We are Jana, Max and Marc, three people who have fallen so in love with the art of escape rooms that we’ve changed careers and completely turned our lives around to work in this industry.
For over ten years, we have been part of some of the most ambitious immersive experiences built in Europe. We worked on The Dark Forest, Asylum of Fear, Es ist zurück, The Kramer Accident and many other rooms that pushed what escape rooms could do, and taught us exactly what it takes to make an experience that truly feels different. Some of you may also recognise us from the documentary Escape Room Horror Stories: BeNeLux Edition.
What we do is our passion, and now, after working a long time for others, we’re ready to launch something under our own name. We are HOOKED. Are you?
If you don’t know us yet
Hi, nice to meet you!
We each bring something different to the table and Hooked only works because all three pieces fit.
Jana Erbes ~ Creative Director & Co-Founder
Coming from a background in film, theatre, and game design, Jana is our creative core. She builds horror experiences that feel personal, emotional, and cinematic resulting in games that do not just scare you, but stay with you. Her escape room work has been recognised regularly on TERPECA's global Top 40, and her game The Kramer Accident won the 2025 Morty Award for Best Escape Room. She designed the puzzle mechanics for Amazon's Destination Escape, directed the award-winning documentary Escape Room Horror Stories: BeNeLux Edition, and has spoken at international industry events including RECON and LEAG. Jana drives our creativity and designs how you — the player — should feel in every single moment.
Max Zarfl ~ Managing Director & Co-Founder
Max has worked alongside Jana on several of those projects and makes sure none of it stays on paper. With a background in startups, digital media, and web development, he turns the creative vision into something real and sustainable, managing the structure, the systems, and the strategy that lets the art actually exist. At Hooked he oversees the company and all projects, ensuring our output and quality always serve the bigger picture.
Marc Welings ~ Head of Live Experience and Operations & Co-Founder
Having acted in Stay in the Dark (one of the most celebrated horror escape rooms in the Netherlands) Marc completes our trio. He brings his background in human care and his relentless passion for escape rooms into everything we do. He knows exactly how to pull people into a story and make them feel every aspect of it. As our operational lead, Marc trains the whole team not just in performance, but in reading and supporting guests through an emotionally intense experience. He is the reason you actually feel what the experience is designed to make you feel.
What others say about us
What We Want to Build
Our mission is to raise the bar for escape rooms. Not just for ourselves, but for the industry as a whole. To create professional, high-quality, and above all immersive experiences that bring together everything we have learned and everyone we have been lucky enough to work alongside.
That means building in collaboration with award-winning set designers and technical experts. Chief among them is the Art Team Berlin who are known as one of the most respected set construction teams in the international escape room industry. Next to some of the best escape rooms in the world, they also have worked on Netflix productions and won several awards for their work. They are not just hired hands. They are partners who believe in what we are building and are ready to start the moment we are.
But it also means not cutting corners, not settling for good enough, and not launching until we are genuinely proud of every detail.
Our plan is to open in South Holland, in a venue of around 500 m² purpose-built to house two full horror experiences, with a third already in development.
The Experiences
CRAWLER • Psychological Horror
You are a social worker sent to check on Susan. An elderly woman living alone. When you arrive, the air changes. Her apartment feels neglected not just by time but by itself. There are signs of an infestation. Movement in the shadows. Cobwebs. Sounds that simply do not belong. Something is scratching inside the walls. Susan is still alive. She barely speaks, appearing as if something else has taken hold of her.
Crawler is a story-driven experience that unfolds through proximity and discovery. The dread does not come from a sudden shock. It comes from the slow, heavy realisation of what is happening in this space. Tense, compelling, and deeply personal.
THE RETREAT • Folk Horror
You are invited to a cleansing ritual. What begins as a well-intentioned gathering introduces you to a secluded group in the forest. A healing cult convinced they can rid you of the darkness you carry. At first it is calm. Structured. Even comforting. As the ceremony progresses, the masks begin to slip. Trust warms. Comfort slowly curdles into doubt.
The Retreat is built on human interaction and belief. Your decisions and the dynamic of your group shape the outcome, creating a deeply personal horror experience that feels different every time.
And we are not stopping there. Hooked is the start of something bigger. We have concepts for more experiences already in development, each one pushing a little further than the last. A line of complementary formats. A product line that lets players take a piece of the world home with them.
That is the plan. That is Hooked.
Where We Are Now
Let us be honest with you: high-quality sets are expensive, and building a new attraction from scratch always throws up surprises. We will not compromise on quality. That is why we are here.
We have the ideas. We have the expertise. We have the people and the connections to the set builders, the technicians, the performers, the industry partners — all ready to go. What we do not have yet is the place and the funding to make it real.
Hooked is an established company in the Netherlands. We are actively scouting venues in South Holland right now. Both Crawler and The Retreat are fully designed and ready to be built. The moment we sign a lease, construction begins. Every person involved is waiting for that signal.
Where the Funding Goes
Every euro raised goes directly into making Hooked real. The funding flows into three core areas:
- securing and fitting out a venue,
- setting up our operations and lobby,
- and, most importantly, constructing Crawler and The Retreat.
We begin with Crawler. This is our priority. Getting our first experience open as quickly as possible means we can start welcoming players and generating the income that lets us finish The Retreat and everything that follows.
If we reach our minimum goal of €150,000:
We can sign a lease, build Crawler, and open our doors within approximately six months.
More detailed this looks something like this:
- 37k for first year of rent
- 13k for operations and logistics (permits, actor training, safety equipment, marketing)
- 70k for Crawler (dry wall construction, set building together with the Art Team Berlin, soundscapes, lighting, safety equipment, …)
- 12k crowdfunding cost
- 18k general renovations and unforseen/ liquidity buffer (themed lobby, visitor bathroom, …)
If we reach our ideal goal of €250,000:
We can move into a larger venue, build both experiences simultaneously, and open with more depth, more detail, and more of the gimmicks and moments that make an experience genuinely unforgettable. The Retreat opens shortly after Crawler rather than months later and the buffer means we can absorb the unexpected without compromising on quality.
If we do not reach our minimum goal:
The campaign does not proceed. Every contributor receives a full refund shortly after. We want to be transparent about this. It is not a threat, it is a promise. We would rather not start than start badly.
They trust us already
Why Now
The escape room industry is growing fast. The global market is projected to reach $11.5 billion by 2033. Within the Netherlands and BeNeLux, the demand for premium immersive experiences has never been higher and supply of genuinely great ones has not kept pace.
The timing is right. The team is ready. The designs are done. We are not waiting for a better moment. We are waiting for the funding that makes this one possible.
How you can Help
… and what you get back!
There are two ways to support us, and both matter enormously to us.
Option 1: Invest in Hooked (Loan)
You lend us money and we pay it back with interest.
Your investment is returned over 6 years at 5% interest p.a., with the first year being interest-only. This means your money is working for you while it is working for us.This option is for anyone who believes in what we are building and wants a financial return on that belief. Minimum investment is € 1.000 and further details on additional rewards that come with are listed on each loan tier.
Option 2: Pre-Sale Tiers (Experience Packages)
You secure your place in Hooked's first chapter before we open our doors and at a significant discount.
Our pre-sale tiers start at €250 and go up to €500 for our most exclusive founder packages. Each tier includes a personalised Digital Backer Certificate as a token of our appreciation for your support.
Please note: with a pre-sale purchase, there is no financial return. You are not investing in the company; you are securing an experience, supporting a dream, and becoming one of the first people to step inside a world we have spent years imagining.
Both options are a direct vote of confidence in what we are building. And we do not take that lightly. So thank you for considering either.
Why This Matters Beyond the Room
Every person who supports this campaign is doing something that goes further than getting a ticket or a return on investment. You are helping prove that quality has an audience. That players are willing to invest in something before it exists because they believe it will be worth it.
That is not a small thing. It is the argument we take to every future partner, investor, and collaborator. Your support today makes every next step possible. The third experience, the product line, the collaborations, the standard we want to set for the whole industry.
We believe in YOU, the community, to help us with this dream.
The sector is growing. Demand for high-quality experiences has never been greater. We have the team, the trust, and the vision to make this a success.
We cannot do it without you. And honestly, we would not want to.
Questions?
Want to know more before you commit?
Reach out to us directly at info@get-hooked.nl or via Instagram. We read every message and reply to all of them.
Thank you for being here from the start.
Jana, Marc & Max
A note on our visuals
The images you see throughout this campaign are AI-generated visualisations, created to bring our concepts to life before the rooms exist. We use them for two specific reasons: first, to give our building team, set designers, and creative collaborators a precise visual reference for the feel and look we are going for so everyone building this world is working from the same vision. Second, to give us a starting point for our social media and marketing presence while the real sets are still being built.
We want to be transparent about this and clear about where we stand. We are strong believers in real photography for escape room marketing. Authentic images capture what a room actually feels like in a way no generated image can. The moment our sets are built, every AI visual gets replaced.
Until then, consider these a window into our imagination. The real thing will be better.
Questions
Frequently asked
I got an email saying my investment didn’t go through, but the money already left my account.
No worries, that email (“Je investering in Are you Hooked? is niet voltooid.”) gets sent by mistake in this case, and it’s nothing to be alarmed about. Support for pledges from outside the Netherlands is still very new on the platform, so there are occasionally a few small hiccups in the system. This is more common for investments from Belgium (BE) or Germany (DE). It’s a known issue and thus a sometimes expected part of the process, not a sign that something has gone wrong with your money.
If the money is already off your account, it actually means your transaction is still being processed. It can take up to 48 hours to show up on the campaign page.
If it still hasn’t appeared after 48 hours, please contact CrowdAboutNow directly. They’re best placed to look into it and help you quickly.
If you get that email but the money is still in your account, wait until the next day. If nothing has changed by then, follow the instructions in the email and redo the investment process. No worries, you will not be charged twice.
If you have any questions along the way, feel free to contact either CrowdAboutNow or us directly. We are happy to help!
I’m having a problem with my payment. What should I do?
For payment issues (a failed transaction, trouble completing checkout, etc.), please contact CrowdAboutNow directly. As the platform processing the payment, they’re able to look into the technical details on their end and help you fastest.
CrowdAboutNow
Email: info@crowdaboutnow.nl
Phone: 06-49099097
Available: mornings 10:00–12:30, afternoons 13:30–17:00
You’re of course also welcome to reach out to us directly if you’re not sure who to contact, or if you’d rather go through us first. We’re happy to help point you in the right direction.
What happens if the minimum goal is not reached?
If we don’t reach the minimum funding goal by the end of the campaign, the campaign is considered unsuccessful and all pledges are automatically refunded. You’ll have your money back in your account within a week, no action needed on your part.
Can I tell my friends about the campaign?
Absolutely, please do! Word of mouth is one of the biggest drivers of a successful campaign, and every share, forward, or “hey, check this out” from you helps us reach more people who’d love Hooked as much as you do. Feel free to share our campaign page, tag us on social media, or just tell people about it over dinner. The more of our community that gets involved, the stronger our launch will be.
My pledge doesn’t appear on the page yet. What’s wrong?
Nothing’s wrong. This is a known technical delay on the platform’s end, not an issue with your payment.
New pledges can take a little while to appear, and how long depends mostly on the payment method you used:
- WERO / iDEAL pledges are usually the fastest, typically appearing within 45 minutes. Pledges from the Netherlands (NL) tend to process a bit quicker than those from Germany (DE) or Belgium (BE).
- Pay by Bank pledges take longer, and can take up to a full day to show up.
If your pledge still hasn’t appeared after this window, please contact us and we’ll look into it.