Escape Room Games: The Cooperative Puzzle Experience Hits the Table
Casual Game Insider|Summer 2017

The clock is ticking backward from sixty minutes, the game has begun! You and your friends sift through various objects, looking for some sort of clue. One of the people in your group sees something. “Look,” she exclaims, “I think these letters mean something!”

Jon Den Houter
Escape Room Games: The Cooperative Puzzle Experience Hits the Table

If this scenario sounds familiar, you’ve likely been to an escape room. The first escape room in the U.S. opened just five years ago. Called “Real Escape Game” (and later, “Real Escape Room”), Kazuya Iwata started it in San Francisco as a branch of his friend Takao Kato’s escape game company in Japan. At first, Kazuya only ran real escape games — large group puzzle-solving events that didn’t involve escaping from a room. “Escape from the Mysterious Room,” which opened December 2012, was their first actual escape room.

Teams of up to twelve people , consisting of friends or strangers , were locked in a room and given 60 minutes to escape and asked to complete three basic tasks : scour the room for clues , arrange the clues into puzzles , and solve those puzzles . The ultimate solution of all the puzzles opened the door out of the room.

Since that time, the growth of escape rooms has been nothing short of revolutionary. There are now escape rooms in all 50 states , and according to RoomEscapeArtist.com, there are over 1 ,700 in the U.S. alone (with thousands more worldwide) .

The first U.S. -based escape room company, Puzzle Break, was founded in Seattle in August 2013 by Nate Mart in and Dr. Lindsay Morse . For their first room, “Escape from Studio D,” Morse designed all the puzzles . “At the time, there were no other escape rooms in the country except ‘Escape from the Mysterious Room’ in San Francisco, which Lindsay and I had already played,” Mart in reminisces . “I wanted to play another escape room.”

In their four-year history, Puzzle Break has brought innovation to the escape room industry. From magical boxes with custom built technology, to an escape room on a cruise ship and a team escape competition, Puzzle Break has been able to continually thrill and surprise their customers .

Esta historia es de la edición Summer 2017 de Casual Game Insider.

Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.

Esta historia es de la edición Summer 2017 de Casual Game Insider.

Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.

MÁS HISTORIAS DE CASUAL GAME INSIDERVer todo
GAME REVIEWS: SKYTEAM
Casual Game Insider

GAME REVIEWS: SKYTEAM

Mimicking the explosion of board game manufacturing and designs, the expansion of the content creator space has done its own Big Bang in the last decade.

time-read
10+ minutos  |
Summer 2024
Finding a Unique Board Gaming Niche
Casual Game Insider

Finding a Unique Board Gaming Niche

Mimicking the explosion of board game manufacturing and designs, the expansion of the content creator space has done its own Big Bang in the last decade.

time-read
6 minutos  |
Summer 2024
Checking Out the Fun
Casual Game Insider

Checking Out the Fun

Borrow. Play & Build Community with a Board Game Library

time-read
7 minutos  |
Summer 2024
Bringing the Heart with Board Games
Casual Game Insider

Bringing the Heart with Board Games

Whether you are going out for a family camping trip or eagerly awaiting the next big blockbuster, these new casual games offer a little something for anyone! So, grab your strongest SPF, a favorite refreshing beverage, and dive into the waves of new titles this summer.

time-read
5 minutos  |
Summer 2024
For Love of the Game
Casual Game Insider

For Love of the Game

Philosophies of Game Design

time-read
6 minutos  |
Summer 2024
REDUCE, REUSE, REPLAY: THE HIDDEN TREASURE OF GAME THRIFTING INT
Casual Game Insider

REDUCE, REUSE, REPLAY: THE HIDDEN TREASURE OF GAME THRIFTING INT

With almost 3,000 new tabletop games released every year, it's easy to get a little fear of missing out (FOMO).

time-read
7 minutos  |
Summer 2024
Rebel PRINCESS DELUXE EDITION
Casual Game Insider

Rebel PRINCESS DELUXE EDITION

Developing a Modern Classic

time-read
3 minutos  |
Summer 2024
GAME REVIEWS
Casual Game Insider

GAME REVIEWS

This little card game takes only a couple of minutes to teach, but is surprisingly engaging and full of fun.

time-read
10+ minutos  |
Summer 2023
Fun Is No Mystery with: Scorpion masqué
Casual Game Insider

Fun Is No Mystery with: Scorpion masqué

Scorpion Masqué is a Montreal-based board game publisher founded in 2006 by former literature teacher and game enthusiast Christian Lemay

time-read
6 minutos  |
Summer 2023
PAGE TURNERS: Games Unfurl Their Majestic Pages
Casual Game Insider

PAGE TURNERS: Games Unfurl Their Majestic Pages

Have you picked up a good book lately? Perhaps you've struggled to find inspirational reading material

time-read
5 minutos  |
Summer 2023