“I would probably still be here if I had to figure it out myself,” she said days after visiting it for a few hours. “I would just be stuck there.”
The setup is for players to collectively become Sherlock Holmes, who returns home to Baker Street to find that a nemesis has left a series of puzzles to solve. (Note: Knowledge of Sherlock is not required to solve the puzzles.)
“You’re supposed to get six grand resolutions, and you get coins for grand resolutions,” Harolds said. “And there are few solutions along the way, so you’re constantly solving.”
It starts at the front door, where visitors must solve a puzzle to get the code that will get them in, although they can opt out of this one and get the code ahead of time if they want.
The Sherlock Home is the brainchild of owners Ken and Tami Frazier. It showcases the skills they have brought to bear in their acting careers, both behind the scenes and on stage. Ken ran the Sheldon Vexler Theater from its opening day in 1999 until its pandemic-induced closure in 2021. Tami, a now-retired theater teacher, often worked with him on shows there as as designer and actress.
Dorothy Poss, standing, and Michelle and Scott Leibowitz search for clues to solve a riddle at Sherlock Home, an escape room that can be rented for a few hours or for overnight stays.
Ronald Cortés / ContributorThe Sherlock Home can be booked at solvethesherlockhome.com, Private game nights are $48 per person; nightly rates start at $202 per night.
The Fraziers researched Airbnbs before launching their new venture, including trying to find other escape room-themed offerings.
“We’ve done a lot of the research, and it’s not original,” Ken Frazier said. “There are escape rooms for the night – there’s one in Amsterdam, there’s one in England – but that’s definitely not a thing here.”
Whenever there are guests staying the night, the couple go to Ken’s mom’s house a few blocks away, so they have a little getaway too. And that also means they’re nearby if there’s a problem.
In addition to the overnight option, puzzle fans can book the house for game nights. They have the option of having the games hosted by the Super Detective or other characters created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, such as Mrs. Hudson or Inspector Lestrade.
The Fraziers plan to change the puzzles and the themes behind them over time.
Assembling the Sherlock House, including design touches to help transport visitors back in time, wasn’t much different from creating a play, Ken said.
On the door of the Sherlock house is a decoration of a Victorian green man. Ken and Tami Frazier have turned their home into an escape room that people can rent for a few hours or overnight.
Ronald Cortés / Contributor“It’s been like a few shows at Vex where we’ve collaborated,” he said. “It’s been like a big, long, huge production.”
In the living room, the vaulted ceiling and light fixtures designed to appear to be lit by candles help create an immersive feel, as do the steampunk elements. When Ken mounted a television in the bedroom, he adorned it with pipes and gears to give the impression of something closer to the 19th than the 21st century.
The puzzle part is also well within the Fraziers’ comfort zone. In the 80s and 90s, they created elaborate city-wide scavenger hunts for their friends – to get a clue, players had to look through the telescopes on the observation deck of the Tower of Americas.
And they know how escape rooms work from a player’s perspective, having solved a number of them. While working on their version, they decided to make some changes to the usual format.
For one, other escape rooms need to be solved within a set amount of time. At Sherlock Home, visitors go at their own pace, which can mean those who stay overnight will solve a few puzzles, sleep on it all, then finish the rest of the game the next day.
Escape rooms also usually offer players the chance to ask for a few clues. The Fraziers also decided to be more expansive with this part of the game. There are clue wrappers for each puzzle. They are designed to reveal one clue at a time, giving players the chance to try and solve it if they can.
Guests work on a puzzle at the Sherlock Home.
Ronald Cortés / Contributor“We wanted everyone to be able to solve it,” said Tami Frazier. “So the clues help, and then we have a little box of solutions. So if you want to give up and you just can’t, you have the solutions.
Emphasis is also placed on teamwork. In other escape rooms, tasks can be split between players as they try to beat the clock, but the puzzles in Sherlock Home work best if everyone solves them together.
“In this fast-paced world, everything can slow down and they can enjoy each other’s company,” Tami Frazier said.
Ken Frazier is a huge Sherlock Holmes fan, and he’s been secreting Holmes-inspired Easter eggs all over the house.
Phil Marzec, a lawyer who has appeared on several Vex shows, spent a weekend at home with his wife and 17-year-old grandson. When he spotted those Holmes references, he said, he enjoyed explaining them to the teenager.
“He’s more into Shakespeare than Sherlock, but he had fun with all the puzzles,” said Marzec, who is planning a second visit with his 13-year-old granddaughter.
The puzzles are challenging, he says, but they’re also a lot of fun. And there’s a showmanship element to the business that he enjoyed.
“I didn’t expect the production it was,” he said. “Every time you solve something, the ‘wow’ factor gets bigger.”
It took about four hours for Harolds and five of his friends to figure it all out. Harolds, national director of creative strategy for Spectrum Reach who has also appeared on shows at the Vex, noted the similarity to shows there.
“It’s like watching one of Ken’s shows,” she said. “You never know what magic is going to happen, and there is a lot of magic.”
[email protected] | Twitter: @DeborahMartinFR
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