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<p>After participating in their first escape room during a trip to Prague, Ryan and Amy Hnat returned home to Northeast Pennsylvania and decided to create one of their own.</p><p>The Hnats competed against other local business owners in the first-ever NEPA Sharks event last week at The Woodlands Inn.</p><p>Modeled after television hit &#8220;Shark Tank,&#8221; each of the contestants pitched their business plan to five judges for a chance to win $5,000 from Kingston firm Golden Mile Funding LLC. The Times Leader Media Group partnered with Golden Mile to put on the event.</p><p>Ryan grew up in Coaldale, earning a degree in art education from Penn State before completing a master&#8217;s in painting from Marywood University. It was there he met Amy, originally from Bethany, who was earning a degree in interior design.</p><p>After returning from Prague with a new business plan, the two contacted Marywood and took advantage of the university&#8217;s business incubator to establish the escape room.</p><p>&#8220;They allowed us to set up shop. Now we find ourselves celebrating our two-year anniversary,&#8221; he said of Electric City Escape.</p><p>Escape rooms are not only fun, but serve a mental and physical purpose as well, Ryan said.</p><p>Here&#8217;s how they are described on the company&#8217;s website:</p><p>&#8220;Our escape rooms are physical adventure games where players are locked in a themed room and must find clues, break codes, and open locks in a series of puzzles within 60 minutes to win. The puzzles will challenge your wit, patience, and problem-solving skills to beat the clock.&#8221;</p><p>Ryan said the rooms are &#8220;a total immersive experience, as you feel like you&#8217;re in a movie and your team is cast to be the heroes.&#8221;</p><p>Electric City Escape has won several local awards and has been featured in a television series as well.</p><p>The Hnats work hard and put in long hours, but their payoff is seeing their customers&#8217; faces.</p><p>&#8220;When people go to our escape room for the first time, they are nervous, not sure what to expect, you can see the anxiety,&#8221; Ryan said. &#8220;The best part is when they escape out the room or even only get through some of the locks to our &#8216;ah-ha&#8217; moments which draw smiles and laughs. It is very rewarding to do an escape room and get out. It&#8217;s the best to watch people become successful.&#8221;</p><p>As for the competition, the Hnats said if they won the $5,000, the money would&#8217;ve been used to accelerate some in-house improvements and puzzle updates already underway.</p><p>&#8220;It never hurts to put yourself out there when you own a business and we thought we can show off how awesome escape rooms are and maybe have a chance to help improve our business,&#8221; said Ryan.</p><p>For more information about Electric City Escape, visit ElectricCityEscape.com or find the company on Facebook.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Ryan and Amy Hnat, of Electric City Escape, are shown pitching their business plan during the first-ever NEPA Sharks event last week at The Woodlands Inn in Plains Township. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/web1_Ryan-Hnat-ECE.jpg</photo0><caption0>Ryan and Amy Hnat, of Electric City Escape, are shown pitching their business plan during the first-ever NEPA Sharks event last week at The Woodlands Inn in Plains Township. </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Marcella Kester</p><p>For Times Leader</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta><p><strong>Owners</strong>: Ryan and Amy Hnat</p><p><strong>Hometown</strong>: Scranton</p><p><strong>Business</strong>: Electric City Escape</p><p><strong>Business </strong><strong>Location</strong>: 507 Linden St., Scranton, inside the historic Electric Building</p></factboxMeta></div>

NEPA Sharks: Overseas trip was impetus for Electric City Escape