Escape rooms as we know them today, exploded in popularity in the 2010s, but before this we had the point-and-click video games, choose-your-own-adventure books, and television shows that inspired their real-life counterparts! We explore a brief history of escape rooms in this article, looking at what sparked the craze, and how escape rooms are depicted in the media and in movies.
Escape Room Books
Choose Your Own Adventure books captured the imagination of many kids in the 1980s and 1990s, and was one of the most popular children’s series’ at the time. The inside cover of the books read as follows:
You and YOU ALONE are in charge of what happens in this story.
There are dangers, choices, mishaps, and rewards.
You must make your own choices.
Think carefully before you make a move! One mistake may be your last.
Or, you may live to fight another day, or even find a treasure.
Sounds a lot like an escape room, doesn’t it?
Other books, such as Masquerade, contained concealed clues that lead to an incredible yet controversial scavenger hunt, and Maze, which inspired the popular and award-winning video game Blue Prince. Both of these books had readers embarking on epic quests, and paved the way for escape room experiences.
Escape Room Television Shows
The concept of an escape room also started appearing on television as early as the 1980s. The Crystal Maze for instance, closely resembles an escape room, with players being split between a series of game rooms, each containing puzzles and challenges. Knightmare, blended the video-game style, with a real-life experience, in a concept that was truly unique at the time.
These shows gained cult followings, with many viewers sitting on their sofas inevitably shouting at the screen of how they could solve the puzzle quicker, or better (me included), eager to try out these experiences for themselves.
Escape Room Video Games
Point-and-click adventure games are cited as the one of the main inspirations for real-life escape rooms. These games usually see the player trapped inside a room, where they will have to find objects within the space, in which to ultimately find a way to escape. Each item or clue, can be used inside to interact with the environment in order to solve puzzles, or move to the next stage. One early example of this is Crimson Room released in 2004, pictured above. Personally, my first foray into the escape room video game world was MOTAS, which occupied a lot of my time in the 2000s!
The sheer popularity of these games led to the development of real-life escape rooms, letting players immerse themselves into real-world versions of the point-and-click concept.
Escape Rooms In Real Life
One of the earliest concepts of an escape room was True Dungeon. Premiering at GenCon Indy in 2003, teams had to solve puzzles and problem-solve within a physical space against the clock.
In 2007, Real Escape Game was developed in Japan. The experience comprised of logical and mathematical challenges, including cryptic clues, the Roman alphabet, and crossword puzzles. By 2015, over 60 games had appeared from various companies, with the first American-based escape room company, Puzzle Break, opening in 2013.
Fast forward to now, there are over 50,000 escape rooms worldwide. I think it’s safe to say, that the phenomenon well and truly exploded!
Escape Room Movies
With the popularity of escape rooms heating up, it wasn’t surprising that before long we would get movies related to the genre. No matter how immersive that horror-themed escape room may be, you always know the danger is fictional and that door isn’t really locked. But let those intrusive thoughts win, and you end up with movies like Escape Room, pictured above. Oh, and things are literally heating up in that scene!
The concept of solving puzzles in a life or death situation was also popularized by the Saw franchise, which began in 2004 and is still going strong. An even earlier example is Cube. This 1997 film showed a series of unlucky individuals trapped inside, you guessed it…cubes, that are filled with a series of deadly traps.
Escape Room mERCHANDISE
With all of these awesome puzzle-solving experiences and media readily available, many people now think of themselves as escape room enthusiasts…and those are our kind of people!
Here at Escapography we make puzzle products, for puzzle people. We know what escape room enthusiasts are into, because that’s us too! So if you manage to squeeze playing an escape room into every opportunity, you’ll like enjoy our Escape Room Passport, and Escape Room Poster. With these products you can keep track of all your escapades, and note down those all-important details you don’t want to forget!
