East Hartford Public Library Introduces Newly-Themed Escape Room

The East Hartford Public Library is proud to announce the launch of its second escape room. This round, the theme is “East Hartford history” and participants are invited into a meeting room of the library that has been transformed into the messy office of a local history aficionado to find the missing formula to Coca Cola, (fictionally) stolen from the bottling facility.

An escape room is a popular immersive puzzle game where a group of participants are “locked” in a room and must solve a series of clues and puzzles in order to find the answer, key, or solution to “escape” and win. Library staff members Rebecca Livaich and Marc Pettersen, the designers of the escape room, utilized items from our cultural assets collections (yearbooks, Elm Leafs, Gazettes, other artifacts) as well as local information including Center Cemetery history, local restaurants, and other locations in town. Although the theme is East Hartford history, no knowledge of East Hartford or history is required to successfully complete the puzzles, one of which involves an augmented reality app developed in-house at the library.

“We are excited to bring back our escape room, and excited to celebrate the people, places, and history of East Hartford,” said Sarah Kline Morgan, library director. “We hope that people will find the escape room both entertaining and educational.” The escape room serves as the launch event for Propel East Hartford, a new stream of programs and services at the library for people who want to make a difference in East Hartford.

Sessions are scheduled throughout the week, including evenings and weekends. One ticket admits up to six people for one session. Tickets are free to East Hartford residents and $10 for non-residents. The program runs for 60 minutes, but please arrive 10 minutes early to receive instructions. Due to the nature of this program, if you are more than 15 minutes late for your reservation, we may not be able to accommodate your group. Please keep that in mind when reserving your times. All proceeds benefit the East Hartford Public Library. This program is best-suited for adults and children ages 8 and up. No child under age 5 will be admitted.

For dates, times, and more information, visit our website or call the reference desk: 860-290-4331.The East Hartford Public Library (and the escape room) are located at 840 Main St., East Hartford.