traffic. He expects to start with another premade room, but hopes to eventually design his own.

“Part of why we feel this will work in Newberg is because of the tourist traffic from wine tasting and the college,” he said. “It’s also great for team building, so getting businesses to do their retreats here could be another market for us.”

In the meantime, Cornered Escape Rooms also offers a shorter, less immersive group game where players work together to defuse a bomb.

Jones hopes his business becomes a cornerstone for entertainment in Newberg. While other escape rooms exist in the region, most are in the Portland metro area.

“The great thing about escape rooms is you want to travel to try different ones,” he said. “It’s really hard and expensive to reset a room, so people who like escape rooms will travel to try new ones. I look forward to being a spot on that map and bringing people to Newberg.”

Cornered Escape Rooms will be open from 2 to 8 p.m. Wednesday through Friday, and noon to 10 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Pricing is still being finalized but will likely be around $40 per person for the escape room, with discounted rates on Wednesdays and Thursdays. The bomb defusal game will likely cost about $20 per person.

There are no strict age restrictions, but Jones recommends players be at least 13. Teens ages 13 to 17 must be accompanied by an adult. All players must sign a waiver before entering, and food and drink are not allowed in the escape rooms.

If Cornered Escape Rooms passes inspection, reservations can be made online at corneredescaperooms.com.