Something spooky this way comes! World Escape Room Championship, TERPECA Nominations, and more... ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ‌  ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ‌:  ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏

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Double, double, toil and trouble. Something spooky this way comes…

…No it’s not a group who says “we brought our own lockpicks”, it’s Halloween!

This month sees a whole host of new horror Halloween escape room pop-ups opening around the world- and I've even spied a few Christmas ones (seriously where did the year go?).

Personally, I'm excited for next month's World Escape Room Championship finale. It's a good watch if you're watching online, and if you're lucky enough to attend in person the whole conference sounds fantastic. Maybe we'll see you there!

Until then, I hope everyone has a thoroughly spooky Halloween.

Until next time 👋

Mairi Nolan
Editor of Escape Industry News

P.S. If a friend has forwarded you this email, please consider subscribing!

 

Trending Now ⌯⌲

Sign up for TERPECA and help find the best escape rooms in the world

TERPECA (Top Escape Rooms Project Enthusiasts’ Choice Award) is an attempt to find the very best escape rooms in the world by leveraging the experience of the most experienced escape room enthusiasts in the world. If you've played more than 100 escape rooms, sign up now. Nominations are taking place this month, and voting will begin next month.

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Escape Room World Championship Finale (And Conference) Next Month

This year is the 10th Jubilee Edition of the World Escape Room Championship, and it takes place in-person on November 12th - 13th in Wrocław. As well as the live finale, there'll also be a conference and speakers talking on a range of escape room topics.

FIND OUT MORE

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Practical ideas. Honest conversations. Global connections.

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Early Bird tickets are now live, but only 30 are available. Meet the first announced speakers and secure your place today.

EXPLORE GAME ON 2027

In Other News ⌯⌲

  • Early bird tickets for Game On conference in London are now on sale.
  • ERA (Escape Rooms Australia) Mag has released the October 2026 issue.
  • Mark Larson has posted a walk-through of the ARG-style game that was held at Reality Escape Conference a few months ago.
  • And in other Room Escape Artist news, some other articles they published this month you might be interested in include:
    • Water - Forbidden Escape Room Elements
    • Short Form Video: Why Mock Guests?
    • Designing Escape Rooms Around Game Mechanics
  • China EGA has posted an interesting article about the escape room job market (and how to get in)
    • They actually post a lot of interesting articles all of the time
  • Society of Curiosities also posted an interesting article about "puzzles" in escape rooms.
  • Zolitopia regularly hosts roundtables with escape room owners. Here were the takeaways from a recent one, on maxing out the busy season.
  • As Halloween is nearly here, you might find this article I wrote on the Buzzshot blog about preparing for spooky season at your escape room useful.
  • Wild Optimists built an escape room for the Red Bull racing team and you can watch some of the videos about it here.

Not quite an escape room but we think you'll be interested in...

  • The dates for ThinkyCon have been announced as October 26th - 28th, there will also be a Game Jam this year.
  • The Voynich Times website has got a new look!
    • And the writer has started posting more regular features, including Cooper's 1928 Cipher Stories, The Great Canadian Treasure Hunt, and the origins of the genre.
  • Thinky Games Daily Puzzles are back for Season 4

I normally list the following in "Other News" but I think they deserve their own spaces:

Challenge Arcades Monthly Update
Thinky Third Thursday
Escape Talk NL's Weekly News

 

Upcoming Dates for your Diary ⌯⌲

Through October
TERPECA Nominations
Online

October 26th - 28th
ThinkyCon
Online

Through November
TERPECA Voting
Online

November 12th - 13th 2026
ER Champ Conference & Expo
Wrocław, Poland

December 19th
TERPECA Awards Show
Online

February 25th - 28th 2027
TransWorld Interactive Entertainment Show
St. Louis, MO

April 19th - 21st 2027
Game On
London, United Kingdom

 

Recent Doors Unlocked ⌯⌲

🇺🇸

Escape Company has opened a new room, Space Team One, in Orlando, FL.
Escapism Games has opened a new game, Remix the 80s, in Virginia Beach, VA.
Immersive Gamebox has opened a new branch in San Francisco, CA.
Key and Code has opened a new game, Excalibur, in Sparks, NV.
Limitless Escape Games has opened two Halloween pop-ups in Livermore, CA.
MPower has replaced The Cabin with seasonal game, The Haunted Cabin, in Morgan Hill, CA.
Xscape has opened a new room, Wired, in Morgantown, WV.

🇨🇦

Amazing Escapes has opened a new room, Steve's Block World Breakout, in Fort St John, BC.
E-Exit has opened several Halloween rooms which are twists on their existing rooms, in Burnaby, BC.
Replay Adventures has opened a new room, The McKittrick Hotel, in Winnipeg, MB.
The Alberta Barracks has opened a game called Murder in the Barracks in Coleman, AB.

🇬🇧/🇮🇪

London & South

ClueQuest has opened a new room, Post Mortem, in London.
Escape From The Room has opened a new room, Area X, in Epsom.
Enigma Escape Cornwall
has opened a new room, Operation Guiding Light, in Truro.
Fuddled Escape Rooms has opened a new room, The Missing Slippers, in Barnstaple.
Great Escapists has opened a new room, The Thief and the Highwayman, in Royston.
Pier Pressure has opened a new room, Nutcracker Nonsense, in Brighton.
Venture Games
has opened a new room, The Lost Listening Station, in Ilfracombe.

North England

Adrenaline Escape has opened a new room, Captured, in Wigan.
Code to Exit has opened a new room, ’Twas the Heist Before Christmas, in Altrincham.
Compendium has opened a new room, Bad Elf 3: Trouble at the North Pole, in Bury.
Escapable has opened a new room, Penny Sweets: Pick & Mix Panic, in Wakefield.
Enigma Rooms has opened a new room, Kooky Family, in Doncaster.
Take The Exit has opened a new room, Carnival Chaos, in Hull.

Scotland

Aberdeen Science Centre has opened a new room, Halloween Escape Room, in Aberdeen.
Closeburn Escape Rooms has opened a new room, The Bell Witch, in Thornhill.
Team Machine has opened a new room, Spy Academy, in Edinburgh.

🇦🇺/🇳🇿

Be Escape Room has opened a new site in Haymarket, NSW.
Escape This has opened several new rooms, including most recently Asylum, in Melbourne, VIC.
Narrow Escape Rooms has opened a new room, Mission Identity, in Penrith, NSW.
Padlock'd Escape Rooms has opened a new site in Beachfront, QLD.
Red Lock has opened two new sites in Coomera, and Chermside QLD.

A shout out to the resources & individuals who were a huge help this month: Escape the Review (UK), Rich Bragg (USA), ERA Mag (Australia) Morty App (Global).

 

Listen ⌯⌲

Last month in Podcasts, Radio & Live Shows

Escape This Podcast
"A show that’s a mix of escape room puzzles and tabletop role-playing."

  • Podcast This Escape - PODCASTS Unite! Sept 2
  • The Tournament ft. Mathijs Jansen Sept 9
  • Podcast This Escape - The Tournament Sept 16
  • Star Search ft. AirSpace Sept 23
  • Podcast This Escape - Star Search Sept 30

Inventures Podcast
Welcome to Inventures, the podcast where we invite creative minds to invent the ultimate immersive adventure!

  • Andrea Salazar built full cities & realms of darkness, gives you the power to make any show you want Sept 10

Reality Escape Podcast
Reality Escape Pod is an interview podcast diving deep with people who make the world’s best immersive games and experiences

  • REPOD Live! with DarkPark's Gijs Geers Sept 28

The Infinite Escape Room
The escape room podcast where a bunch of friends make and solve homemade audio escape rooms for each other. One part escape room, one part role-playing game, a sprinkle of point-and-click adventure, and a whole lot of laughs.

  • TIERberpunk 2099 Sept 6
  • Pubisode: Challenge Arcades with Chris Dickson Sept 13
  • Jurassic Lark (with Guest Host Will Bain) Sept 27

Welcome to The Labyrinth
A playable puzzle game audio drama. Navigate a winding labyrinth with the help of a dubious narrator. Solve the puzzle in each episode to be able to impact the story’s conclusion.

  • Inbetweenisode 4.5 Sept 7
  • Episode 5 - Marker Sept 13

What are you listening to? Let us know!

 

Monthly Puzzle ⌯⌲

Tis the season for a little spooky-ookiness, and lately I've been obsessed with vintage puzzles. Here's a collection of Halloween vintage mazes that caught my eye.

Left: Welcome Home, Nell Lance
Right: Haunted Mazes, Vladimir Koziakin 1976


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