Look, it's finally 2025 edition! This month in news: ER Champ, development blogs, Le Salon's announcement, and more. ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ‌  ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ‌:  ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏

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Hello Escape Industry Newsletter readers! 👋

...And just like that, the year is halfway over. Not just that, but we're now closer to 2050 than we are the year 2000. Since our industry is so new, it's hard to predict what escape rooms will be like in 2050. Replayability, immersive experience-ification, and the clever integration of new technologies would probably be my prediction- but hey! I thought we'd all be on hoverboards and in flying cars by now, so what do I know.

If we can't predict the future, we can at least report on what is happening now. It's summer in the northern hemisphere, which means the quiet season for escape rooms. In this issue of the Escape Industry News the biggest stories are around the upcoming ER Championship, some industry event announcements, and some interesting thought pieces from journalists and bloggers covering a more game design angle. If you're interested in video games, the Cerebral Puzzle Showcase and Thinky Direct took place last week and it's well worth checking them both out to see what's what.

As always, if you have any news to share or want to let us know about your new escape room opening, please don't hesitate to let us know.

Until next time! 👋

Mairi Nolan
Editor of Escape Industry News

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

P.P.S. Thank you to literally everyone who pointed out I'd accidentally kept "2024" in the subject of every email sent so far in 2025. I wish I could say it was an intentional puzzle. It was not. 😅

 

🧩 Trending Now

ER Champ Qualifiers take place this month

Last month saw the ER Champ (Escape Room World Championship) take place, and this month on June 28th the qualifier round will take place online at 16:00 UTC. Based on previous years, the ER Champ qualifiers will be expected to take most teams between 2 - 3 hours to complete. The ten fastest teams will be invited to take part in the finale in Sofia, Bulgaria on October 20th.

Learn More

Le Salon de L'Escape Game announced in Paris, October 6

Le Salon de L'Escape Game is the biggest escape room conference in France, and the annual Escape Game Awards ceremony will take place there too. This year, the date has been announced as Monday October 6th at the conference centre "Communale" in Saint-Ouen-sur-Seine, Paris.

Learn More

🧾 In Other News

• Case Closed, one of the highest rated rooms in Scotland put out an interesting blog post on creating an escape room on a shoestring budget.
• Room Escape Artist has published some new game design focused pieces, including
a case for smaller sets and deeper worlds, the importance of sightlines, and a very important read on why emergency equipment isn't a game mechanic.
• Escape room used to
trial a new terror attack tool, as reported by the BBC.
• It's stuck behind a paywall but The Times recently reported on the
rise of competitive socialising, like escape rooms.
• The Xunja (Government of Galicia) is created a
mobile escape room to raise awareness of the dangers of gambling.
• PAX East 2025 included an
escape-like experience this year, called AI2U.

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

• ARGN has put out an interesting piece on the MIT Mystery Hunt, which you can read
here.
• Thinky Direct is a new trailer event focused specifically on puzzles, and it took place this month.
You can find out about it here.
• The June issue of updates from
Challenge Arcades is live. Additionally, the author of this site gave us the heads up that Activate is set to open it's next four UK sites soon.
•
The Escape Effect published a guide to puzzley Father's Day gifts.
• People Make Games
tried out London's Bridge Command recently.

 

📆 Upcoming Dates for your Diary

June 28th
ER Champ Qualifiers
Online

August 17th - 18th
RECON Remote 25
Online

October 6th
Le Salon de L'Escape Game
Paris, France

October 19th - 20th
ER Champ Finale
Sofia, Bulgaria

March 26th - 29th 2026
TransWorld Interactive Entertainment Show
St. Louis, MO, USA

 

🔑 Recent Doors Unlocked

🇺🇸

CA

Activate has opened a new challenge arcade in San Francisco.
Puzzlearium is opening an 8-week pop-up, Parlor Nouveau in San Diego.
Red Door has announced an upcoming game, Borderlands, in Concord.
Trivium Games is bringing back Pub Trivium later this month in multiple locations.

NC

Keepers of Balance has opened a new escape room in Charlotte.

NY

Puzzle Break Long Island has opened three new rooms in Syosset.
ZONE 518 is a new VR escape room space opened in Albany.

OR

Cornered Escape Rooms has opened a new site in Newberg.

🇨🇦

Adventure Rooms Canada has opened a new room, Committed, in Kitchener, ON.
Discovery Harbour has opened a new room, Bo'sun's Brig in Penetanguishene, Ontario

🇬🇧/🇮🇪

East of England

Agent Brains has opened a new room Y2K: Millennium Bugged in Letchworth.
Mimic Escape has opened a new room The Great Train Robbery in Leighton Buzzard.
Professor Delgado’s has opened a new room The Cabin in Chelmsford.

Midlands

Black Hawk Laser has opened a new room Temptress Mine in the West Midlands.
Hereford Cathedral has opened a new room The Shrine Keeper in Hereford.

North England

Breakout Manchester has opened a new room Upsidedown in Manchester.
Emergency Exit has opened a new room Ghost Writer in Ashton.
Escape Newcastle has opened a new room Stuck in Newcastle upon Tyne.
Escape Room Scarborough has opened a new room Sea Front Escape in Scarborough.
November Club has opened a temporary escape game The Archives Job in Hexham, Alnwick, and Berwick.

Northern Ireland

The Puzzle Tree has opened a new room Where Eagles Blair in Bangor.

Scotland

Ayrshire Mobile Escape Rooms has opened a new room Behind Enemy Lines in Ayrshire.

South England

Enigma Escape has opened a new room Fear of the Unknown in Truro.
Enigma Quests has opened 3 new rooms in Holborn, London.
Escape have opened a new site with two rooms, Things Are Strange and Young Wednesday in London.
Escape Rooms has opened a new room The Elixir of Life in London.
Go Ape Battersea has opened a new room Codebreakers in London.

Wales

Mr Holt’s has opened a new room Fix The Factory in Llangefni.
Plantasia’s Tropical Zoo has opened a new room Poachers’ Lair in Swansea.

🇦🇺/🇳🇿

BE Escape has opened a new room, Eternal Night, in Sydney, NSW.
Locked In Escape Rooms has opened a new room, Party Portal, in Mornington, VIC.

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

 

🔊 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."

• The Key Issue ft. Sarah Fellows May 7th
•
Podcast This Escape - Key Issue May 14th
•
The Power Plant ft. Justine May 21st
•
Podcast This Escape - The Power Plant May 28th

Reality Escape Podcast
"Your hosts David Spira & Peih-Gee Law explore immersive gaming from all angles."

• Magical Underworld of NYC, Great Gotham Challenge May 5th
•
The History Behind "The Roosevelt Room" by Palace Games May 9th
•
MyssTic Rooms: Challenges, Constraints & Creativity May 12th
•
Steven Medway, Creator of Blood on the Clocktower May 19th
•
Omescape Sunnyvale's Sarah Zhang May 26th

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.​"

• Ozman Richard's House of Death Games: Celebrity Obama Llama May 4th
•
Ozman Richard's House of Death Games: Bingo Lingo! May 11th
•
What is a puzzle? May 18th
•
London Jolley: Travelog and Secret Studio Interview May 25th

The following podcasts didn't release a new episode this month, but you should definitely check them out anyway:

  • The Cager Express: Escape Break
  • The Escapuzzled Podcast
 

🔎 June's Puzzle

Long-term readers know I love a rebus puzzle. Well, a rebus and a cipher, but I promise I won't make you solve a cipher. I recently stumbled across Narragansett Beer's annual rebus puzzles and really enjoyed solving them. Here's three of my favourites.

GIFIREN
EVARELTO
amUous

Solved it? Let us know!


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