Help save Christmas at new West Chester attraction

Santa’s sleigh has gone missing, the mob is the prime suspect, and you can help find it at the new attraction in West Chester Twp. and save Christmas.

The area’s newest holiday attraction — “How The Mob Stole Christmas!” — is a fun, family experience at Escape The Room Challenge in West Chester Twp. Up to eight participants have a half hour to solve the “crime” and save Christmas, according to Bill Balfour, the general manager of the escape room and neighboring EnterTRAINment Junction, just off Tylersville Road and Interstate 75, home to the largest model train operation in the world.

If they can’t crack the case?

RELATED: It’s Christmas in July at popular West Chester attraction

“The clock counts down and then the host comes in and says ‘well you guys didn’t save Christmas, thanks for ruining it for the rest of us,” Balfour joked.

There are four different escape rooms at the attraction and they decided to take over one of them for the holiday season. The premise is the rooms are full of clues that have to be unlocked in the correct sequence to find the key to get out of the room and win the game. No, Balfour said if the players can’t solve it they aren’t held under lock and key.

The company — that celebrates Christmas in July too at the train operation across the street — decided to take over the “Escape the Mob” room — where players try to recover a stolen family heirloom before the mob returns to their warehouse — to celebrate the holidays.

“We were saying how can we do something fun and different and festive…,” he said. “So the idea came up that someone has stolen Santa’s sleigh, if you don’t get it back then Christmas is ruined. So you have 30 minutes — it’s a shorter game and a cheaper price — to find the sleigh and get out before the mob gets you, because they want to keep control of everything.”

Balfour said the game is geared toward people age 10 to 65, tickets are $15 a person but kids under four are free. He said about 60 people total played over the first weekend of the attraction that runs through Dec. 23. The facility opens around 4:30 p.m. weekdays and runs from around noon through midnight on weekends.

More information and online booking is available at: https://escapetheroomchallenge.com/

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