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BROOKLYN WEEKLY, DEC. 16, 2018
PUZZLED: A player marks a high-tech magic circle while trying to solve the
haunted house mini-escape room. Photo by Stefano Giovannini
‘Escape’ artists
Pirate-themed mini-golf course
creators add mini-escape rooms
Party of the year
Ten spots to celebrate New Year’s Eve in Brooklyn
THE PLACE TO BE: The Parachute Jump will light up bright at the stroke of midnight
on New Year’s Eve. Photo by Jordan Rathkopf
Ring in 2019 in the better borough!
There is no need to subject
yourself to the misery of trekking
to the distant isle of Manhattan
to watch the ball drop on
New Year’s Eve — whether you
prefer a fi reworks display, an allnight
dance party, a beer bash,
or a candlelit yoga class, there
are plenty of ways to celebrate
the auld lang syne right here in
Kings County.
Music marathon
When the ball drops, the Bushwick
dance party “Odyssey” will
just be getting started! Your feet
might get tired after 27 hours of
dancing at Avant Gardner, but
your ears will stay fresh from the
variety of sounds on offer: four
stages worth of underground artists
— including Honey Dijon,
Lee Burridge, and Tale of Us —
will spin their hits. And a bevy of
local food vendors will offer grub
to keep you fueled for the dance
fl oor.
Avant Gardner 140 Stewart
Ave. at Meserole Street in Williamsburg,
(347) 987–3146, www.
avant-gardner.com. Dec. 31 at 9
pm to Jan. 1 at 11:59 pm. $101.25.
Party with a view
Ring in the New Year on a
luxurious note at Westlight,
the William Vale Hotel’s 22nd
fl oor rooftop bar overlooking
the twinkling lights of Manhattan
and the many events happening
around you in Williamsburg.
The party has a hefty
price, but it features an open bar,
passed canapés, live tunes from
the Borough Boys band, and a
champagne toast when the clock
strikes midnight.
Westlight at the William Vale
111 N. 12th St. at Wythe Avenue
in Williamsburg, (718) 307–7100,
www.westlightnyc.com/events. 9
pm–4 am. $250.
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BY JULIANNE MCSHANE
Brew year’s eve
At Brooklyn Brewery’s recently
renovated taproom, you
can celebrate a new year and
new beers, as you sample your
way through the taps of its
open bar. Enough brews and
you’ll have the courage to bust
some moves to the tunes spun
by DJ Tekit Izi! And when the
clock strikes midnight, you
can toast with a previously unreleased
“Ghost Bottle” from
the brewery’s barrel-aging facility.
Brooklyn Brewery taproom (79
N. 11th St. between Berry Street
and Wythe Avenue in Williamsburg,
www.brooklynbrewery.
com). 10 pm. $115.
Dance the year away
C’mon out and party at C’mon
Everybody, where DJ Rich Medina
will spin house, garage, and
other dance grooves all night
long. The party will only stop
for a complimentary champagne
toast at midnight.
C’mon Everybody (325 Franklin
Ave. between Clifton Place and
Greene Avenue in Crown Heights,
www.cmoneverybody.com). 10
pm–4 am. $40 ($35 in advance, $75
VIP).
Light up the night
Take in a dazzling display of
fi reworks exploding over Prospect
Park when the clock ticks
BY JULIANNE CUBA
Take a mini-escape!
The owners of a piratethemed
miniature golf course
in Red Hook have launched a
new adventure: a trio of tiny escape
rooms. Each of the three
chambers — a space station, a
haunted house, and an abandoned
ancient temple — holds
fi ve people at a time, and visitors
have just 25 minutes to get
out. The shrunken version of
the popular game rooms, which
typically give groups of up to 12
people an hour to solve a series
of puzzles, lets people try the escape
room experience without
making a big commitment, said
the owner of Shipwrecked.
“It’s for people who have
never done it before to kind of
dip their toe in,” said Ryan Powers,
who lives in Greenwood
Heights. “It’s much easier to go
in and get a taste for it — you
don’t have to commit to an hourlong
experience or being with a
bunch of strangers.”
And if the 25-minute sample
gets you hooked, the other two
escape rooms are waiting right
there, said Powers.
“If you like doing the fi rst
one, you can hop in and do other
the other two if you want,” he
said.
Powers and his co-owner,
who both have a background
building Broadway sets, built
elaborate lagoons, islands,
and an 18th-century town for
the mini-golf portion of Shipwrecked,
but they chose to ditch
the pirate theme for the ’wreck
rooms, in order to provide some
relief from the nautical immersion.
“It’s for people who come here
who don’t like pirate-themed
things, and want something to
do as well,” said Powers.
Creating the abandoned
temple room gave Powers an
excuse to include an Indiana
Jones skeleton, he said, and
adding a spooky — but not gory
— haunted house area was a nobrainer.
“We defi nitely want a
haunted one; come Halloween
that is going to be super popular.
Our haunted is more funhaunted
than gory-haunted,” he
said.
The miniature escape rooms
involve some special effects and
theatrical lighting to really
challenge visitors, said Powers.
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/events
/www.avant-gardner.com
/www.avant-gardner.com
/www.brooklynbrewery
/www.cmoneverybody.com