Creators of board and video games don’t necessarily get to see players’ reactions. The same does not hold true for escape rooms. Nick Schilbe, owner of Off The Couch Games in Fremont, recalls one especially memorable session.
“One of the players freaked out, like, ‘Ghosts are real, I’m outta here,’” says Schilbe. “Left the room, went out of the building, and drove away. They couldn’t rationalize what was happening. In their head, this place was haunted.”
Schilbe claims he goes for an eerie vibe rather than horror, with lights that flicker and character actors whose story motives aren’t always clear. Really, it’s about having some thrilling hijinks with friends and the chance to see how choices play out across a narrative.
His interest in escape rooms started when he and now-wife Jana were dating. “Her and I are very different in terms of how we spend our time,” says Schilbe. “I like playing video games and watching anime. She likes doing Zumba, hiking and hanging out in the forest…Escape rooms were kind of our middle-ground passion.”
Between 2014 and 2017, they played over 500 games together. Now their daughter Nina has joined the team, playing nearly 300 by age five.
“She gets to put the pieces in, she gets to unlock the lock,” says Schilbe. “She understands this is a game in real life. She’s somewhat famous in the escape room community because she has some hijinks that are kind of crazy.” Nina has a special affinity for in-game villains, and has on occasion greeted them with hugs.
When Schilbe retired in 2017, he decided to explore escape rooms from a different angle, starting with a DIY project in his garage, which about 300 friends and family members beta-tested for free.
“My goal was, I’m going to build the biggest, most amazing escape room place on the planet,” says Schilbe.
Drawing on his experience as a player and his knowledge of other media like TV and video games, he set out to create what he wanted in the industry but struggled to find.
He explains, “What I found was what I enjoy about escape rooms—I like story, I like the narrative, I like to feel like I’m in my own movie or playing my own video game. I realized in a 60-minute game you couldn’t tell a story.”
In fact, the current series started out as a book Schilbe worked on during the pandemic. The episodic format works well, with 75 to 80% of players returning after Chapter 1.
But adding humans to the mix comes with challenges. “In a script, ‘and then they searched the bookshelf to find the hidden switch’ is a line,” Schilbe says. “But it could take you 10 to 15 minutes as players.”
At Off the Couch, games developed by Schilbe—with some programming from Jana—follow a developing mystery across multiple episodes, three of which are available to play now.
Something is rotten in the city of Asheville. Per the website: “On the surface it is a utopia, but in the shadows is a dark secret that only you can bring to light. Can you survive the investigation?”
Jeff Uchida
Jeff Uchida
The lobby welcomes players with a reception desk, lockers and snacks for purchase. There’s also a waiting room with board games. Before their session starts, players get a rundown of what to expect. Schilbe constructs puzzles to be solvable without any special background knowledge. (No morse code, for example.) Games are 90 minutes to two hours long, but if players finish early they can use their time as a credit toward the next game.
Then players are led through a series of dark but not-too-scary corridors to their room. They can step out if needed, but two hours fly by in the hyperfocus of puzzle solving.
Detailed sets such as a multi-room apartment immerse players in the story, and reveal surprises the more puzzles they unlock. One particularly unique element in “Chapter 1” is an interactive ’90s-style, 32-bit video game that players navigate to find clues. This “game within a game” is very extra and wildly fun.
Another notable feature is a portable radio that gives players clues if they get stuck. “It actually is a real radio station that we just hijacked within 500 feet of the building,” says Schilbe. “So we’re 90-FM in this building, but if you go down the street two blocks, 90-FM is something different.”
He jokes, “We’re using technology in ways it was never intended to be used.”
On a more meta level, the journey to the current Off The Couch came with its own puzzles to unlock. During the pandemic, Schilbe lost his original Santa Clara location. Booking software also posed a challenge, as many existing services charge high fees. Both Schilbe and Jana have backgrounds in cybersecurity, so he simply designed his own software and currently has about 1,000 clients.
A change to the laws around escape room fire codes left Schilbe unable to build for years. In 2024, he got some help from the City of Fremont. “[Mayor Raj Salwan] actually got back to me, I think, the day after he got inaugurated,” says Schilbe. Now there is an exception for “puzzle rooms” in buildings with less than 50 occupants, where the exits remain clearly marked and unlocked.
Off The Couch plans to open Chapter 4 in fall 2026. “We’re glad to be building again,” says Schilbe. “We have about 8,000 people now, maybe 10,000, who have been waiting for years for the continuation after Chapter 3.”
Off The Couch Games
555 Mowry Ave., Fremont
offthecouchgames.com
$231 for two players, rates discounted for additional players
