Ten Lessons for Escape Rooms as event activities (English & Dutch)

For the Dutch version see below

How can you host great games at any location?

To be honest many conventions, introduction sessions at work or uni, keynotes etc. are very old-fashioned experiences. One or two people talking and the vast majority of people just silently watching. There is often no real advantage from being physically present over watching a live-stream online. It is a huge lost opportunity, as being together with a large group of like-minded people allows for memorable moments of playful interaction. One of the things you can do with your audience is turning the entire event into one large Escape Room. But if you have experience with making regular Escape Rooms you might underestimate some of the challenges that are unique to this kind of experience. Here is a list of our most important lessons for designing Escape Games for large groups at events.

1. Be intentional in your design

What is the intention of your experience? Do you want to get people to engage with the theme of the event? Do you want them to feel like one big team? Do you want them to roll up their sleeves, form a team with their neighbors and out-compete other teams? Do you want them to fail? Do you want them to succeed?

It is important to answer all those questions as they will guide your design. The event you are designing for will almost certainly have a higher purpose than just entertaining people, so make sure your game ultimately serves this purpose as well.

2. Logistics Logistics Logistics and... Logistics!

The more you want to scale your experience, the more important the logistics associated with each element becomes. Every little step in your production can potentially result in hours of work if you don't think beforehand what its ramifications are. Just something as simple as designing an unusual shape which the printing house cannot fully produce can result in a huge amount of manual labor if you have to make it by hand for hundreds of people. Consider the production times of large amounts and when you want to buy props, make sure that the shop has those quantities available. Many online shops will show you available products but don’t have hundreds of them in stock so it increases shipping time. If you need to perform actions at the event, even small things like spreading envelopes among the guests, you need to make sure you have enough people to help with this, as those seemingly marginal things can eat up a lot of time at the actual event.

In summary, think about every step of the production and think how it changes if you multiply it by the number of players.

3. Try to get to know as much as possible about the location

The location will be a key factor determining the constraints of the experience. Is everyone seated in an auditorium? Do people have access to tables? Are there windows in the room? Are there multiple entrances? Is there a sound system available? Are you allowed to hang things on the wall? Are there certain restrictions due to fire-safety? All those factors can ruin your game if you do not take them into consideration when you create your design.

Your location has a stage? That's great, use it!

4. Try to be as independent as possible from the location

Even if you think you know everything about the location, restrain yourself from trying to use your environment too much. We know that some of the coolest interactions come from engaging with the environment, but this is also one of the factors that you usually have the least control over. For the organization of the event your game is likely not the most important concern, so if they need to change things they might not understand that those details can have a big effect your design. Unexpected changes do often occur and if you don’t have full control over the room, it might be better to play it safe and reduce your risk by not relying on elements that might not be available due to last minute changes of the organization.

Great space for watching a presentation but challenging if you want your players to interact.

5. Play-testing!

Especially one-time events need extensive play-testing. Test as early as possible and as much as you can. Each change in your design might have unexpected ripple effects when scaled up. In a regular Escape Room you have much more chances to actively influence the game flow and the experience of your group than if you have hundreds of players at the same time. If you have enough players, every little flaw will effect some of them and quickly small mistakes can become big problems.