Florida friend group sets record after crushing dozens of escape rooms in just 24 hours
Five friends who spent years solving escape rooms around Central Florida, USA have broken a brainy Guinness World Records title for the most escape rooms attended in 24 hours, after crushing an incredible total of 41 in just one day.
The group – consisting of Raychel Garcia, Steven Hepsworth, Ona Delussey, Victor Hui, and Richard Corbett (all USA) – first came together at an escape room meetup in Orlando in 2024, where they bonded over their shared love for solving these interactive games.
After two years of playing together, and with a collective 1,500 competitions under their belt, they decided to try and bring this puzzling title to America – taking on this record between the 5 - 6 February across six escape room facilities in the city.
And considering that they have two engineers, two lawyers, and one math teacher in their group, it doesn’t come as a surprise to find out that The Florida Keys assembled like the Avengers to conquer this quizzical quest!
They were able to crush the record of 32 set by Tatsuya Minami, Akira Minami, Kou Okamoto, Shinnosuke Kadoya (all Japan), in Tokyo, back in 2020.
Selfie with an escape room employee
Before completing their attempt, the group told GWR that “preparation was key” – namely because Orlando is more spread out than other major cities, and it would be difficult to arrange a path that met record guidelines for only using public transportation to get around stops.
Luckily, they were able to find six venues along bus routes within the International Drive area, and these facilities were even kind enough to adjust their working hours so the team could stop by and play their games at any time. Some places even permitted The Florida Keys to drop off cases of water at their shops the day before the event, so the group didn’t have to lug them around!
“Scheduling is challenging for a 24 hour event such as this and we needed flexibility, since we weren’t able to say concretely how long each game would take us to complete,” they said to GWR.
“Opening after hours, and also accommodating our schedule during business hours, made each escape room location a key partner in our planning process.”
Read more stories about curious record holders in our dedicated Hobbies and Skills section!
Besides planning bus routes, the group was also sure to get in some practise games before the actual attempt – just to confirm strategy, and get used to the additional timing pressure.
Once within the room, guidelines do not permit players to ask for any hints from staff, so they told the West Orange Observer that they created specific plans for what to do if they got stuck on a clue.
“Our two attorneys love logic problems,” Ona Delussey said. “So anytime something like that came up, we tagged them in for that.”
They also designated specific team members to take notes on a whiteboard, as well as implemented a backup search option where if they got stuck, everyone would go back and search the room for obvious clues they might’ve overlooked.
“We said that if that happens, we’re going to get together, we’re going to sit, and we're going to breathe for a minute,” she continued.
Yet on the day of the event itself, it turns out that The Florida Keys were capable quizmasters.
Between 10:00 a.m. on Thursday to 9:06 a.m. on Friday, they conquered an amazing total of 41 rooms across Escapology, Will To Escape, Puzzle Corp, Lockbusters Escape Game, The Escape Game, and The Bureau in Orlando.
They officially broke the record early in the morning on the 6th, and though they claimed that they were delirious by that point, they were determined to beat their goal of 40 rooms (and add an extra for good measure).
“This wasn’t just puzzle-solving, it was an endurance test,” Richard Corbett said to the Observer.
“When you’re on hour 18 and facing another locked door, your team is your lifeline – and yes, there was a lot of caffeine involved.”
So congratulations to the incredible escape room artists of The Florida Keys – you are all Officially Amazing!