The staff at Escape Games Canada have recently been having heated debates about one particular topic: Are video games good practice for escape rooms? It’s no secret, we’re all nerds here, and most of the staff have played at least two or three video games in their lifetime. After much deliberation and research, we’ve come to the conclusion that video games are good practice for escape rooms! We’ve settled on these three core reasons why.
Video games are built on puzzles
This point may seem super obvious, but video games are masters of integrating puzzles into gameplay. When you play video games, it’s easy to forget that you’re constantly problem solving, thinking outside of the box, and strategizing. Just like video games, escape rooms signal the elements of a puzzle to the player, and use lighting, set, and story to direct focus and guide players to the things they need to move on with the mission. So, with your gaming knowledge in your back pocket, you can see the connections that the escape game is trying to show.
They help you build a strategy
Video games are all about strategy, and surprise, so are escape rooms. For example if you play cooperative games, they are absolutely a great way to build how you strategize with your friends, and these games help build your communication soft skills! That way, when you enter an escape room, you can automatically apply a strategy and get a good start to communicating with your team! These fundamental skills built by games will help your team solve the puzzles and inevitably escape with plenty of time left!
They make you think outside of the box
When you’re playing video games, sometimes you have to think outside the box to get past a tough spot! If you bring that expertise with you to an escape room it will give you and your friends tons of flexibility for puzzle solving! Although strategizing gives you an edge for each new puzzle you encounter, having the ability to step back and look at the bigger picture may get you over a hurdle you’ve been struggling with. By having experience with a flexible thought process, you become comfortable with trying many different ideas. The bottom line is that Video games help give you the confidence to try out your ideas in the escape room and can help you learn from your problem solving processes!
Your hobby playing video games will absolutely help build soft and hard skills to help you through your escape room experience. Whether this is your first or your hundredth escape room, video games build skills that would make you invaluable to any escape room team!
Written by Jake Lee