Invited Talk: LabEscape: An adventure from both sides

In 2016 we conceived the notion of a science-based 'escape room' as a means to engage the general public, with the original mission to show that science can be accessible and relevant, aesthetically beautiful, and most importantly, fun! Since then, LabEscape has run missions in 5 states and 9 cities, and served over 13,000 attendees. Agents must work together to search the Professor's laboratory, discovering clues that lead to puzzles whose solution reveals amazing physics effects that help the Agents complete their mission -- saving the Professor and the rest of humanity. By allowing players a micro-view into the process of science -- background exploration, brainstorming hypotheses, experimentation that often fails, only to eventually succeed, which only reveals further questions -- LabEscape has been an opportunity to give participants a sense of what it's like to be a scientist. With a storyline based around world-renowned quantum scientist Alberta Pauline Schroendenberg, it has also exposed a large audience to the promise and challenges of quantum information. Here we will discuss some of the lessons learned in the past 8 years of operation, and what (we hope) the future holds.