3 Details About Thrill Builders From Shark Tank

On the October 27 episode of "Shark Tank," Thrill Builders owner Guy Kitchell shows off his expansive company to the Sharks to try and gain funding — and if you're not familiar with Thrill Builders yet, you're about to be.

Escape rooms have become exceedingly popular in recent years, and Thrill Builders have a plethora of options for anyone looking for, well, thrills of all kinds. Based in Madison, Wisconsin, this innovative company offers everything from original escape rooms to spooky haunts to other activities. There's a twist, though; Thrill Builders doesn't host guests within their escape rooms. Instead, they craft them for other companies. 

"We are your one-stop shop, and can take your concept from an idea to a fully functioning and profitable facility that will blow your mind," their website reads. "We come in on-time, on-budget and when we install your attraction, we don't leave until your staff is trained, and you are happy."

Thrill Builders offers plenty of custom escape room options, including turn-key ones with themes including "alien autopsy," "cryosleep," "disco fever," "enchanted mine," "Hansel and Gretel," "haunted mansion," and "Pharaoh's revenge." They've got mini versions of those as well, but they also offer kits where the Thrill Builders team does the literal heavy lifting and you can design your own themes and props.

Speaking of props, Thrill Builders also has people covered on that front. They've got both budget and deluxe prop options as well as do-it-yourself props like Da Vinci alphabet code readers, fake candles, switchboards, fake dynamite, and a lot more. Escape rooms are all about ambiance beyond those props and buildouts, so Thrill Builders can also supply customized soundtracks and lighting to complete the experience. Thrill Builders is clearly a one-stop shop for escape rooms, but beyond that main product, they actually offer a ton of other experiences.

It's officially spooky season, so people in the Madison area can turn to Thrill Builders to craft their very own haunted experiences. According to their site, they've built haunted sites all over the world. "We have helped build haunts from Mexico to Cypress, Hong Kong to France, and literally hundreds of locations in the United States," the company claims.

The website also features tons of photos of their haunted attractions like rundown motels, creepy operating rooms, eerie-looking haunted homes, and more. They've even created haunted attractions for sites like Universal Orlando's Halloween Horror Nights, Knott's Scary Farm, and more, so it's possible you've already experienced one of their escape rooms or haunts at some point and not even known it. If you want to build something a little less intimidating than a haunted attraction or an escape room, though, you're in luck; Thirll Builders really does offer a lot.

Beyond escape room and haunted attraction buildouts, there are two more things Thrill Builders offers that might appeal to Sharks looking for a more family-friendly business. First is mini-golf courses, which are definitely a little easier to sell for all ages than something as complex as an escape room. "Thrill Builders can build you an amazing mini golf course – complete with animatronic installed at every hole," their website reads. "From something complex, like an actual fire breathing dragon, to silly holes that pop your ball back out – we will make your event over the top! We try to make each hole an experience in itself."

Beyond that, they make custom laser tag arenas. Theirs are a bit different than what you might be used to, though; they use what they call "animated and pneumatic props," which react if a player interacts with them and can completely change the game. "If you shoot the tree, the tree branches shake, the monster hiding in the tree growls, and you get extra points," the Thrill Builders site explains.

Thrill Builders will be appearing on Shark Tank this Friday, October 27, at 8 p.m. ET, with Blumhouse founder and CEO Jason Blum joining the cast of Sharks as a guest investor.

Thrill Builders CEO Guy Kitchell enters the "Shark Tank" seeking a strategic partnership and $250,000 in exchange for 20% of his haunted house building company. He's also pitching the five investors (including celebrity guest-shark and CEO of Blumhouse Productions, Jason Blum) on his in-development 50,000 square-foot family entertainment center, the Thrill Factory. To complete the $7.2 million project, Kitchell has already raised $1.7 million in capital and taken out a Small Business Administration (SBA) loan of $5 million. In its first year, Kitchell projects the Thrill Factory will gross $5.5 million in sales, which will almost double itself the subsequent year.

Though Kitchell is formally entering with a proposal for Thrill Builders, he's very open to deals for either or both of his companies. In that context, the $1.25 million valuation is certainly attractive to several Sharks — especially since Thrill Builders grossed $3.2 million in the last year. After Barbara Corcoran goes out (citing her lack of experience in the industry), Kevin O'Leary and Lori Greiner partner with Blum to make an offer of $250,000 for 30% of both companies (with each Shark getting 10%). Mark Cuban, meanwhile, believes Thrill Builder's numbers don't add up — based on the information Kitchell has provided, the entire business should be worth significantly more than $1.25 million.

Kitchell is aware that he's "undervaluing" the business, however, and is more interested in securing a deal that will lead to future success. He counters the shark-triumvirate asking for more capital: $300,000 for the 30%. The sharks accept, sending Kitchell out of the tank with a $1 million valuation — which is about what he netted for the previous year alone. "He just gave away 30% of his company for nothing," Cuban reiterates.