Have you ever watched a slasher and I thought, "My God why the hell are they doing that?! They're so stupid, I wouldn't do that!" Well nows your chance to see if you could survive a real-life slasher scenario. The idea all started with On Pins and Needles LLC CEO Maggie Mater and their game manager Jennifer. As big horror fans they came to the horrible realisation that there's not a lot of horror themed events that run year round, so they wanted to create something for their fellow fans! And Survive Slasher Camp is born.
Survive Slasher Camp is a relatively new horror roleplaying experience for fans worldwide to come test their metal in a slasher style event. Think escape room style...with a twist. If you're brave enough to attend you'll find yourself part of a group of eight battling to survive and escape an unstoppable killer through a series of games and puzzles. Each game usually lasts 30-45 minutes depending on the survival rate of course.
On Pins and Needles LLC (the organisers behind the event) began running 2 events per month at various camp grounds in Northern Arizona last year. Each group was originally pitted against a variant of Jason Voorhees. However, they have started to branch out incorporating other iconic killers into the events; such as A Nightmare on Elm Street's Freddy Krueger.
Looking towards the future, Maggie Mater and the rest of the amazing team at On Pins and Needles LLC are currently in the midst of a rebranding 'Survive Slasher Camp' after buying their own campgrounds to run the event on. This promises more regular, bigger and better events with even more characters! I have been told that future events will focus on brand new original characters created by the organisers and will even give the players an option to fight back or defend themselves as they will be able to use a supply of weapons (made of soft foam).
I managed to catch up with On Pins and Needles LLC partner and costume designer Pam Barry who gave me a an update on the rebrand.
"We just purchased our own property in Ash Fork, AZ and are currently getting it prepared. Last year we were primarily focused on our version of a Jason Voorhees slasher, but with our rebrand this year, we are doing a lot of our own original characters, along with a number of our own versions of 80's horror movie slashers. We were running 2 events a month, but we're now looking to start with 3-4 major events a year. Our major goal is to give the players an ultimate horror experience that they will be talking about for years!"
Tickets for this event start at $25 per player which includes more than just a fight for your life. You can also look forward to a campfire dinner and horror themed trivia games (with prizes) throughout the night. Should you be lucky enough to survive the puzzles and games and escape, you'll then be put into a prize draw to win an even bigger prize. And of course due to the nature of these events all players must be aged 18 or over.
I gotta be honest, this looks and sounds amazing! Sure to be a great experience for any horror fan. I'd recommend doing your prep work and watching as many slashers as you can before you go in though, just to be sure! And just remember when you're playing...never say I'll be right back.
Photos courtesy of Survive Slasher Camp, On Pins and Needles LLC
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