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An escape room is an activity where you are locked in a room. Using puzzles and riddles, you need to find a way out. You usually have one hour to do this.

You may have heard about an escape room from one of your friends or colleagues. What is an escape room, how did it originate, and what makes it so fun? We are happy to explain why we are so enthusiastic about it.

The Definition of an Escape Room

There is no general definition of the term escape room. In an escape room, you are literally locked in, the door is locked, and you (along with others) need to escape the room as quickly as possible. This is usually within 60 minutes. Once inside, you can use cryptic clues that will guide you step by step towards the final key to unlock the door from the inside.

Did you manage to escape within the given time? Congratulations! Not everyone achieves this! You’ve successfully solved the escape room within the time limit. Fortunately, there are more and more escape rooms in the Netherlands, so you can quickly tackle your next escape room.

The first escape room in the Netherlands opened in late May 2013, and now you can find them in almost every major city in the Netherlands, including Eindhoven, Rotterdam, The Hague, Nijmegen, Breda, Amsterdam, and Den Bosch. New escape rooms are still opening weekly, indicating the popularity of these real-life games. North Brabant already has nearly 100 escape room locations! The first escape rooms in Drenthe have also opened, so now you can find an escape room in every province in the Netherlands.

Still wondering what exactly an escape room is? There’s plenty more to say about escape rooms. Want to see where there’s an escape room near you?

The Challenge of an Escape Room

Escaping an escape room is often quite a challenge. An escape room requires you to solve puzzles, follow clues, or see connections. The better you are at this, the more progress you make and the closer you get to escaping. You experience emotions like fear, stress, joy, defeat, and euphoria, all within a very short timeframe. Once inside, it’s all about switching gears and experiencing a whole different world. You go through an emotional roller coaster, where the key is to work as well as possible with the people around you. These can be friends, colleagues, or family.

Group Composition

It’s advisable to enter the escape room with people who complement each other. Cooperation is essential in any escape room if you want to get out on time. We’ve created a guide for the ideal group composition for an escape room if you need help with this. An escape room or escape game thus becomes a great challenge, allowing you to start a live game in a unique way.

Whether you want to play an escape room for a bachelor party, with your colleagues as a team outing, or with friends, an escape room is a very special and unique outing where many people, after their first experience, want to play the next one as soon as possible.

History of the Escape Room

Escape rooms are becoming increasingly popular: in an escape room, you and others are locked in a room and must escape using clues and solving puzzles. This concept originated from old computer games.

Crimson Room by TAKAGISM Inc., created by Toshimitsu Takagi, was released in 2004 and became a hit: the game, with its simple graphics where you must escape from a room using clues and solving puzzles with items from the room, is still considered a classic. These types of games existed in the 80s, but the modern escape room is largely based on this game, Crimson Room.

Many years later, a Hungarian had the idea to bring these games to real life. He was a big fan of escape room games and other logic-based games, so it seemed like a good plan to ‘build’ real-life escape rooms. The first escape rooms in 2011 were in damp, cluttered basements to enhance the feeling of being completely alone and locked up.

The escape room quickly spread worldwide: in the US and the Netherlands, there are hundreds of escape rooms scattered across the country. However, the concept has been somewhat adapted: escape rooms are often not cold and dirty but are now located in increasingly beautiful venues with a lot of attention to decor and storylines. From CSI to mafia, from World War II to a bank robbery.

The Computer Game in Practice

We’ve known escape games on computers for a long time, where you need to collect clues with the character you play and eventually leave the room. At that moment, you’re not physically in the escape game, which is why the escape rooms spread across the Netherlands add a unique extra dimension to the games.

The Outing That Goes Further

Once the escape room experience is over, it’s not always finished immediately with many operators. Several escape rooms are expanding their services: many new escape rooms include catering, group photography, or small gifts left in the room that guests can take home. Escape rooms are no longer the rooms they used to be. They are evolving into increasingly creative day outings.

Are you looking for a fun challenge with friends or want to find out how resourceful you and your partner are? Make sure you are well-prepared for some stress and try to think clearly; you then have the best chance of relaxing in the adventure room and adding an escape room to your list of achievements.

Hopefully, you now know what an escape room is.

Want to play an escape room yourself? Click here to book!

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