Drawbridge Solutions is an AI-powered operations platform built specifically for escape room venues. While visitors use clues to puzzle out mysteries, Drawbridge helps escape room owners and operators save on staffing, provide a higher quality experience for guests, and keep an eagle eye on their operations from anywhere.

CEO and founder Kevin Williams joins us to explain how he avoided patchwork solutions and a maze of networking headaches by building his company with Tailscale. It provides Drawbridge and its clients with low-latency and convenient connectivity that "just works."

A shifting landscape and rising costs

Kevin has been in the escape room industry since 2018, when he opened his first venue as an Escapology franchisee. From the start, he looked for ways to use technology to improve operations and the guest experience.

"I was just looking for ways to manage the venue more efficiently, because costs go up," he shares. "We probably doubled staffing costs from when we started, and that's in South Carolina. Costs in other places are probably a lot higher."

Despite the cost of operations increasing, Kevin wanted to avoid passing these expenses onto visitors. Instead, he saw an opportunity to save by making staffing more organized and efficient.

He achieved this by building tools that allowed game masters to monitor players' progress more effectively, using camera feeds enhanced by computer vision to track where guests were in each puzzle sequence.

"They could actually watch more games," says Kevin. "Staffing percentage of revenue could go down because the automation was helping so much. That's the heart of what it did."

This approach was so effective at increasing efficiency that Kevin began offering the system to other escape room business owners, and Drawbridge was born.

Modernizing escape room management

"We've got about 50 installations at this point," he shares. "We have remote access through Tailscale, and we give clients up to 10 devices, so they can put it on a laptop or a phone. An owner or staff member who's trusted across locations can log in and see what's going on."

Drawbridge goes well beyond basic camera access. The platform includes AI-powered features like GameSense, which uses computer vision to automatically detect player progress through puzzle sequences. It also provides reporting, analytics, and a web-native experience that can be easily maintained and scaled.

"You can see your cameras. You can see all the metrics and how your stats are performing without having to be there, and that's big. You could jump in from a laptop, from anywhere. It just gives them a lot of flexibility for how they operate," shares Kevin.

“You sign up, and you add your devices. There's not a lot that you have to figure out. It just works. It works on everything. It works on Mac. It works on Windows. It works on your phone. It works everywhere. So, I don't have to worry about what the device is. If it's got a browser, it's going to work.”

Since many franchise owners have multiple locations, Drawbridge allows game masters to remotely manage games across venues, streamlining labor and reducing costs.

Kevin presents these benefits with a hypothetical: "What if a location in San Francisco gets really busy, and staff in LA could help run a game or two? Can an owner connect remotely and have the same experience through the browser that they would have if they were sitting in LA? We give them that flexibility in their operations, and the product can save 15% to 20% on their labor overall."

Discovering seamless connectivity

Kevin credits Tailscale with Drawbridge's seamless connectivity. It was introduced by a staff member who had previous experience using the platform, but before adoption, Drawbridge had no prior networking solution. However, given the nature of its offerings, Kevin knew it was imperative to master their networking from the beginning.

"It's a foundational piece that has to get done right," he explains. "I could've used toothpicks and bubble gum, but we wanted to find something that was affordable, scalable, easy to use, and easy to configure."

Currently, Drawbridge's client base has remained steady, and they expect to expand significantly. This is another core reason Kevin sought a networking solution designed to scale with teams.

"I needed something stable and scalable with the functionality we needed, and that's what I felt like we found," he explains. "As we grow, Tailscale is going to be able to grow with us. Once we looked at it, it did everything we needed it to do. It was a pretty smooth implementation, and it was one box we were grateful to check so quickly."

Drawbridge runs on local hardware at each venue, with Tailscale managing secure remote connections. "Everything is done on premises, mostly for latency. You might have 80 to 100 cameras at a venue, and they don't necessarily have great internet. We keep our server on site because if it didn't work, you can't run your business."

Invisibility and ease-of-use

Since adopting Tailscale, Kevin is most impressed by its ease of use and seamless connectivity across various devices and platforms. As he explains, "You sign up, and you add your devices. There's not a lot that you have to figure out. It just works. It works on everything. It works on Mac. It works on Windows. It works on your phone. It works everywhere. So, I don't have to worry about what the device is. If it's got a browser, it's going to work."

He also appreciates the convenience of Tailscale's intuitive turnkey platform, which meets his business's and clients' needs without significant configuration. "I think the selling point is that you've got one very easy-to-use app. Log in, configure what devices you want to connect to, and everything just works. It's reliable. You don't have to think about it," Kevin explains.

Kevin strongly believes that managing networking infrastructure shouldn't be a prominent feature of everyday business operations. Instead, he values Tailscale because it operates seamlessly in the background, providing connectivity without tedious management.

"Your infrastructure should not be top of mind. It should be this invisible thing in the background that enables everything that you need to do. Tailscale does a really good job of being invisible when it needs to be. I don't need to have five different logins. I just need to go click on my browser."

Escape the grind of managing your network

For companies that rely on connectivity, a hassle-free networking solution is absolutely crucial. Drawbridge selected Tailscale with that in mind, instead of adopting a clumsy solution that would only cause more aggravation as their business grows.

If you’d like an introduction to a reliable, unified platform that manages your network, scales seamlessly, and “just works,” contact our team for a demo.