It has always been in the coding of our psyche to try to escape from our current situation. There’s a constant feeling of breaking free of the myriad of webs that keep us tied to ourselves. We try to escape from our true self, from this world, from our reality, and our sense of existence. This constant questioning and self-doubt have led us to discover several important beliefs and systems. We’ve created philosophy, mathematical reasoning, and the String theory that binds the universe, wildlife journals, medical tools, books on infinite topics, and much more. Knowledge has been a way for us to understand ourselves and simultaneously escape the hollowness that haunts our actuality. And this intelligence has provided us the expertise through which we’ve created a world where we were finally able to escape and forget our problems. The virtual video games, movies with fictitious plots, live simulation machines, haunted houses, printed stories and audiobooks, and finally the escape rooms. While the remaining particulars in this list have existed for a long time and have attracted cults behind their legacy, escape rooms have recently made their way here.
An escape room is a breakout puzzle entertainment that was inspired by the escape-the-room genre of video games. It goes by various other names like live escapes, room escapes, breakout game, etc. If you’re not aware of what an escape room is, here’s a briefing – In a locked room the participants are supposed to work in a group of 2 to 10 people and solve various riddles, complete the challenges, and detect clues to escape the room within a stipulated time duration (mostly within an hour.) The room itself is supposed to be one prime puzzle and solving it leads to the completion of the aim and victory. Sometimes it also allows the participants to escape the game site as a final objective completion.
The first escape rooms date back to the late 2000s and only around 2003, their existence took a definite appearance. Once the concept was set in the market and different people across the world became acquainted with it, subsequent escape rooms emerged in 2007 (the Real Escape Game in Japan). In late 2010, they were featured as the central plot concept in many thriller novels, horror movies, and television shows that helped boost their popularity. 2011 saw the birth of Captivate Escape Rooms in countries like Australia and Singapore and by the time it was 2015, there were 60 escape rooms across the world. Countries like the US and UK saw a growth rate of such game rooms by more than 200% in early 2017s. And with increasing industry came the gradual competition. The start-up costs rose to add in special effects and an immersive environment to make it more entertaining. As improvements were added, the task of solving the puzzles using paper and pencil was replaced by digital and printable clues. Sophistication cycled ahead and slowly an interactive background equipped with a wide range of props and elaborate storylines were added to make the atmosphere more realistic and theatrical.
According to the gaming survey records, around 50,000 escape rooms had been established around the world as of November 2019. And this counting has only been rising ever since. As a result, escape rooms today have become a top-rated phenomenon in the entertainment industry. It is one of the trendiest marketing events in both the economic and entertainment businesses. Not only have they provided a way for people to escape their reality by turning towards a different setting, but they’ve also been a source for boosting various feel-good hormones. The group hunt for puzzle-solving has helped people bond on a deeper level with their family and friends. The various themed rooms with a wide variety of backstory to support its panorama has attracted people of a large age group, ranging from kids and teens to young people and adults. But it became a bigger hit amongst those individuals of the younger generation who were under stress and had to cope with a lot of work pressure. Such groups, like the college students, the fresher in the job market, and people with their start-ups found escape rooms more relaxing. It became a place where they’d put the use of their skills and knowledge to decode the riddles all the while exercising their mental muscles and relieving the stress of their work and studies.
There are many concurrent features attached to escape rooms that make them a global and a well-liked trend in the entertainment sector. They provide a simple and thrilling experience at relatively less cost when compared with visiting different theme parks and places. The many difficulty levels and availability of options of success rates of each room present people with interesting challenges that keep them engaged. The various narrative stages like money heist, haunted chambers, evil mummies’ curse, space exploration, zombie escape, science lab explosion, etc. provide for a factual and real-life adventure that becomes hard to forget. The atmosphere is healthy and perfect for hoisting surprise birthday parties, a family event, or a date, attracting relatives and couples to spend some quality time with each other. Whether it be a special occasion or a way to de-stress and do something fun on a weekend, escape games have offered a wonderful alternative to video games and premise settings in easier steps. All you’d have to do is search ‘escape rooms around me,’ book a place as per your preferred time, collect a team and hop in for a bizarre experience at a reasonable price.
The pandemic has disrupted our lives and brought in a lot of mental health issues and family disruptions. Times have been hard in the lockdown. So if you wish to forget your problems, and escape your reality even for a short while, escape rooms are your kind of entertainment. You will be surprised to find how extraordinary and gifted your team members are. Within that 60 minutes, many twists and turns will make you shoot for the sun in pure euphoria. And once you visit your type of escape room, you will come to understand the hype behind this entertainment phenomenon. Only here can each person of the group feel that they themselves are the very part of the game. Everyone is a protagonist here, just as they are in their respective lives. It is a one-of-a-kind feeling, something which not all the regular folks end up enjoying. It is a true escape from realism for people who wish to do something different that isn’t possible in our usual and day to day life.
