The Evolution of Escape Games | Riddle Rooms Blog (2024)

Live escape games continually evolve ever since the first one was set up. Legend has it it opened in Japan on the back burner of the computer game’s success, then fast exported to the US, and not much later the first ever European one opened in Budapest, Hungary.

Opinions differ of course on what exactly separates successive generations of games – just because there are padlocks in a game it still can be any generation, and just because the whole game is more of a high-tech gadgets exhibition than anything else, it is not necessarily the latest generation. Let's call the evolution “trends” or “genres” instead, shall we?

First generation – let's do it in real life

Computer screens translated to the real thing. Simple settings, cheap scenery, loads of keys and padlocks, no story or theme. Installations more often than not took advantage of location and space, often a cellar, storage area of larger buildings, a bit dirty, a bit wet, however exciting.

Keys found opened old suitcases from flea markets, small pieces of furnitures from charity stores, padlocks from grandpa’s workshop. Games were fairly linear – one opened compartment led to the next one, and the next one, and finally the key of the door found, game over.

Poor? Not at all. Good puzzles, clever flow, thrilling old pieces of equipments, loads of creativity, absolute immersion in so far as the players had to DO, try, fidget, touch, as well as THINK and make multiple remote associations.

Since these games were the direct copies of the online game, there was a whole lot of searching and finding things in hidden places, and less riddles to solve.

Generation 2 – add a theme and story

The concept of “immersion” were applied first to the games when the scenery started to get more thought through, conceptional and higher spec – sofas and chairs did not collapse, decorations and stylish accessories appeared in game rooms. And the scene setting improved a great deal: you were put in a setting, a story if you will “You are trapped by a serial killer who will come kill you in 60 minutes unless you figure out a way to escape sooner"…

Even though at this point, the actual game content, the puzzles, the riddles, the to-do elements in the flow more often than not had no relation to the cover story, there was an atmosphere that the room decoration tried to create. You were in an abandoned hospital, Sherlock Holmes' office, and so on.

Games also started to become less linear and more matrix-structured, multiple activities simultaneously so that groups of 5 or 6 get engaged and occupied for the whole hour play time.

At Riddle Rooms, second generation games were in fact more like a bridge towards the third wave – we had stories, not just as a scene setting feature but a truly weaved-in script that follows the game flow, with theme-fitting riddles and clues, where teams need to crack the mystery in addition to simply “escaping”.

Generation 3 – technology takes part

Not much later contemporary technology was introduced to the game experience. Magnetic locks, remote controlled lighting, computer assisted interactions, simple electronic controls and gadgets. At the same time, scenery also improved, purpose-build installations, new furniture, stylish fit-out – more money in, higher prices for playing in return.

These "gen 3" games combine the use of keys, and coded padlocks, as well as magnetic locks, purpose-built fancy tech solutions and otheer clues sometimes written on paper, laminated, or on wooden panels to fit a theme.

At Riddle Rooms, this is the generation we believe in and follow. We blend the story, the classical a-ha experience and the technology induced thrill. We see that customers love to play games with this mixed approach, where they can enjoy the sense of achievement from finding a key and opening a padlock themselves, as well as having the wow-factor when a surprise, out-of-the-box prop becomes apparent. We recommend you to try our Amnesia, Spy or Wild West Room to understand what we really mean. 🙂

Generation 4 – no locks and keys

You'll find escape rooms that call themselves "Gen 4", and they mean that their games have no locks or keys. Everything relies on magnetic looks.

If it's done well, it can surely be an interesting experience. However, we have tried many of these games ourselves, and came to the conclusion, that this approach is actually less enjoyable and more prone to things going wrong.

We've played games that looked great, and for what the theme was, it was more immersive not to have locks (ancient mayan tomb, for instance), but one hiccup with the tech (that's often on one circuit), and the whole game can be messed up. Often in these games when you solve something, somewhere a door opens. If this is not accompanied by loud sound effect and a visually popping door, it can actually be tricky to know if a) we even solved the task or b) what opened as a result.

At Riddle Rooms, you will only find Gen 3 games, and no tech-only rooms.

Total Immersion

Needless to say, scenery, installation continue to evolve, theatre settings appear, popular movies are copied (often with massive copyright infringements), higher spec electronics and controls installed invisibly.

We do believe, however, that there is a fine balance to be found to offer thee best experiences. We don't think that only those with those with loads of money to stage Hollywood level rooms will prevail and the small family ventures cease to exist. Why?

Because the key is the STORY of the game, which is live and active all the way through, puzzles, logic, game flow, props and ambiance, sound effects, scent effects are all in complete cohesion to provide customers the “total immersion”. Which of course are supported by excellent moderators. I mean, at the good escape rooms, of course...

Some escape room venues fell into the trap of believing the key was the setting in and by itself. They spent tons of money to build them, and didn't bother putting together game good enough to last more than 20 minutes for seasoned escapees...

Others, to make the investment worthwhile, tried to cut back on running costs, ie., the moderators. Beautiful games were run by game moderators who had to support 3, 4 or even 5 teams in different rooms at the same time... Help was not timely or relevant and the game experience suffered.

At Riddle Rooms, we believe in creating immersive stories in "wow" settings that still allow us to provide dedicated moderator support. Expect all our games to be more than a nice theme - you will need to escape with answers to whodunnit/what the heck happened here and why...