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FACTS ABOUT ESCAPE ROOMS YOU WOULDN’T EXPECT

Crazy escape room idea: What is an Escape Room?

There is an Escape room built in the Opera Theatre, where players had to run through these long corridors, visit artists’ rooms, and touch different theater things. The plot was based on a performance players had seen 2–3 days before embarking upon the game—a vivid representation of the concept of escape room.


Another Crazy Escape Room Idea and Escape Room Tips

Another crazy escape room idea was situated in a hospital. Players found themselves enveloped in it at night, surrounded by a plethora of fake zombies. It was a harrowing experience in a dark, cold environment—a perfect example for those seeking escape room tips on handling intense settings. 

Other Interesting Locations of Escape Rooms: What are Escape Rooms?

  • A barn sculpted to emulate a Western town aesthetic (Escape Maze, Peterborough, Ontario),
  • A decommissioned military edifice (Room Escape Amsterdam),
  • An antiquated, neglected structure (Breakroom, Vilnius, Lithuania),
  • A historic stock exchange building (Sherlocked Mystery Experiences, Amsterdam),

Escape Rooms May Be Dangerous, But Are Generally Safe: Concept of Escape Room

Escape rooms, as a rule, prioritize safety. Even potentially perilous objects like knives, saws, or incendiary materials are most often replicas. Thus, even if one harbors intentions to inflict harm upon oneself or others, the concept of escape room safety measures will inhibit such actions.

The Presence of Oversight in Escape Rooms

There was an unfortunate incident involving a chemical reactant that instigated a fire in Poland. However, the crux of the issue was not intrinsic to the escape room per se but was attributable solely to supervisory negligence.

In escape rooms, consistent surveillance and managerial presence are assured. Thus, even if complications arise, expedited assistance is virtually guaranteed.

How to Create Your Own Escape Room: What is an Escape Room?

To craft your very own escape game—a masterstroke in the concept of escape room—adhere to the following structured steps:

  1. Decide on a Theme: Ordinarily, this is inspired by popular movies, television series, or literary works.
  2. Craft a Narrative: Delve deeply into what mission players are required to accomplish, the roles they will assume, and the underlying rationale for their confinement within the escape room—necessitating their quest for a route of egress.
  3. Design Puzzles: Contemplate judiciously on which puzzles to incorporate, their allotted duration, volume, and the various levels of complexity. An eclectic blend of puzzles enhances the richness of escape games; these can range from logical and mathematical to physical and visual exercises.

Note: The standard configuration encompasses 10–15 puzzles, each assigned a 5-minute resolution window. This would be beneficial for those seeking escape room tips on puzzle design.

Escape room in Chicago Westchester

Why Do People Engage in Escape Rooms? Survey Data Explores What are Escape Rooms


According to the scientific survey, the owners of escape rooms were asked what their inspiration was to start an escape room. About 65% of the survey respondents said that their inspiration came from playing in or learning about another escape room, especially from such famous places as SCRAP from Japan, Parapark in Budapest, Hinthunt in London and Escape the Room in NYC. Their inspiration came from a variety of sources. A few of them were inspired by adventure movies like the Indiana Jones series or horror films like Cube, Saw.More of them were inspired by prior forms of interactive media; exploring these sources paints a more robust history of the escape room phenomenon.

Who Participates in Escape Games? A Comprehensive Survey


About 37% of groups are groups of players over 21 about 14% of players are families with parents and children, while 19% are groups of players under 21. Corporate clients make up about 19% of the customers for escape rooms, and 11% of groups are couples out on a date. That said, in Asia, the Escape rooms are more likely to attract groups of only younger players (about 36% of users) than groups of adults (25%).

Source: Nicholson, S. (2015). Peeking behind the locked door: A survey of escape room facilities.

Theme of an Escape Game: A Comprehensive Survey

Horror themes are more popular in Asia, with 24% of the reported rooms having a Horror theme. The most popular theme in Europe is a specific time and place from the last century, while the rooms from Asia and the Americas, intriguingly, lean more towards modern-day settings.

Modern Era (2000-2015) 25%

Specific place and time (1900-2000) 24%

Other 16%

Specific place and time (1700-1900) 13%

Horror 13%

Fantasy 12%

Science / Laboratory 12%

Abstract: There is no theme 10%

Future / Technological 7%

Military 7%

Toy Room 3%

Cartoon/Anime 1%

Steampunk 1%

Seasonal (Christmas, Halloween, Easter, etc.) 1%  

Source: Nicholson, S. (2015). Peeking behind the locked door: A survey of escape room facilities.

Concepts of Escape Rooms: A Deeper Dive

The most ubiquitous concept was, quite simply, to escape a room. About 16% of the rooms offered no narrative other than “What is an Escape Room?”, requiring participants to “Escape the Room.” Meanwhile, 30% focused on the concept of escaping a distinct location, thereby integrating a theme. Beyond this core concept of escape rooms, the motifs varied extensively, as elaborated in the subsequent table.

Overall Escape a Specific Unpleasant Place (Dungeon, Prison, Preschool, etc.) 30%

Abstract: There is no overarching narrative other than “Escape the Room” 16%

Investigate a Crime or Mystery 9%

Engage with the supernatural 8%

Solve the Murder 5%

Defuse the explosive device 5%

Be an Adventurer 4%

Gather Intelligence or Espionage 4%

Carry out a Heist 4%

Other 3%

Find the Missing Person 3%

Help Create Something (such as a cure, a potion, etc.) 2%

Military Operations 2%

Free another person or animal 2%

Survive! 1%

Source: Nicholson, S. (2015). Peeking behind the locked door: A survey of escape room facilities.

Plan an Idyllic Weekend in Oak Brook: Your Guide

Oak Brook is a wonderful place near western part of Chicago, in a village in DuPage County with a marginal area in Cook County, Illinois.

Renowned for its shopping precinct—the Oakbrook Center—it’s strategically positioned near Interstate 88 and Route 83. Inaugurated in 1962, this commercial haven ranks as the second-largest shopping hub in the entire Chicago metropolitan expanse.

Located just 30 minutes from downtown, this outdoor retail hotspot in Chicago’s western suburbs is the ideal  for watching a movie, enjoying numerous entertainment facilities and relaxing spa treatment.

Current anchor stores include Lord & Taylor, Macy’s, Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom and Sears. Other major retailers include Apple, Crate & Barrel, Mark Shale, Microsoft, Pottery Barn, Tesla and Pinstripes. The center also has more than 25 restaurants, like Antico Posto, Cheesecake Factory, The Clubhouse, Corner Bakery, Maggiano’s Little Italy, Mon Ami Gabi, Reel Club, Stir Crazy and Wildfire.

The Oak Brook shopping center is surrounded by gardens filled with flowers, fountains, trees and ponds, this open-air center attracts a wide customer base from the entire Chicago metropolitan area and the Midwest.

Oak Brook Promenade: An Oasis of Elegance

Beautiful shopping center with  European style architecture, which provides retail, restaurant and café space. The center has a wide area for walking, a beautiful pond with walking trail, outdoor seating, and fascinating landscape.  Main shops are:  Allen Edmonds, Arhaus Furniture, Helzberg Diamonds, Joseph A. Bank, Select Comfort and Thomasville Furniture, Fusion Academy. Promenade restaurants include Omaha Steaks, La Barra, Kona Grill, Labriola Bakery and Café and McCormick & Schmick’s.

Elevate Your Chicago Weekend with FocusTimeEscape: An Unmissable Experience

If your weekend plans include an excursion to downtown Chicago, consider augmenting your itinerary with a visit to FocusTimeEscape in Westchester, situated in close proximity to the Oak Brook Center.

What is an Escape Room: Unveiling Its Intricacies and Celebrating World’s Pinnacle Concepts

Escape room (or Escape game, also puzzle game, adventure game, breakout room) is a modern innovative immersive attraction in the form of puzzles which should be solved in the locked room during particular time, usually 60 minutes. The goal is to find the answer to a problem or mystery and way out from the locked room.

The first this concept was proposed in 2003 in USA (Indianapolis). The room was called True Dungeon, in which there were combinations of mental and physical puzzles to accomplish a goal in a limited amount of time and game rules are based on the third edition of Dungeons & Dragons.

After that the idea spread though the world, especially in Kyoto (Japan) in 2007, in Australia and Singapore by the 2011 and other countries.

In 2012 a Swiss physics professor created a scientific escape game for his students. The game was later offered to the public under the name of Adventure Rooms and distributed as a franchise in twenty countries. The Adventure Rooms introduced scientific puzzles (e.g. hidden infrared or polarized codes).

By November 2019, there were estimated to be over 50,000 escape rooms worldwide.

Japan

Japan is one of the countries where the concept developed quickly and broadly.   The first real-life escape game was created by Takao Kato in Kyoto in 2007. Mr. Kato took inspiration from the “escape the room” video games and later his idea spread over the world including Budapest, Bern, Australia, San Francisco, Seattle, St. Louis, New York City, and Nashville with a name real escape game established by company SCRAP and it’s branches.

In Tokyo you may find escape room called InSPYre, spy-themed escape game, where you need to enter the secret base of a criminal organization called Black-Max.  There are 4 missions to solve a puzzle of enemy’s plan. Each task duration is only 10 minutes.

More Japanese like escape game is called Nazobako and located in Tokyo Asakusa. You may choose from games   “Zen”, “Samurai Espionage” and “A Winter’s Tale: The Secret Curse of Ice” and  become a real samurai in Edo period. You may even wear special costumes and take a photo as a souvenir.

USA 

In USA there are around 2,350 escape room facilities  (2019 year data). The first one was opened in the United States in San Francisco, California. Though in 2012 there were only few such facilities, the idea incredibly spread by 2015 and become a great alternative to Halloween haunted houses as escape rooms are opened  during the whole year.

There are some outstanding  ideas like escape game to retrieve a stolen piece of art (The Heist, Nashville), to finish homework in a school (Playground, Dallas), to change the course of history on  Titanic as a crew member (Titanic Escape Room, California).

The hardest escape room in the world is located in USA and is called Caretaker. Deep within the dark recesses of the forests in Oregon lies an evil like no other. A disbarred geneticist has unleashed giant wolf-like creates onto the town of Fair Oaks. Deep within these same woods lives a hermit the locals have come to know as The Caretaker and you need to help him to find a solution.

The scariest room in the world is The Basement located in California, USA. Ranked as a top of horror escape room where you need to escape a cannibalistic murderer played by a live actor. 

source: https://thebasementla.com/

And we propose an interesting escape room called FocusTimeEscape, located in Westchester, Chicago, IL. with original and impressive Area 51—a government laboratory. It is widely believed that certain experimentation has been taking place within area 51, specifically the attempt to exchange human blood with undocumented fluids for some bizarre medical research. These alleged experimentation may be nothing more than media hype, however some say there is more going on. You must make a certain discovery and find out the truth behind Area 51.

World

Other interesting escape room ideas:

SHERLOCKED in Amsterdam, Netherlands – escape room is inside an actual bank vault, you have 90 minutes to steal a mysterious item from inside it.

ESCAPE BOATS-SOS (Ireland) – the first ever live escape room on a boat now open in Dublin’s city center in Grand Canal Dock.

ESCHATOLOGY – the world’s fastest growing escape-the-room franchise, located in  Florida, Texas and Chile. It is a high adrenaline escape game where players are locked inside a themed room and must complete their mission before time runs out.