LAB RAT takes place in a laboratory where giant rats are conducting experiments on human beings—specifically, you. The somewhat unhinged Ratkenstein, a doctoral student studying human intelligence (or, in his estimation, the lack thereof), needs you to complete a series of tests and puzzles so he can finally finish his dissertation. Fail, and apparently there's a test-subject chipper waiting for you. You have one hour to solve the puzzles and get out before becoming mulch.
I traveled to Los Angeles twice to work on the ball-run portion of this escape room. The installation connects the second and third rooms of the challenge and becomes part of the experience itself.
After players successfully complete all of the puzzles in the second room, they earn the ability to release a ball. That ball then begins its own journey—traveling along the track through the rooms, down the hallway, through the walls and eventually appearing above the entrance to the third room, where it triggers the mechanism that unlocks the door.
I built approximately 80 feet of stainless steel track for the installation. Unlike my normal rolling ball sculpture track, this uses four rails so the ball is completely enclosed and can't be removed by the players.
Installation was interesting. I was able to work before the sheetrock went up, so I first built the track on the floor. Once the sections were complete, I suspended them with twine and gradually raised everything into position. When I was happy with the path, I attached the track permanently to the steel wall studs. The walls could then be finished around it, leaving the ball run traveling through spaces the players normally wouldn't have access to.
The track itself also becomes part of the puzzles. I built three interruptions into the ball's route that players have to deal with: a drawbridge, a movable 12-inch section of track that raises and lowers, and a gate blocking the track that has to be lifted. Solve the puzzles correctly and the path is completed, allowing the ball to continue toward the next room.
This was a very different use of what I normally build. Instead of watching marbles continuously circulate through a rolling ball sculpture, here the ball has a job to do. It becomes part of the story, physically traveling through the escape room and ultimately unlocking the next part of the adventure.
Check out the two videos below for some behind-the-scenes footage of the build. And if you're ever in Los Angeles and looking for an escape room, LAB RAT was voted one of the top three Los Angeles escape rooms when it first opened.
100% stainless steel and TIG welded.
