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Happy December, everyone! This year at the Escape Industry Newsletter, we've published 12 issues of this newsletter, reported on some 350+ news stories, 500+ new escape room openings, and listened to 200+ hours of escape room podcasts. But hey, who's counting? But before we say goodbye, onto the December news! In this month's issue we kept an eye out for holiday gift guides, and found at least three you might find interesting: Room Escape Artist, No Proscenium, and Thinky Games. Together they cover more cool puzzle games than anyone could ever hope to play over the festive break, but we like to consider that a challenge. In other news, if you're excited to hear about the best escape rooms in the world, look no further than the TERPECA live stream on December 21st. On the other hand if you want to know about the best escape room teams, check out our coverage of the ER Champ 2024. Last but not least, an interesting video on the secret economies of escape rooms was posted by journalist Phil Edwards this month, definitely worth checking it out. And with that, the 2024 season comes to an end! We'll see you in the New Year. Mairi Nolan
Editor of Escape Industry News P.S. If a friend has forwarded you this email, please consider subscribing! P.P.S. In the new year, I'm thinking of reformating the "new rooms opened" section to list escape rooms by state / region. Currently, it's alphabetical. If you have any strong opinions either way, please let us know. |
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The escape room industry is rapidly evolving, making it more important than ever to stay ahead of the curve. Over two packed days, Game On will feature talks and interactive workshops designed to help you navigate today’s competitive market and keep your business relevant and thriving. The key themes of the conference: |
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Take a look at the speaker lineup, and don’t miss your chance to grab one of the limited early bird tickets now on sale! Learn More |
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The Winners of the 2024 Escape Room Championship are crowned in Prague In the grand finale of the Escape Room Championship that took place last month, the top three teams in the world emerged:
🥇 First Place - 6 Keys (USA)
🥈 Second Place - United Discord (USA)
🥉 Third Place - Les Wyrds (France)
Since we were lucky enough to attend in person, I did a little write up on The Escape Roomer too. |
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The TERPECA 2024 Live Show takes place December 21st at 4pm EST. If you're excited about finding out the world's best (English language) escape rooms for 2024, tune in to the TERPECA live awards show on:
📅 December 21st
⏰ 1pm PST / 4pm EST / 9pm GMT / 10pm CET / 11pm EET / 8 am Sunday AEDT This year, there were over 5300 individual nominations, 1042 rooms nominated from 39 countries, and 385 finalist rooms from 22 countries. |
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The latest video by Phil Edwards covers "The secret economics of Escape Rooms" In one of his latest videos, Youtuber Phil Edwards chats to a number of escape room owners and players to find out the secret economics of escape rooms. This video was a fascinating watch, that provides an interesting deep dive into our world. |
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Room Escape Artist have published their annual holiday gift guide Including a whole host of gift ideas for the escape room enthusiast in your life... Or, if you're reading this... Just for yourself. 😅 If this list isn't enough, you can also check out their previous lists. |
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• Room Escape Artist have also announced a second Escape Immerse Explore tour, titled Time & Space in Chicago next year.
• And in third Room Escape Artist news, they've put out a call for local escape room knowledge ahead of their industry report.
• Some of the speakers for the Game On 25 conference in Canterbury, UK next year have been announced.
• The 2025 THEA Award Winners have been announced, and this year it includes escape rooms Hatch Escapes' The Ladder and Electric Forest's Time Travel Agency.
• SCRAP, creators of "Real Escape Game" in Japan have opened a new global flagship store, REAL ESCAPE GAME Asakusa CROSSING featuring games in Japanese and English.
• Immersif, the immersive experiences bookkeeper, has recently rebranded to focus on escape rooms and has a helpful blog for all things escape room finances.
• Registration is now open for Transworld Interactive Entertainment Show 2025. Not quite an escape room but we think you'll be interested in... • If you're looking for an interesting, puzzley online advent calendar the "Confounding Calendar" has returned for another year.
• No Proscenium have posted their holiday gift guide for 2025, which you can read here.
• Thinky Games has published The Ultimate Thinky Christmas Gift Guide, featuring tabletop, board games and video games for puzzle fans.
• Escape Simulator has unveiled the trailer for their sequel, Escape Simulator 2.
• Buzzfeed picks "Escape the Crate" as one of it's "really cool gifts" list.
• Escape Tales, creators of tabletop escape room board games have recently created a video game adaptation.
• Punchdrunk has posted a teaser for their new show, The League of Legends: Arcane Immersive coming to Shanghai in 2025.
• The Spring 2025 edition of Phantom Peak will be the last one in it's current location in Canada Water, London. A new one in London will open at a later date. (Source: The Phantom Peak Discord)
• Team Crepp & Co, from Lille, France have won the 2024 Prison Island World Cup!
• And if you're interested in more challenge arcade news, check out Challenge Arcade's Jotter section of the website, which updates monthly.
• There are some fun puzzles in NPH's most recent Wondercade issue, which you can read here. |
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📆 Upcoming Dates for your Diary |
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🇺🇸 Beat the Room has opened a new room, Operation Christmas, in Vacaville, CA.
Challenge Accepted Escape Rooms has opened a new room, Shipwreck Island in Bolingbrook, IL.
Crisis Rooms has opened a new room, Giggles Fun House, in Frankfort, IL.
Game Master Escape Rooms has opened a new room, The Simples, in San Rafael, CA.
MyssTic has opened a new room, The Bird, in Brooklyn, NY.
No 1 Escapes has opened a new room, The Fortune Teller, in Irvine, CA.
Paragon Escape Games has opened a new room, Clockwork Corridor, in Mesa, AZ.
Rabbit Hole has opened a "Jubensha Studio" in Louisville, CO.
Red Door has opened a new location with five rooms in Oakland, CA.
Red Door is also offering new festive games at almost all locations - too many to list!
Strange Bird Immersive have opened their holiday experience of THE ENDings in Houston, TX.
The Great Escape FDL has opened a new room, The Diner After Dark, in Fond Du Lac, WI. 🇨🇦 Omventure has opened a new room, Z Express, in Scarborough, ON. 🇬🇧/🇮🇪 Angle Escape have opened a new room, Postal Panic, in Peterborough.
Breakout Manchester has reopened two rooms in Manchester.
Clue Rooms have opened a new room, Murder in the Mournes, in Newcastle.
Co-Decode has opened with a new room, Sub Terra, in Swindon.
Cryptic Escape Rooms have opened a new room, Upside Down: Fight for Hawkins, in Hull.
Dreadlock has opened a new room, You Plonker, in Bodmin.
Escape Hunt have opened a new room, Eye of the Sun God in Bristol.
Escape Hunt have also opened a new branch with 6 rooms in Cambridge.
Escape Kent have opened a new room, The Mummy, in Kent.
Escape Live have opened a new room, Casino Heist, in Birmingham.
Escape Plymouth have opened a new room, Wanted: Dead or Alive in Plymouth.
Escape Time has opened a new room, Dolls House, in Burton.
Escapism Plymouth have opened a new room, Showtime! in Plymouth.
Exitus has opened a new room, There's Something Outside, in Cardiff.
Game Vault have opened their site with 4 rooms in Ayr.
GoT To Escape have opened a new room, Bastards, in Belfast.
Horton's Emporium has opened a new room, The Castle of Memories in Daventry.
Horton's Emporium has opened a new room, The Wizard's Chest in Nottingham.
Houdini's has opened a new branch with three rooms in Derby.
Kernow Escape has opened a new room, Number 4, in Falmouth.
Mr E Rooms have opened a new room, Sparkwright's Wizard Quest in Scarborough.
MTG Escapes has opened a new room, The Wish Factory, in Guernsey.
No Escape have opened two new horror rooms in London.
Pier Pressure is opening a new branch with two rooms in Welwyn.
Rushden Escape Rooms has opened a new room, Apartment 666, in Rushden.
Tension Twisted Realities has opened a new room, New Theatre Royal - Snow White, in Lincoln.
The Escape Game Swansea have opened a new room, Sealed Fate, in Swansea.
The Paint Shop has opened a new room, The Chapel, in Scunthorpe.
Trapped in Fiction have opened a new room, Trapped In... Peter Pan, in Basingstoke. As is the way at this time of the year, there are just too many new festive rooms open in the UK to mention - so if you're interested in knowing about the new Christmas rooms around the UK, we highly recommend checking out Escape the Review's coverage here. 🇦🇺/🇳🇿 Escape Reality Berwick has opened a new site with four rooms in Berwick, VIC.
Strange World has opened a new Christmas themed escape room in Sydney, NSW.
A shout out to the resources & individuals who were a huge help this month: Escape the Review (UK), Rich Bragg (USA), Morty App (Global)
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Last month in Podcasts, Radio & Live Shows
Cager Express: Escape Break
"Escape Break featuring Beth Divel and Tatiyana Abarro: Southern California's premier escape room podcast show. We recap fun rooms, interviews and bizarre topics!" [No new episodes in November] Escape This Podcast
"A show that’s a mix of escape room puzzles and tabletop role-playing." • Oceananigans pt. 2 - The Atlantic Stow-cean Nov 6
• Podcast This Escape - Atlantic Stow-cean Nov 13
• Oceananigans pt. 3 - The Bering-toss Strait Nov 20
• Podcast This Escape - The Bering-toss Strait Nov 27 Escapuzzled Podcast
"Your one stop shop for all things escape rooms, immersive experiences, puzzles, virtual and tabletop escapes. In this podcast we'll be delving into all things escape rooms and talking to industry leading owners, creatives and designers to unlock the secrets behind these experiences." • Charlie Wheeler - UQ Puzzles Nov 6
• Jamie, Mike and Jon - The Infinite Escape Room Podcast Nov 20 Reality Escape Podcast
"Your hosts David Spira & Peih-Gee Law explore immersive gaming from all angles. Our guests have made awesome stuff: ARGs, puzzle hunts, tabletop games, and of course, escape rooms. Our aim is to bring together different segments of the gaming world and share ideas between them." • Celebrating Ten Years of Room Escape Artist Nov 4
• Audience of One: Yannick Trapman-O'Brien, Creator of Undersigned Nov 11
• Move Fast & Make Things: The Escape Ventures Nov 18
• Mechanical Puzzles: Oskar van Deventer Nov 25
The Infinite Escape Room
"The puzzling podcast where a gaggle of geographically diverse chums come together, have a drink - and work together to solve a home made escape room of the ears." • "At you." - (Grumbledown Part 2) Nov 3
• Latin, Lasso and Steer (Grumbledown Part 3) Nov 10
• Uhms, Puns and Lint. Farewell Ben. (Grumbledown Pubisode) Nov 17
• A Very Criminal Christmas: The Kiwi Confederacy Nov 24 The Mystery Soup Podcast
"Hosts Curt Jackson and Chris Kallal explore the business and design sides of the escape room industry. Guests include escape room owners, designers, game masters, and enthusiasts." • Curt Jackson of Mystery Soup Escape Rooms Nov 5 |
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Since it's the end of the year, let's celebrate by mixing up this puzzle section of the newsletter. Here in the UK (where we're based) it's traditional to pull the most groan-worthy joke out of a Christmas cracker. Here are a few of my (least) favourite ones, highlight to reveal the punchline: How does Good King Wenceslas like his pizza? Deep pan, crisp and even... What did the cat say who was fed up of being indoors? Let meowt. What is the North Pole's HR Department's biggest issue... Presenteeism. Until next year 👋 |
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