Where Did Escape Rooms Originate?
If you were to play every escape room in the world back to back non-stop it would take you approximately 6 years to play all them all. Escape rooms originated in Japan during the mid 2000’s. Some say that it was the 2004 computer game ‘Crimson Room’, created by Toshimitsu Takagi which kickstarted the craze.
This was the first online ‘escape-the-room’ game that featured the concept of being alone in a room and solving puzzles.
However, the first live escape room which resembles the current team format was created in 2007 by Takao Kato and the company SCRAP. Escape rooms then spread across Europe and America. In 2012 the first Escape Room in Europe, ParaPark was opened. Shortly after, in 2013 our company Fox in a Box was first established in Vienna, Austria and thus our escape room experience began.
How Have Escape Rooms Changed Over Time?
Escape rooms have transformed from their initial video game concept to the currently popular live escape room format. Owners and designers began using simple paper clues and boxes locked with combination padlocks.
The demand for immersion and integration along with the benefits of technology have allowed creators to evolve past the simple puzzle-padlock style. Now rooms can contain anything from electronic locks, smoke machines, lazers, hidden trapdoors, secret chambers to help players feel like the heroes of their own immersive reality.However, the evolution of the escape room does not end there. Predominantly thanks to COVID, the escape room industry has had to adapt and grow even more. This has led creators to develop online escape rooms. Another emerging Escape Room industry is connecting with board gamers. Creators are also developing Escape Room Games that come in a tabletop box that you can play and solve from the comfort of your home.
What Will Happen to the Escape Room Industry?
It seems that escape rooms are here to stay. They can transform from being a fun team-building experience with your friends to an online or at-home form of entertainment. Escape Rooms have quickly emerged as a recreational entertainment industry leader and a massive boost for tourism markets across the globe. Players love the opportunity to immersive themselves in a live action story in which they emerge as the heroes.
Be it online, at a home, or in person Escape Rooms will only continue to evolve, adapt, and improve.
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