In 2017, father-and-son team Jeffrey and Blake Stone were proudly showing off their very first business venture in Brandon, a single escape room facility hand-built inside a converted law office. Today, the Stone family has transformed that local passion project into an international entertainment powerhouse, anchoring a massive global escape room franchise and introducing cutting-edge British virtual reality technology to the United States.
The Stone family is the owner of several GAME OVER Escape Rooms throughout Brandon and Tampa.
“Our family’s rapid ascent showcases a masterclass in business scaling, shifting from localized, handcrafted experiences to high-tech, multinational partnerships,” said Jeffery Stone. “When Legends Escape Rooms first opened its doors on Brandon Boulevard, it was a deeply personal affair. Our family spent six months meticulously building every puzzle by hand. Our initial rooms leaned heavily on family heritage and immersive storytelling.”
That focus on premium quality paid off massively; their popular Dungeon VII room reached international critical acclaim when it received the Best Overall In-Person Escape Room of the Year award in 2021 from the global industry site ESCAPETHEROOMers.
To aggressively scale their business, the Stone family partnered with GAME OVER Escape Rooms, a global industry titan originally founded in Athens, Greece.
“Transitioning our operations to serve as official flagship showrooms, we opened high-tech corporate locations across the area,” Jeffery Stone said. “The upgrades brought premium electronic automation, movie-set-quality detailing and world-renowned room themes, like Lost City of Atlantis, Money Heist, Haunted Mansion, and Philosopher Stone.”
The GAME OVER Escape Rooms brand has expanded to more than 34 countries worldwide. Because of their proven operational expertise, the Stone family now helps facilitate North American franchise opportunities for the GAME OVER corporation, guiding the next generation of entertainment entrepreneurs across the continent.
“In addition to conquering physical escape rooms, we have officially pivoted into the future of immersive tech,” Jeffery Stone said. “Our family has partnered with VRXtra, a premier virtual reality gaming company from the United Kingdom that has taken the British entertainment sector by storm.”
In a massive win for the local economy, the Stones have just launched the first-ever VRXtra location outside of the United Kingdom right here in the Tampa Bay area. Located at 317 N. Dale Mabry Highway in Tampa, the state-of-the-art facility sits in the booming Midtown district.
“From hometown puzzle building in Brandon, Florida, to helping grow one of the world’s largest escape room companies to spearheading international tech franchises in the Tampa Bay Area, we have permanently put Tampa Bay on the map as a global hub for next-generation entertainment,” Jeffery Stone said. “We are now also partnering with Legacy Social Casino as a master affiliate in the social gaming and online casino space. This move extends their entertainment footprint beyond physical venues and into the rapidly growing world of online interactive gaming, creating a hybrid ecosystem that blends real-world immersion with digital engagement.”
If you would like to learn more about GAME OVER Escape Rooms or visit one of its locations, visit https://tampa.escapegameover.us/en.
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