COS students, are you stressed and need a break? Well, there is a fun place in town that can help you “escape” at least for a little bit.

“I really want the community to play my games and have fun. My dream isn’t making money; it is having people play and enjoy what I created,” said David McAllister

McAllister has been running and operating Clevr here in Visalia since April 2019. Clevr is an escape room and virtual reality arcade. There are a variety of rooms provided at Clevr, which McAllister creates with him as the head of the design team. When questioned about his process in creating new rooms, McAllister states, “I think different owners have different processes when creating a room. I get ideas at random, and my wife writes them down, and when we need a new room, we look through the ideas and build upon them with an overall theme.”

At Clevr, the employees are not just employees; they are referred to as “game masters’ ‘ and offer an additional touch to the experience. McAllister states that he wants people who are theatrical and storytellers to work for Clevr—playing into Mcallister’s love for puzzles and fun. Clevr offers an overall experience rather than just a room. Employees play a big part in creating the environment at Clevr and playing into the thematics of the rooms. When asked about hiring people for Clevr, McAllister emphasized, “Can you talk to people?” and how important it is to have people who can converse and sell that theme.

When asked about what Clevr brings to Visalia, McAllister spoke about “team building” and its usefulness to companies, businesses, and even some schools. In addition, Clevr Visalia looks to open a new room next month with a candy store theme as well as reopen VR soon.

“I love having fun. I like creating things because it is fulfilling”, said McAllister

Clevr opened a new location in Bakersfield this past Friday, and when asked about the expansion, McAllister said, “I want to bring my games to a new place. I was looking for a place to put them so more people could enjoy them,” stated McAllister. When asked about the process of expanding and how he felt, McAllister spoke about the hours of preparation that went into just opening and how “now that it is open, I feel a little bit less stressed. Now, it is just the stress of getting our name out there.”
For any additional information on Clevr, visit: www.clevrescape.com