If you haven’t heard of an escape room, which would be impossible if you lived in a city area, then you are missing out. It’s a physical adventure solving game in which the players need to solve a series of puzzles to complete the projection of the game. The last few years have seen an increase in popularity of this activity but has already been discussed about a bubble, that is floating around and the public are enjoying at the minute, could be soon to burst.
London has a staggering 55 rooms now expanding on their three in 2013 with industry doubling every year. So why are there so popular at the minute? The sense of achievement and solving incredibly hard puzzles to escape in a certain amount of time gives you that adrenaline pumping around your body.
The feeling of beating the puzzles is what the customer enjoys the most and completing it as a family brings the communication and emotion out together. From my research, this a massive plus to why customer come back.
James Hamilton, 26, expressed “The feeling of success and challenge, the unforgettable memory, the fun had with friends and family.”
Limitations the downfall
However, the increase in demand could lead to more pressure of delivering perfect themed rooms and lead to customer expectations out-grow the industry. Many people are believed to think that the industry will once die again with too many limitations at hold. One of the main problems they could face over the next few years is rooms becoming too familiar with customers.
Unlike video games, the end has so many possibilities and you can redo the storyline until you get bored. But escape rooms are different. You only have one end in which you have completed the projection. So the income of customers will die down as soon as the public become familiar with each room and will lead to companies forking out more money to redesign the room.
Aaron Lee, 25-year-old, who has played around 5 rooms, agreed with lack of endings could become a negative impact on the audience. “Unlike games, there can be only one iteration, and you have to redo the whole room to refresh it, which leads to a lot of costs involved.”
“It was a calculated risk”
Exploring this issue, I caught up with a manager from Escape Peterborough to discover what he thinks with the possibility of declines in interaction in the future. Tom Owen, the manager, has been in business since opening one of the first ever escape rooms in Peterborough in 2016. The increase in popularity has definitely shown after expanding to Lincoln, opening the end of the year.
Coming back into this subject matter of the industry is a bubble currently floating around but faces the risk of being burst. Thinking of new and innovative ideas can be a major plus of bringing more customers in and keeping the interaction with public active.
“Coming up with new and innovative ideas to continue to engage the customer’s interest which will hopefully encourage in them coming back.
We constantly keep a close eye on our booking system at number of times the rooms are played and how frequently. If we see a worrying drop on a certain room we would consider changing the rooms. When we first setup any room we do a full cost analysis and work out or break-even point.”
Escape Peterborough has expanded since its opening in 2016 with originally three rooms to now ten active rooms along with three of them inside the vaults of Peterborough Museum. It has been considered a major risk to open an escape room business with so many limitations becoming a risk.
Tom Owen expressed his feeling towards the industry “I Played and enjoyed the rooms abroad whenever I visited them. Then I saw a gap in the market in the UK with it becoming popular with the public. Always a risk in business decisions such as these, but felt it was calculated.”
Riding high with the public at the minute, the media becoming engrossed with the new activity and the increase of popularity it seems too weird to start comparing to any short of bubble despite of only becoming a new invention in 2012.
Comment Below what you think? Do you think Escape Rooms are a bubble ready to burst?
image: https://www.thrillist.com/lifestyle/chicago/best-escape-rooms-chicago
Paolo Iantosca Blog 