Escape rooms as we know them today are far different experiences from the escape rooms that began to be popular in the 2010’s. The evolution of escape rooms has had a swift upward trend, as it coincided with the technology boom that’s been happening since the late 1990’s. It’s not entirely clear where the idea of escape rooms first originated, as there have been peeks of them here and there for a while, but the first official escape room is attributed to Takao Kato who works for SCRAP co. in Japan. But you’re not here for a history lesson, you’re here to learn about the evolution of escape rooms. So let’s dig in.

Past

Back in 2014, Escape Games Canada opened its first few missions: End of the Line, Counter Ops, and The Haunting of Noriko. Every puzzle was latched shut with a combination lock, and if we were feeling fancy then maybe a magnetized box would drop open once you came to your correct solution. The room design and narrative were not as important as the puzzles, and the idea of putting elaborate technology into rooms was just a pipe dream. The most technologically advanced rooms we had ran on Raspberry Pi’s and required little to no coding. Scavenger hunting was decidedly a puzzle for most escape rooms, which encouraged players to meticulously take apart the room they were in to find a key that had been taped under a desk. Thankfully, the evolution of escape rooms has taken us away from those dark times.

Present

Nowadays, escape rooms at Escape Games Canada run on game engines like Unity that require a lot of coding for them to function. The narrative and room design are as important as the puzzles because escape rooms are no longer just puzzle rooms–they’re experiences. Escape Games Canada aims to wow customers with our technology, with how we always push our experiences further with each room we create, incorporating movement, the senses, and space to surprise and delight our players with a new level of entertainment. We’ve taken out every combination lock and replaced them all with custom keypads for each room. We’ve found new ways to input answers that aren’t just numbers or codes; even the hinting systems at EGC have evolved. Escape Games Canada has taken escape games another step beyond–we’ve gamified puzzles, blending two worlds that have always meant to be together.

Future

So where does the evolution of escape rooms take us next? To that we say, the world of puzzles is our oyster. Many escape rooms these days have actors in place to enhance your experience, and with 3D printing technology now so readily available, there isn’t a prop or a set in the world that we couldn’t create. The future of escape rooms is boundless. So long as it can be imagined, the tech exists to put it into the reality, and that’s what Escape Games Canada’s goal is: to Stop Escaping Rooms and Start Escaping Reality.