EVERYTHING ELSE
Dude. A little late for Halloween, maybe, but we just heard about this. Have you heard about this?
I remember playing those Flash-based Escape the Room puzzle games online a few years ago, back when Flash was still a thing. You d click around under the bed or in the air ducts or whatever and look for hints and mini-puzzles that, once solved, would get you one step closer to getting out.
A few months ago, we heard about a company in Beijing, China, running real-life room escape experiences. Mr. X Mystery House, with branches in both Beijing and Shanghai, is part of a growing real-life escape game trend where participants are locked in an enclosed area surrounded with hidden clues, with only one goal: to get out. Adding to the creepy vibe, support staff watch the guests attempts and liberation on hidden video cameras. This is partially for safety reasons, of course, but there s another angle: participants are allowed one hint. If they get stuck, they wave at the camera, and Mr. X produces a clue. Now that s what I call team-building.
Games can be themed as well: Mr. X offers Harry Potter, sci-fi and vintage themed games, across a range of difficulties. The recommended number of players at a time is 6-10.
But China isn t the only location for these types of games: they re taking off across the globe. Check out this super creepy video from Xcape Singapore:
