I am standing on what looks like a cramped, dark city street. A tavern is around a corner, a police department in front of me. And I\u2019m lost. <\/p>\n
That\u2019s when I hear a whisper. \u201cPsst.\u201d I turn, and see a puppet peeping his head out of a secret opening of a door. Over here,\u201d he says, and I find myself leaning in to listen to this furry, oval-faced creature in the shadows. He\u2019ll help me, he says \u2014 that is if I can clear his name. See, another puppet has been murdered, and everyone right now is a suspect. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Campaign posters for puppet candidates for mayor inside Appleseed Avenue. \u201cElection Day\u201d is a tale of political espionage with puppet-on-puppet violence. <\/p>\n
(Juliana Yamada \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n
I am playing a gamed called \u201cElection Day\u201d at Appleseed Avenue, a relatively new escape room in a multi-story strip mall in Newhall. The puppet world is in the midst of a crisis, torn over whether humans should be allowed to wander the fictional street of Appleseed Avenue. My role is that of a detective, and throughout this game of fatal political espionage, I encounter multiple puppet characters \u2014 electricians, would-be-mayors, gangsters, dead puppets. <\/p>\n
Drama ensues, and that\u2019s where we humans come in, helping the puppets crack the case before we\u2019re banned from their world once and for all. One needn\u2019t be up on the state of puppet politics to participate \u2014 and don\u2019t worry, the domestic affairs of Appleseed Avenue are relatively divorced from those of our own. Only a penchant for silly absurdity, and a stomach for puppet-on-puppet violence, is required. <\/p>\n
While the look of the puppets may be inspired by, say, \u201cSesame Street,\u201d with characters that are all big mouths and large eyes, the tone of \u201cElection Day\u201d leans a bit more adult. Recommended for ages 13 and older, \u201cElection Day\u201d will feature puppets in perilous conditions. And if you\u2019re playing as a medical examiner, be prepared to get a glimpse at a mini puppet morgue. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Guests will play as detectives or medical examiners in Appleseed Avenue\u2019s \u201cElection Day.\u201d<\/p>\n
(Juliana Yamada \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes people do think, \u2018Oh, this is for little kids.\u2019 Not quite,\u201d says Patrick Fye, who created the experience with Matt Tye. \u201cWe call it PG-13.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cWe wanted that dichotomy,\u201d says Tye. \u201cReally silly puppet-y characters in a gritty world.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fye and Tye are veterans of the local escape room scene \u2014 Fye the creator of Evil Genius Escape Rooms and Tye the developer of Arcane Escape Rooms. \u201cElection Day,\u201d however, while a timed experience, isn\u2019t a pure escape room. Think of it more as a story that unfolds and needs solving. We\u2019re not trapped. In fact, one puzzle actually utilizes the waiting room, as \u201cElection Day\u201d toys with the idea of traversing the human world and a puppet universe. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Patrick Fye and Matthew Tye, founders of Appleseed Avenue, along with their lookalike puppets.<\/p>\n
(Juliana Yamada \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n
Puppets weren\u2019t necessarily the driving idea behind their joint venture in Appleseed Avenue. Creating a so-called escape room that was more narrative based was the objective. They wanted a room, for instance, where puzzles felt natural rather than forced. \u201cElection Day\u201d isn\u2019t a space, say, with complex cipher codes to untangle. I was reminded of old-fashioned adventure video games, where one is prompted to look at objects, combine them or go on scavenger hunts, like the one prompted by the puppet I met in an alley. <\/p>\n
Puppets were simply a means to an end. <\/p>\n
\u201cHow can we make something that feels like you\u2019re actually in the story and has more video game-y elements, as opposed to, \u2018I\u2019m in an Egyptian tomb. Here\u2019s a padlock,\u2019 \u201d says Fye. \u201cWe were trying to figure out how to mix the diegetics with the overall design. We stumbled on crimes and puppets because we thought it was fun and funny.\u201d<\/p>\n
One problem: Neither had created puppets or puppeteered before. Enter online classes, where Tye learned how to craft arm-rod puppets. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe thought it was the coolest idea we had,\u201d Tye says. When we both look at something and go, \u2018We don\u2019t know how to do all of this yet,\u2019 we don\u2019t let that stop us.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Appleseed Avenue is home to an escape room featuring puppets. It doubles as the street name in which the game, \u201cElection Day,\u201d takes place. <\/p>\n
(Juliana Yamada \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n
\u201cElection Day\u201d does unfold like a live-in video game. At times, we\u2019re interacting with a screen, as puppets will relay us messages and quests. Often, we\u2019ll explore the space, as the two have created an elaborate set. Teams are split. Half work as detectives, and half as medical examiners. We can communicate via an inter-room conference system, or simply run back and forth. <\/p>\n
But listening to everything the puppets say is paramount, as clues are often hidden in dialogue. Both say they have done too many escape rooms where the story felt too divorced from the actions they were being asked to complete.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe even say at the beginning of the game, \u2018The story really matters.\u2019 You have to pay attention to it,\u201d Fye says. \u201cThere\u2019s a moment I\u2019ll never forget. We were doing a Titanic room, and we were in the engine room shoveling coal. But isn\u2019t the ship sinking? What is happening? A lot of times a story is just set dressing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Appleseed Avenue’s ‘Election Day’<\/p>\n
The initial response to \u201cElection Day\u201d has been positive, so much so that the two are set to debut a second game in 2026, a sci-fi room titled \u201cShadow Puppet.\u201d The latter will utilize the same Appleseed Avenue set, although additional spaces will be built out. They\u2019re also looking at some more kid-friendly options. Planned for 2027 is a game titled \u201cPuppet Town Day,\u201d in which little ones will receive passports that prompt them to interact with the puppet characters. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Wanted posters for puppets. Many are a suspect in Appleseed Avenue\u2019s \u201cElection Day.\u201d<\/p>\n
(Juliana Yamada \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n
For now, however, think of Appleseed Avenue as part of greater Los Angeles escape room trend. Whether it\u2019s Hatch Escapes with its corporate time-jumping game \u201cThe Ladder\u201d <\/a>or Ministry of Peculiarities<\/a> with its spooky haunted house, creators here are emphasizing story. Appleseed Avenue is no different, introducing us to a wacky cast of puppet characters.<\/p>\n It also achieves a rare feat: It makes murder feel ridiculous. <\/p>\n Says Tye: \u201cWhen there\u2019s a guy named Alby Dunfer who\u2019s getting it from a blowdart from a hitman, it\u2019s like, \u2018OK, this is fun.\u2019 \u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I am standing on what looks like a cramped, dark city street. A tavern is around a corner,…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":302477,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5123],"tags":[153641,1582,276,56281,10208,1910,153643,6359,19918,2961,224,2444,5337,153642,153645,153644,50321,153646,783,645],"class_list":{"0":"post-302476","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-appleseed-avenue","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-california","11":"tag-creator","12":"tag-election-day","13":"tag-game","14":"tag-good-escape-room","15":"tag-human","16":"tag-idea","17":"tag-la","18":"tag-los-angeles","19":"tag-los-angeles-times","20":"tag-losangeles","21":"tag-matt-tye","22":"tag-multiple-puppet-character","23":"tag-patrick-fye","24":"tag-puppet","25":"tag-puppet-world","26":"tag-space","27":"tag-story"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115372253013596405","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302476","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=302476"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302476\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/302477"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=302476"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=302476"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=302476"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}