
'Escape Rooms' Challenge Players To Solve Puzzles To Get Out - okfine
http://www.npr.org/2015/10/20/450239655/escape-rooms-challenge-players-to-solve-puzzles-to-get-out
======
peeters
So, my story about one of these. Had a great time; were on the verge of
winning. All of the puzzles had resulted in us finding a cellphone. We find
the 4-digit pin to unlock it. With a minute to go, we get into the phone and
find there's one new voicemail on the phone. We hold 1 for voicemail, and
hear:

"This account is currently out of funds. To complete this call, please add
credit to the account or place a collect call."

So the buzzer runs out as we are trying to remember how to make a collect call
(to voicemail no less).

Afterwards we asked the staffer how we were supposed to fetch the voicemail,
and she said "wait, there was a voicemail on the phone?" Turns out there was
also an already-read text message on the phone that we were supposed to look
at, but we were successfully red-herringed by some random person leaving a
message at the wrong number.

~~~
pavel_lishin
I feel like your staffer should have noticed what you were doing; every time
I've done one of these, the staffers were usually fairly attentive, and would
guide us away from the _inadvertent_ red herrings like this.

~~~
peeters
How was the setup for you? For us I think there were cameras in each room, and
a radio we could use to ask the staffer clarifications about the game itself.
But they weren't present in the room itself and I don't think they had audio.

I agree you need a hands on approach to guiding. For example, in the same game
we found a pencil but the lead was broken. So we asked "is the lead supposed
to be broken; if not I have a pen in my pocket..." and they gave an emphatic
"yes it's part of the challenge". So when other obstacles came up we of course
assumed they were part of the challenge too.

~~~
pavel_lishin
In every one I've done, there was a staffer present in the room; we were also
allowed to ask them three questions per game, and in one variant, each
question would dock us X minutes off the clock.

------
MikevHoenselaar
Currently there are almost 250 escaperooms in the Netherlands. With 1.7 new
escaperooms being added every month I can safely say it's going fast in the
Netherlands. Lots of great ones as well! The scene is a lot further than in
the rest of the world. US has +/\- 500 rooms. NL 250 :). And I know 10 more
rooms will open this year for sure.

I played my first room in 2013 and started working on our escaperoom platform
Escape Rooms Nederland beginning of this year. Biggest platform about
escaperooms with reviews, news and comparison. Played around 40 rooms myself.
Really love this phenomenon. Hopefully it will stick around. If you ever visit
the Netherlands and want to know the best one in your area. Let me know.

A new thing is growing popularity as well, Prison Island. You should check it
out as well.

~~~
speleding
I run an appointment scheduling site that is used by many escape rooms
(supersaas) so I have a pretty good overview where they start: The Netherlands
is indeed leading the pack but so far we are seeing many more in Europe than
in the US, and almost none in Asia.

Conversely, we see that the number of dog training classes in US is 5 times
higher than in Europe :-)

------
IvyMike
My girlfriend and I have gone to a bunch of these in LA. They range from
little strip mall places with a bunch of janky puzzles with poorly translated
instructions to fully decorated and themed rooms with actors moving the action
along. Check reviews on Yelp first.

If you want to jump in, one of my favorites is "Trapped in a room with a
zombie". They were featured on Big Bang Theory (don't hold this against them,
and the room is nothing like portrayed in the show) and it's really well done
--our zombie was hilarious. They have rooms in Boston, Chicago, Columbus,
Dallas, Denver, LA, NY, Philly, and Seattle:
[http://roomescapeadventures.com/](http://roomescapeadventures.com/)

In LA specifically, the Race/LA rooms are great:
[http://escaperoomla.com/](http://escaperoomla.com/) (Race/LA also puts on
scavenger hunts which are also worth a shot.)

(Not associated in any way with these rooms, just a huge fan of the concept.)

------
justifier
i had a friend invite me along to enjoy one of these rooms in nyc

the puzzle layout was such that there were some 30-40 individual steps that
needed to be taken that would culminate in a four digit combination

you then use the four digit combination on a lock securing the lid of a box
that contained a button that opened the exit

the lock was a wheel lock where each wheel had 7 faces, 0 to 6

about halfway through the game the group had found the first 2 values of the
combination

i explained to my friend that math could get us out

at 7 faces and four wheels your looking at:

    
    
      #!/usr/bin/env python3
      import itertools
      len(list(itertools.product("0123456",repeat=4))) #2401
    

but we were down to only two wheels left

    
    
      len(list(itertools.product("0123456",repeat=2))) #49
    

all we had to do was try the 49 different possibilities for the lock,
essentially brute forcing

my friend was ecstatic and encouraged me to do it, but when i went over to the
lock and started trying the different combinations a staffer came up to us and
stopped us asking:

    
    
      'do you really want to win that way?'
    

my friend and i laughed at the indirect math shaming and returned to the group
looking for clues

eventually the timer ran out before the group could solve all of the riddles
to find the last two digits of the combination

edit: copypasta err

~~~
jgrahamc
Wait, you used python, len, list, itertools to calculate 7 x 7?

More seriously, calculating 7 x 7 x 7 x 7 reminded me of this old blog post on
squaring two digit numbers in your head:
[http://blog.jgc.org/2010/03/squaring-two-digit-numbers-in-
yo...](http://blog.jgc.org/2010/03/squaring-two-digit-numbers-in-your-
head.html)

~~~
justifier
hardly necessary, the code is just meant to explain the reasoning with
manipulable variance

but i offer it to you for future use under the GPL

~~~
paulgb
Could I suggest a less restrictive license? :-)

~~~
kefka
I'm sorry. I have a patent on "Repeated addition for application of basic
combinatorial theory".

Pay up :)

------
anuj_nm
I've tried a bunch of these in Vancouver, Seattle and Mumbai. Most of them
have been incredible. If you're the kind of person who enjoys the rush of
solving puzzles under a timer, you would love this. Also, one set of rooms in
Vancouver hired set designers to build the rooms (making them very realistic),
and hired actors to help run the business. The actors really add to the
immersive experience since they pretend to be part of the puzzle. But yeah, I
don't understand how scalable the financial model is, since the owners would
have to keep recycling the rooms every few months.

~~~
xyzzyz
Recycling is really less necessary than it would seem. There are >50 escape
rooms in Warsaw. If I visit one every two weeks, I'd start running out of
options only after two years. Going to escape room twice a month is pretty
often anyway...

~~~
anuj_nm
I didn't realise that one city's market could be large enough to support that
many. In Vancouver I've only seen 5-6 of them, and in Mumbai where this just
started, I only know of one company running them. Yes, if you have >50,
recycling won't be a problem.

------
fredmonroe
Cool/clever escape room company in Denver...
[https://www.puzzah.com/](https://www.puzzah.com/)

One of the founders, Derek, is an interesting guy and built an impressive tech
stack that drives the rooms with a very high degree of automation. I think
most HN'ers would enjoy speaking with him about it.

~~~
thehigherlife
We did one of his puzzles while we were in Denver too and had a blast. He even
took some time after to discuss some of the tech.

------
asgard1024
In Czech Republic, we have many puzzle hunts per year. The "escape room" fad
also came here, it seems similar; I haven't tried it, but it seems really
overpriced.

Typical price for 20-hour puzzle hunt is about $3-5 per person. Escape room
costs 1 hour for about $30. The room is probably much better done, but I would
bet you would have more fun puzzle solving in a more traditional puzzle hunt.

~~~
dantheman
Are the puzzle hunts also available in English? Can you provide a link or two.
Id make a trip to do one. I love escape rooms.

~~~
nicolethenerd
MIT Mystery Hunt - [http://www.mit.edu/~puzzle/](http://www.mit.edu/~puzzle/)
happens every year in January. Afaik you don't need to be an MIT student to
participate

------
ChuckMcM
Seems a bit like Laser Tag for the 21st century. In general I think the space
of "real life + tech juice" sort of things is a pretty under-exploited market
segment. From pacman on the streets of NYC to Ingress to Puzzle Rooms to
Geocaching. It seems like a lot of different ways to take this.

~~~
pavel_lishin
Every one I've gone to, the "tech" was incredibly minimal.

~~~
ChuckMcM
To be fair the "tech" of laser tag is pretty minimal too :-) but its a fair
point. Makes me wonder if there is a business in making props for these rooms
with a bit more flash.

------
maaaats
I found a game like this in eastern Europe some years ago, and really loved
it. Ended up going to everyone I found in the city with my family.

Now most cities in Europe has them. Great activity for team-building. One
thing I find interesting is that everywhere these games show up, they top the
TripAdvisor rankings.

------
evan_
There was a Science Channel show that aired over the summer called "Race to
Escape" that followed two teams as they try to escape themed rooms using
clues- it was a lot of fun to watch, though the omnipotent cameras led to a
lot of yelling at the TV as you saw the obvious clue that the contestants kept
overlooking.

------
boucher
Here's the most popular company in SF that runs these:
[http://realescapegame.com/](http://realescapegame.com/)

They are an offshoot of the Japanese division. All of their games are really
well done. There are several other places in the bay area doing this now too,
this one in Richmond is also great:
[http://letsescapesf.com/](http://letsescapesf.com/)

~~~
arjie
We did the Time Travel one at Real Escape and it was great fun. Very exciting.
There's another at
[http://paniqentertainment.com/sanfrancisco](http://paniqentertainment.com/sanfrancisco)
that was all right. Definitely liked the Real Escape one more. The operators
all act as if they're part of the whole thing.

------
guard-of-terra
It does not have to be about escape. Why not find something in the room
instead, hidden behind set of puzzles?

Another popular thing is location games. You receive a book of puzzles in the
form of "find X on a street Y near house Z" (some unusual features). You then
need to solve travelling salesman problem while solving puzzles and recording
answers. Some puzzle sets are bike-oriented, some assume you travel by public
transport, some car-oriented.

------
Aardwolf
There are many flash games like this on the internet - but real life sounds
way cooler :)

I wonder now which came first, the computer games or the real life escape
rooms...

I saw another comment mentioning 4-digit codes. For some reason, every single
such computer game I played also involved a 4-digit code, as if that's some
kind of obligatory thing to have. So the 4-digit thing kind of lost its
originality, I wonder why it keeps being present in such games?

~~~
fallinghawks
I think the puzzle style in real-life rooms came from Japanese Flash games,
starting with Crimson Room, but I may be biased since the real-life rooms I've
played are run by Japanese/Asians.

(Are you aardwolf on eg24?)

------
dougdonohoe
There are 2 or 3 escape rooms in Cleveland and 2 in Pittsburgh. I've done one
in each city - they were decent, but in both cases many of the clues were for
3-digit combo locks which were easy to brute-force after getting some of the
clues. Working with strangers is also interesting (most have a 8 or 10 person
quota per room). Anyhow, they are pretty fun. It's like Myst in real life.

------
sambe
Really enjoy these but the quality varies immensely. In some they fail to
setup the equipment properly or have weird clues and it ruins the whole thing.
They are reasonably expensive (here 80-140EUR for an hour between 4-8 people).

It's been a massive fad for a year or more in Europe, seems like they have to
capitalise on as many TripAdvisor reviews as possible before it loses
popularity.

------
j_jochem
I beta-tested one of these in my town. Was quite a lot of fun, but our group
solved it too fast (I think we finished after 30 minutes while the room was
planned to take about 50 minutes to solve). They fixed this afterwards.

The fast-paced group problem solving is quite enjoyable, although I still
think it's not worth the 20 € / person they usually ask.

~~~
qntm
I find one of the most fascinating questions about constructing an escape room
is how exactly you calibrate the difficulty for different groups of people.
Some people will finish the room in 30 minutes like you, but others will be
totally stumped after 50 minutes despite it being the exact same room.

Both of the rooms I've done had a hints system so a staff member overseeing
the game through cameras could send a hint any time we dropped significantly
behind schedule.

One of them had a two-room system where you had to solve the first room to get
to the second room, and in the second room I believe one or two of the locks
had been unlocked ahead of time manually by a staff member, based on how
quickly we solved the first room.

Of course every time anybody takes the challenge you acquire more data, and
keeping an eye on the emerging patterns must be absolutely critical to
engineer an enjoyable challenge for the maximum number of different people.
Metrics!

------
peeters
I've done one of these, and what I found myself was that the challenge wasn't
just solving the problem, but also promoting a social dynamic that allowed
everyone to participate in the problem solving.

That meant being intentionally ignorant to certain aspects of the puzzles to
force participation from the quieter people in the group.

------
MIKarlsen
Holy moly. I had no idea this was such a hot topic. I tried "HintHunt" in
London two years ago and loved it. Back in Aarhus, Denmark where I'm from, we
just got our own version called "Escape Factory". I'm gonna try it with work
in a few weeks.

I would seem like something that could easily be turned into a good business
given the popularity-level, and the ability to simply franchise the concept on
a global scale with the same rooms and structures. Only "problem" would
perhaps be that it's not something you do again and again, which would either
mean rooms would have to be retired or that your business-model would have to
rely heavily on activating new customers over and over.

------
leesalminen
I've taken my company twice to the Enigma rooms in Boulder. We made it out
both times, had a blast and learned more about each other's strength and
weaknesses.

I think I had the most fun sitting back and watching everyone come together
and solve a problem.

------
spencertg1
Cluequest is a great puzzle room in london. I wasn't that excited about doing
it but once you're inside with some friends it gets super competitive and
fun!! Really interesting business problem as well about how to maintain
interest and grow customer lifetime value. Possibly a problem that could be
solved by super fast iteration of rooms so that a customer is never going to
need to do the same room twice.......? I guess it is much like any theme park.
You need to continuously update and improve the attractions.

------
zarvox
For folks looking for escape rooms all over the world: take a look at
[http://escaperoomdirectory.com/](http://escaperoomdirectory.com/)

------
anonu
The article says "And everyone has to put their phones away and everyone has
to interact with each other". I've done two escape the rooms in NYC (got out
both times just in the nick of time btw). In both cases the cellphones were
instrumental, whether it was for searching or reading QR codes for example. I
don't think you should go into some of these rooms thinking you can't use your
phone since in many cases you need it.... (short of searching for a
walkthrough which is cheating IMHO)

------
ragebol
Escape rooms are great fun! I did a couple, in Den Bosch and Nijmegen,
Netherlands.

Tip: don't go to a new one directly but only after a few months or so, so that
the room can be tested and tuned in difficulty. Also, wear and tear can reveal
some clues and correct solutions, so in those few months, everything gets
tried and thus the overall wear and tear masks the correct solutions.

It's expensive though, 20€/person for an hour or less if you're fast is
relatively steep.

------
arbitrage314
I just did the one in Nashville. It was a lot of fun, but it was very
expensive (~$35), and they also made us solve the puzzle with a bunch of
strangers (in order to fill up the room entirely).

The good part of this is that they're making $280 per hour (8 x $35) off of
their escape room, and at those prices, there should be many, many more of
them soon (which will bring down the price to its equilibrium, which I assume
is far lower).

~~~
hellbanner
Right -- though that is $280 per hour that they're booked. I'm guessing these
don't have repeat business very much, unfortunately (I think the concept is
awesome!)

This is one of my favorite online escape games:

[http://jayisgames.com/games/sagrarios-
room/index.php](http://jayisgames.com/games/sagrarios-room/index.php)

~~~
fallinghawks
This is a really good one, but I think Neutral is pretty much the champion.
[http://neutralxe.net/esc/index.html](http://neutralxe.net/esc/index.html)

------
syaz1
Went to a few of these in Malaysia. Really good for team building but the
challenge itself is either too hard or too easy. There is no replay value
either because the staffs are so eager to spoil the solutions and tricks after
a game.

Definitely give it a try though. Go to the bigger ones because they tend to
have space for neat tricks like sliding door/book shelves etc.

------
wgh000
In Milan, Italy, this summer also the Escape Room trend exploded and 12
companies opened with one or more rooms. We have been in
[http://www.effugio.it](http://www.effugio.it) and
[http://enigmaroom.it](http://enigmaroom.it) Really nice!

------
edc117
Definitely need to plan a trip to see one or two of these with a few friends.

I'd love to see something like this done with the Occulus or some similar VR
platform, though I doubt it'd have the thrill of the actual experience.

------
valdiorn
Is this not a huge thing yet in america? I've done like six or seven of these
here in London. Most of them are good fun. There seem to be new ones starting
up every month as well.

~~~
scheda
Not yet, but they're getting to be. I've seen a few pop up for Halloween this
year then there's a few touristy cities out there that permanently have them.

------
listic
I've just been handed a flyer for escape room here in St.-Petersburg, Russia.
Didn't know it's such a popular _thing_ in the world right now.

------
crazcarl
I highly recommend visiting Mr X in Shanghai if you have the opportunity. It
blew the two that I've done in the US out of the water.

------
fisk
'"This is something that someone in their early 20s or late 20s or early 30s
can go do with their friends," Ressel says.'

I get that everyone still goes after the 'cool' demographic narrowly like
sheep, but I hope he felt really foolish for saying that out loud. Of course,
if his name is Kayden, he's likely very young and his dad has money and he may
not have that sort of perspective/awareness at all yet.

~~~
shostack
What point are you trying to make exactly? Targeting that demographic makes a
ton of business sense. These are young people who like to go out and have fun
with their friends and have disposable income. They are also typically tech
savvy and are likely to spread the word through social channels, leave Yelp
reviews, etc.

That isn't "going after the 'cool' demographic narrowly like sheep." It's
knowing which target audience to focus on to maximize the chance of success
for your business.

While you could make an educated assumption about his age based on how common
that name is among certain demographics, the jab about "his dad has money" is
just plain trolling, based on absolutely nothing in the article, and adds zero
value to the conversation.

From the article: "It's a social thing to do on a Friday night that isn't
going to a bar and getting drunk. And everyone has to put their phones away
and everyone has to interact with each other."

We need more of this kind of thinking and less jealous whining like the parent
poster.

~~~
shard
Although Fisk was a bit overzealous I'm his attack on the statement, I do
agree on his point about the ageism implicit in that statement. I don't see
anything about escape rooms which makes people above early 30s unsuited as
customers. If the person had said "This is something that white and Asian
people can go do with their friends", or "This is something that men can go do
with their friends", it would sound segregating and uninviting, and I submit
that saying "This is soemthing that someone in their early 20s or late 20s or
early 30s can go do with their friends" is just as segregating and uninviting.

------
trentmb
Man, I don't think I'm clever enough to enjoy these.

How often do they resort to P&C adventure game logic?

------
regehr
HintHunt in Paris is awesome.

~~~
MIKarlsen
Tried London - was also a blast!

Going to the local "Escape Factory" in Aarhus, Denmark in a few weeks with
work. Fairly new location with a "Enigma" (WW2) themed room. Hope it can
deliver!

------
panglott
So this is like True Dungeon gone mainstream?

------
Yhippa
Any recommended good ones in Washington DC?

~~~
thoth
There are several choices.

I've been to the DC Escape Room Live, but not the Alexandria, VA site:
[https://www.escaperoomlive.com/](https://www.escaperoomlive.com/)

I've also been to the MD suburbs for Zombie Escape Room (this was in College
Park, MD when we did it but it looks like it relocated):
[http://www.charmcityroomescapes.com/](http://www.charmcityroomescapes.com/)

Of those two, my group enjoyed the Zombie escape a lot more. That's because
the actress playing the zombie was excellent and she provided the extra
challenge of avoid contact and slowly reaching more and more of the room.

There is also Escape Artists DC, with 3 different setups:
[http://www.escapeartistdc.com/](http://www.escapeartistdc.com/)

I haven't been to that one yet.

Again in the MD suburbs, my friends and I are about to go to this one
literally next weekend, Escape This Live:
[http://www.escapethislive.com/mainpage1/](http://www.escapethislive.com/mainpage1/)

And there are two more I haven't checked out yet:

Great Escape Room DC: [http://thegreatescaperoom.com/washington-
d-c/](http://thegreatescaperoom.com/washington-d-c/)

Escape the Room DC:
[http://www.escapetheroomdc.com/index.html](http://www.escapetheroomdc.com/index.html)

------
antonmaju
Zero Escape in real life sounds awesome

