The Quad Cities has a handful of escape rooms, and most of them work the same way: a themed room, a lock-box puzzle chain and a game master watching on a camera. They are fun. But if your group has already done the classic rooms, or you want an escape room that can put you on a speeding train one week and inside a haunted mansion the next, there is another kind worth knowing about.
At Virtual Ventures, inside NorthPark Mall in Davenport, our escape rooms are played in virtual reality, in a free-roam arena you actually walk around in. Here is how a VR escape room works, which of ours to pick, and how to plan a visit.
What Is a VR Escape Room?
A VR escape room keeps everything people love about escape rooms: a team, a clock, a story and puzzles that only crack when everyone works together. What changes is the room.
Instead of one physical set, each player wears a VR headset and moves freely through our arena. The headset builds the world around you: a luxury train, a cursed mansion, a sinking space station, a giant kitchen where you are the size of an insect. You pick things up, push levers, search drawers and call out clues to your teammates, who are standing right there in the same space.
Because the world is digital, the rooms can do things a physical escape room cannot. Rooms can change around you, and the setting can be anywhere at all.
Our Escape Rooms in Davenport
Every game below is a private session for your group of 2 to 6 players. Prices are per player.
Mansion of Death: Horror (45 minutes, $40)
An abandoned mansion with dark secrets, a ticking clock and puzzles that unlock one eerie room at a time. It is our pick for October and for any group that likes a few jump scares with its puzzles.
Escape Quest: Espionage Express: Mystery (15 minutes, $15)
A missing top-secret package, a speeding luxury train and a culprit hiding in one of the carriages. It is short, fast and family-friendly, and the easiest way to try a VR escape room for the first time.
The B-Block Breakout: Prison Break (60 minutes, $40)
Trapped in a high-security prison, your team has to outwit the system and break out before time runs out. This is the longest and toughest of our escape rooms, so save it for experienced groups.
The Parvus Box: Shrink-Ray Adventure (45 minutes, $40)
Shrink to the size of an insect and solve your way through a giant world of everyday objects. It is whimsical and cinematic, and it has no motion sickness risk at all.
Superhero, School of Magic and Alice in Wonderland (45 minutes each, $40)
Three story-driven rooms where the setting is the star. Use superpowers to save the world, awaken your magic to face a dragon, or rescue Alice from a Wonderland that will not let her go.
Greenium and Wayfinders: Escape From Aurora: Sci-Fi ($30)
Two space missions. In Greenium (45 minutes), you secure life-giving crystals on an alien planet. In Wayfinders (30 minutes), you save the crew of a collapsing space station.
You can browse every game, with full descriptions, on our Escape Adventure page.
How to Pick the Right Escape Room for Your Group
- First time in VR? Start with Espionage Express. Fifteen minutes is enough to learn the controls and catch the bug.
- Spooky season or horror fans? Mansion of Death.
- Experienced escape room team? The B-Block Breakout. Sixty minutes, and it earns every one.
- Family with younger players? Espionage Express or The Parvus Box: lighter themes, clever puzzles.
- Big group? Six play at a time, and larger groups take turns. Our parties and events are built for this, with no limit on group size.
Why Groups Choose a VR Escape Room
New worlds, same team. A traditional escape room is one set, and once you have solved it, you are done. Here, the same group can come back for a mystery, a horror night and a prison break.
Everyone is in it. In a physical room, the quick-handed player often ends up doing everything while others watch. In VR, every player has their own hands in the world, and many puzzles need two or three people acting at once.
Plenty to do before and after. Our lobby has arcade games, air hockey and foosball, and our indoor VR theme park has the four-person Dragon Rider, VR skydiving and racing simulators. That makes it easy to turn one escape room into a full outing.
Planning Your Visit
Book your game online at book.virtualventuresqc.com, or walk in when we have space. Wear closed-toe shoes, and plan to arrive a few minutes early so we can fit your headsets and walk you through the controls. Our Mission Intel page covers what to expect on arrival.
Our hours are Monday and Thursday 4 to 8 pm, Friday 12 to 8 pm, Saturday 10 am to 8 pm and Sunday 12 to 6 pm. Private bookings outside those hours are available; just ask.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is the escape room in Davenport?
Virtual Ventures is inside NorthPark Mall near entrance 5, at 320 W. Kimberly Rd, Davenport, IA. We run VR escape rooms for groups of 2 to 6 players.
How much does a VR escape room cost?
Our escape rooms range from $15 per player for the 15-minute Espionage Express to $40 per player for our 45- and 60-minute rooms.
Do you need VR experience?
No. We set up your headset and walk you through the basics before you start, and most of our escape rooms are rated low motion sickness risk.
TL;DR / Key Takeaways
- Virtual Ventures runs VR escape rooms in Davenport, inside NorthPark Mall near entrance 5, for private groups of 2 to 6 players.
- Games range from the 15-minute Espionage Express ($15) to the 60-minute B-Block Breakout ($40), with horror, mystery, sci-fi and fantasy themes.
- Mansion of Death is our 45-minute horror escape room, a natural pick for October.
- Six play at a time and larger groups take turns; parties and team events have no limit on group size.
- Book online at book.virtualventuresqc.com or call (563) 396-3556.