About Escapegineers
Our Mission
Escapegineers is a student-led team of Purdue engineers who love building things, solving problems, and finding creative ways to make engineering fun for everyone. We design and build escape rooms packed with puzzles based on real engineering concepts, from mechanical devices to logic circuits and problem-solving challenges.
Why do we do it? Because we believe engineering should be exciting, hands-on, and accessible. Our goal is to spark curiosity, get people thinking like engineers, and show how problem-solving skills can turn into something awesome.
Whether you're a future engineer, a puzzle fan, or just looking for a good time with friends, our rooms are made for you. At the end of the day we build these rooms because it's fun, and because we want to share what makes engineering great.
Project Background
The escape room project began under EPICS; Engineering Projects in Community Service is a Purdue program where student teams partner with community partners to create, build, and deploy tangible solutions to real-world problems. Our team of mechanical engineering students had originally partnered with the Children's Museum of Indianapolis to design an educational puzzle experience for children ages 8 to 15. The idea was to combine interactive problem solving with engineering basics even as young participants were learning in an escape room-type environment.
But the second week into the project, we did not get any response from the Children's Museum. This was the case last semester, which extremely limited our productivity, having had very few interactions. Therefore, we would have none of it in the second semester: we basically took control of the entire project and project direction.
With the approval of our professor and the availability of his office in the ET building for use, we somehow still maintained part of the original educational identity. Though the escape room was still drawing inspiration from Purdue engineering and highlighting different engineering disciplines, the shift was made to an older audience: teenagers to college students. This change granted us a lot more creative leeway, which we took advantage of, heavily relying on Purdue-specific humor and references. The escape room then had a new identity: "Escaping President Mung Chiang's Office" is a tongue-in-cheek yet immersive application set in a Purdue-themed ambiance.
Room Story & Inspiration
Students of Purdue are placed in an escape room wherein they have to compete for the final internship interview with President Mung Chiang. After a few bits of introduction video, Chiang locks the door behind him and announces over an intercom, "The final test has begun."
This room is transformed into a challenge of puzzles inspired by engineering. Each puzzle works as individual entries from Chiang's private engineering logs. Each entry focuses on one different aspect of engineering, whether it be mechanical, electrical, computer, and more.
In order to win this ultimate prize, players must be able to unlock a chest that contains Purdue Pete's hammer along with a replica liberty bell. Ringing this bell with the hammer signals the players' victory, thus proving that they are ready to "earn the internship."
Proudly Part of the Purdue Escapegineers Club
The Purdue Escapegineers Club brings together students who share a passion for hands-on engineering, creative problem-solving, and building unique experiences for the community. Through our custom-designed escape rooms, we combine technical skills with teamwork and imagination to create challenges that are fun, memorable, and rooted in real engineering concepts.
Our goal is to inspire curiosity about engineering, encourage collaborative thinking, and offer experiences that connect people with the problem-solving side of STEM in a way that's accessible to everyone.