11–20 of 97 posts
If they could name a single other incident then I might have thought the author actually tried.
You just walk out the door you came in normally, don't see there being an issue.
In Poland they reported "the girls died from carbon monoxide asphyxiation." so it's not even clear to me they were even trying to get out.
Poor form for the Economist.
Honestly I fail to see their appeal. I did one and it was so boring. I think the main “appeal” is that it locks you in a room where everyone is forced to actually interact and not just stare at their phones. It seems to be mostly used for corporate outings or clubs, where people aren’t quite comfortable with each other yet. I’m thinking it would also be good for group dates. But for with your real friends with whom y…
Personally, I see the "Escape Room" boom as something akin to the "Fondue Party" craze in the 70's. It's a fun social outing... once. Eventually there won't be enough new customers to sustain the business model and they will disappear almost as quickly as they arrived. I'm sure there are better example, particularly ones from the entertainment industry booms of the 1920's and 1950's but I just can't think of any off…
I could hear the same concerns against that as OP delivered here. And to be fair that's something that is more successful in some places and much less so in others.
Other places, like casinos or top golf or laser tag or Dave and Buster's... I know some people who love them and others it's kind of a one time experience.
Fad to enduring cultural pastime is a wide spectrum, and we tend to maintain lots of options with niche followings.
Honestly I fail to see their appeal. I did one and it was so boring. I think the main “appeal” is that it locks you in a room where everyone is forced to actually interact and not just stare at their phones. It seems to be mostly used for corporate outings or clubs, where people aren’t quite comfortable with each other yet. I’m thinking it would also be good for group dates. But for with your real friends with whom y…
The real challenge with the industry, unlike a lot of others, is the lack of replayability. This makes the industry rather unique and requires more operators to fill a given level of demand in a metro region than other similar options.
But god I hope the industry keeps growing or it'll be back to wine tasting or skeet shooting or all day resort retreats. Ugh.
> are explicitly about not having an easy way out Really? I've done a dozen and in every single one, you could simply exit back from the door you entered from. The rooms were never truly about "escaping", at least past the lore and story. They are about searching for clues and solving puzzles. I've never been in one where we were explicitly locked inside. Generally you just make your way through and exit out a differ…
> One survey of escape rooms by Scott Nicholson of the Wilfrid Laurier University in Canada found that in 43% of European escape-room players, once locked in, are dependent on staff outside the room. Some venues in eastern Europe even handcuff escapees to the scenery, as part of the challenge.
I can't read the full article but it the preview seems oddly mixed in whether its talking about how there are fire hazards vs. how they're a successful business model. Either way, I enjoy them. I do, however, think the business model could be a lot more scalable. Content providers should seek to either use the same space for multiple games, or use the same game across multiple scenarios. This would be a great use cas…
There was a hackathon project I saw a couple years ago where you had to defuse a bomb in VR. Not quite an escape room project but the potential there is clear.
Honestly I fail to see their appeal. I did one and it was so boring. I think the main “appeal” is that it locks you in a room where everyone is forced to actually interact and not just stare at their phones. It seems to be mostly used for corporate outings or clubs, where people aren’t quite comfortable with each other yet. I’m thinking it would also be good for group dates. But for with your real friends with whom y…
Maybe you got a bad one. As someone who has done a dozen, there's definitely a wide range in term of quality, but the good ones can tickle the puzzle solving itch really well. This is coming from someone who has played almost every puzzle video game out there. It's definitely not for everyone, and I'll say, I personally like it better when there's only 1 or 2 others in the room; more than that gets too hectic for me.
> are explicitly about not having an easy way out Really? I've done a dozen and in every single one, you could simply exit back from the door you entered from. The rooms were never truly about "escaping", at least past the lore and story. They are about searching for clues and solving puzzles. I've never been in one where we were explicitly locked inside. Generally you just make your way through and exit out a differ…
True, but the genre/medium itself is broader than the conventions some have settled upon. The sense of being trapped is another sub-genre / experience that escape rooms can offer. Sounds like that's more popular in the European escape rooms, with all the negative safety implications: > One survey of escape rooms by Scott Nicholson of the Wilfrid Laurier University in Canada found that in 43% of European escape-room p…
https://edition.cnn.com/2019/01/04/europe/teens-die-poland-e...
Currently in Poland authorities starting to look into possible regulations to make escape rooms safer
Whenever I see anything about modern escape rooms, I always remember Crystal Maze, a fantastic game show from the 90s in the UK. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Crystal_Maze
More detailed description: https://web.archive.org/web/20050305152830/http://alumni.ox....
I remember being impressed by "Sensor Cell". And some games had one player operating some interface while only the rest of the team could see what was going on, so they had to shout instructions (like the TV show "Knightmare"). I think that's good design.
I'd like to see something like this again, but I don't think it would be commercially viable without a popular license. Bowling and laser tag are both cheaper to build and have more replay value.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
True, but the genre/medium itself is broader than the conventions some have settled upon. The sense of being trapped is another sub-genre / experience that escape rooms can offer. Sounds like that's more popular in the European escape rooms, with all the negative safety implications: > One survey of escape rooms by Scott Nicholson of the Wilfrid Laurier University in Canada found that in 43% of European escape-room p…
> with all the negative safety implications https://edition.cnn.com/2019/01/04/europe/teens-die-poland-e... Currently in Poland authorities starting to look into possible regulations to make escape rooms safer