I was really fascinated by the industry, so I got into it and eventually built my own as a side project ( http://StartupEscape.com ) It can be a good business if you have a few rooms. There's two types of people who get into it: passionate people, and people who buy designs online for a decent revenue. The latter makes more money, but there's some amazing escape rooms that are Disney-parks-level. Unfortunately, escap…
We went to one escape room is a super sketchy part of town. It looked like an old abandoned business. I imagine rent was super cheap. The escape room was awesome. One of the best I've been to.
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
I loved the Crystal Maze as a kid. It started back up again a couple years ago. It's now hosted by Richard Ayoade.
What people did before there were fire code ? How did they get out ?
They died. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/312511670/figure/fi...
But how much of that is due to "fire code" ? Compare it with lawless parts of the world. You would find that horrible-ness is going down everywhere. China advanced only after having less laws. Whats common in all these instances ? Economic freedom. More economic freedom means more prosparity. "fire code" are only good at taking credit.
I was really fascinated by the industry, so I got into it and eventually built my own as a side project ( http://StartupEscape.com ) It can be a good business if you have a few rooms. There's two types of people who get into it: passionate people, and people who buy designs online for a decent revenue. The latter makes more money, but there's some amazing escape rooms that are Disney-parks-level. Unfortunately, escap…
We went to one escape room is a super sketchy part of town. It looked like an old abandoned business. I imagine rent was super cheap. The escape room was awesome. One of the best I've been to.
Mine is in SF, in the Tenderloin. There's a few reasons! First is that rent is cheaper. But more importantly, the landlords are more flexible. In a nicer area, landlords would prefer a restaurant or shop, with 5-10 year lease. Nobody wants to sign a 5-10 year lease for escape rooms, since there's not a lot of replay-ability. Also, escape rooms require weird build outs and permits, so landlords of nicer areas prefer not to deal with it. Lastly, since most escape rooms traditionally are one-off, there's no existing credit scores or bank accounts. Why go with a random person with a scary sounding "escape room" when you can get a chain store or restaurant?
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
You may know this already, but there are now several Crystal Maze attractions around the UK.
We did the one in Islington for a work away day, it was pretty sweet. Just about worked for me and I watched the show back in the 90s ...
I was really fascinated by the industry, so I got into it and eventually built my own as a side project ( http://StartupEscape.com ) It can be a good business if you have a few rooms. There's two types of people who get into it: passionate people, and people who buy designs online for a decent revenue. The latter makes more money, but there's some amazing escape rooms that are Disney-parks-level. Unfortunately, escap…
Went to Startup Escape last week with my team! It was a lot of fun :)
I was really fascinated by the industry, so I got into it and eventually built my own as a side project ( http://StartupEscape.com ) It can be a good business if you have a few rooms. There's two types of people who get into it: passionate people, and people who buy designs online for a decent revenue. The latter makes more money, but there's some amazing escape rooms that are Disney-parks-level. Unfortunately, escap…
I was thinking on the idea as a possible business, but it seemed like the best way to make money would be to own the land and commercially zoned real-estate is very expensive
It's a decent business but not a great investment. You can only get X people through a room per month, so your profit has a cap. Rooms are expensive to build ($20k to buy one, $30-200k to build one), and they have a two year shelf life before you see a huge drop in traffic. Whereas a restaurant can be timeless, escape rooms need lots of updating. Unless you have multiple rooms (aka get people to come back a few times) or multiple cities (move escape rooms every few years to another city), it's a decent business but won't make you rich.
I was really fascinated by the industry, so I got into it and eventually built my own as a side project ( http://StartupEscape.com ) It can be a good business if you have a few rooms. There's two types of people who get into it: passionate people, and people who buy designs online for a decent revenue. The latter makes more money, but there's some amazing escape rooms that are Disney-parks-level. Unfortunately, escap…
Went to Startup Escape last week with my team! It was a lot of fun :)
I saw you signed up and meant to email you! I don't run it day to day, but I check every so often to see if companies I like play :) glad you had fun!
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…
What city are you in? I can look at some internal ratings spreadsheets and find you a good one in your area! They're very hit or miss, and I've done some truly horrible ones before.
