What is an Escape Room?

What is an Escape Room?

An escape room is a sort of live adventure as a group which puts to the test your teambuilding abilities and the skills of each member of the team.  Usually, each game is set in a different make-believe world which players must explore to get to grips with the story and the objectives to be met. They have to investigate, look for clues and overcome a series of tests generally involving logic and brains, such as riddles and puzzles, although it may also involve some physical activity.

They have different names:  escape room, room escape, escape game, etc., thus called because traditionally the game consists in players locked in a room that they have to escape from. That’s why it is common for the rooms to represent prisons, bunkers or assassins’ hideouts. But new plots have gradually appeared and new ways of playing, so how you meet the goals has also changed. Other customary plots in this sort of game can be finding a treasure, avoiding a catastrophe or finding out certain information.

For example, The Cabin is a horror experience in which we have to go through a dark forest to find our lost friends. In this game, you have to solve puzzles of different types, but above all you must interact with the environment and immerse yourself in history to fully enjoy the experience. This foster the development of different skills and teamwork.

A bit of history

Escape games have their roots in the interactive fiction and adventure games of the nineteen eighties and nineties.  They consisted in advancing along the scenes and story, finding and using objects and solving different puzzles. Some of our favourites in Escapop are the King’s Quest, Monkey Island and Maniac Mansion sagas.

This contest format was quickly exported to other countries. The Spanish version of Knightmare was called El rescate del talismán (1991-1994) and Scavengers, a science fiction adventure, was presented by Bertín Osborne in 1994. However, the most popular of these shows, despite its brief appearance, was La noche de los castillos (1995-1996) with the participation of Anthony Quinn, among other actors.

Finally, escape rooms acquired their best known format in Budapest around 2011, in an attempt to give a new lease of life to abandoned premises in the city. The pioneer of the idea was Attila Gyurkovics, creator of the Parapark franchise. This attraction quickly became highly popular and immediately spread around the world. In Spain, Parapark opened its first escape room in Barcelona in 2012 and, two years later, also opened in the Canaries; namely, in Playa del Inglés. In recent years, this entertainment sector has continued to grow and develop and, right now, it is thought that there are more than 5,000 rooms worldwide.

Why is an Escape Room so addictive?

There are many factors which make escape games so popular and which make people come back to play again.

To start with, as opposed to videogames, it is a live activity; that is, it is you – in flesh and blood – who faces the challenges, making the thrill more realistic.  This instinctively releases adrenalin, making us more attentive and euphoric. At the same time, all our senses are on the alert and we develop skills that we normally don’t use.

Then, when we face unknown challenges and puzzles, we use our imagination and rational thinking, reinforcing our memory and increasing our knowledge and skills. Therefore, we help our brain to keep young and nimble.

Plus, surprisingly, escape rooms also favour physical exercise because, even if the puzzles are mainly mental tests, it’s not a sedentary activity and often they require some type of physical effort or skill.

Another interesting aspect of escape rooms is that they are good for teambuilding and developing leadership skills, while revealing the capacities and resourcefulness of each player. That is why a growing number of companies use escape rooms for their personnel screening procedure or to foster synergies between their employees.

Finally, when you meet the challenge of the escape room before the deadline, an incredible feeling of wellbeing, euphoria and happiness is generated, thanks to the release of dopamine, also called “happiness hormone” which is the same as the one produced, for example, when we engage in sexual activity.

As you can see, there are many reasons why the escape room is so addictive and for so many people. So, if you haven’t tried it yet, we offer you a great chance by clicking on this link.