A new escape room venue is taking shape at 3286 Pentagon Boulevard in Beavercreek, tucked between a Chipotle and a Piada Italian Street Food at the corner of Pentagon Boulevard and North Fairfield Road. Escapology, an Orlando-founded chain with more than 120 locations worldwide, is under construction there now and expects to open in October, becoming the fourth Escapology location in Ohio and the first outside the Greater Cleveland area.
The Beavercreek venue is the project of husband-and-wife owners Josh and Bonnie Lurie, who signed on to the franchise about nine months before this reporting, according to the Springfield News-Sun. Josh Lurie told the paper that owning and operating an escape room had been a pipe dream for five to 10 years, and that he and Bonnie, married for 12 years, have long enjoyed escape rooms as date nights and travel excursions.
The 5,000-square-foot space will open with eight escape rooms themed around Scooby-Doo, Batman, and the Now You See Me movies, per the same account. Room names include Lost City, Pirate's Curse, Seven Deadly Sins, and Who Stole Mona?, with the latter featuring a laser maze. The venue will have capacity for 11 people and will also include a party room for events.
A Family Viewing Feature and a Literacy Mission
One notable amenity: parents will be able to watch their children participate in games through audio and video feeds from the escape rooms, the outlet reports. Beyond the entertainment side, Josh Lurie has a personal cause he hopes to weave into the business. He previously worked as a grant writer for Kids Read Now, a literacy nonprofit established in Troy by his parents, Barb and Leib Lurie, in 2010, according to ProPublica's Nonprofit Explorer.
Kids Read Now promotes reading for pre-K to fifth-grade students, and Lurie has said he would like to make his Escapology location a benefactor for young readers in Beavercreek, whether by distributing books or hosting camps, according to the Springfield News-Sun. The nonprofit's model mails grade-level books directly to homes for pre-K through fifth-grade students, an approach shown to help children gain up to 2.5 months of reading proficiency and combat summer learning loss, according to a post detailing the program. Exactly how the Beavercreek location will structure any book distribution or camp partnerships once it opens has not yet been detailed.
Fitting Into a Crowded Retail Corridor
The Fairfield Crossing site sits adjacent to The Mall at Fairfield Commons, a 1.1 million-square-foot regional shopping center that draws more than 5.3 million annual visits, according to the Spinoso Real Estate Group. That kind of foot traffic makes the corner an attractive draw, though the new venue won't be the only escape room option in town — Beavercreek already hosts Great Escape Game on Grange Hall Road, Time To Escape on Seajay Drive, and Round1 Bowling & Arcade inside the mall itself, per Morty.
Escapology is also weighing food partnerships to round out the experience, including a possible tie-in with local restaurant Pizza Dive, the Springfield News-Sun reports. The chain, which was founded in 2014, has grown into one of the largest dedicated escape room franchise networks in the world, with venues across the U.S., Canada, Chile, and the UAE, according to Franchise.com. Opening a location isn't cheap — franchise disclosures show a total initial investment ranging from $626,500 to $2,295,500, including a $45,000 franchise fee and a 6% ongoing royalty on gross sales.
Construction Timing and Road Work Ahead
Escapology Beavercreek plans a soft opening in early October, with a grand opening celebration to follow later in the month. Drivers headed to the shopping center should note that the City of Beavercreek has scheduled milling and resurfacing work along Pentagon Boulevard from Grange Hall Road to North Fairfield Road for 2026, work that falls directly in front of the shopping center where the new venue is located, according to the City of Beavercreek.
The timing lines up with broader momentum in the escape room industry. The global market is projected to expand from $2.1 billion in 2025 to more than $5.7 billion by 2032, an 11.5% compound annual growth rate, according to 6Wresearch. Corporate bookings have also been fueling growth in the sector, with searches for team-building escape quests rising 42% in 2025 as businesses look for interactive ways to engage staff, per a report from Indestroom.
