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Hello, Escapists 👋 Just like that, the end of the year has almost crept up upon us... The Halloween rooms are packing up, and in their place a whole host of "Elf Escapes" and "Save Santas". The holidays are almost here! This November is a month of competitive spirit. The voting season for TERPECA has officially begun, so nows the chance to vote for your favourite escape rooms around the world. But that's not all, in a few weeks we'll also be watching the livestream of the Escape Room Championship finale, which is taking place in Prague. Best of luck to all the teams who made it through! 🏆 As always, if you have any escape room news you'd like to share for the newsletter - whether a new room opening, or a story you spotted online - please do email it over and we'll include it in an upcoming issue. That's all for this month. We'll catch you in December! Mairi Nolan
Editor of Escape Industry News P.S. If a friend has forwarded you this email, please consider subscribing! |
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TERPECA 2024 Voting is Now Open TERPECA (Top Escape Rooms Project Enthusiast Choice Awards) has just concluded their nominations round and invite all players who have played over 100 escape rooms and are registered to take part in voting. This year there are 385 finalist rooms, including finalists in three countries that have never had a finalist before (Romania, Portugal, and Denmark). |
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New Documentary: Escape Room Horror Stories BeNeLux Edition Getting into the spooky spirit, Jana Erbes has just released her documentary "Escape Room Horror Stories" BeNeLux Edition. In this new edition, viewers are invited behind the scenes of three of the BeNeLux region’s most iconic horror escape rooms. With exclusive access and intimate creator interviews, this edition explores the artistry and fear-inducing design choices that make these rooms unforgettable. Featuring special guests Lisa and David from Room Escape Artist and the teams from DarkPark, Entered, Logic Locks, and more. |
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Escape Room Championship Finale takes place next month in Prague The Escape Room Championship is the biggest escape room tournament in the world, and the world finale takes place in Prague next month on November 25th. If you're going, one of the Escape Industry News team will be there in person (so do say hello!). If not, you can watch online on Youtube on November 25th. |
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Inside the Cheetos: The Other Hand escape room at The Escape Game You may have seen it already in one of the countless viral videos, but the end of last month saw an interesting pop-up experience in New York. Cheetos teamed up with Thrillist for a short, 20 minute escape room wherein teams had only one hand to play as the other was covered in cheeto dust. A novel idea! Read more about it on Thrillist. (Photo by Dorothy Hong) |
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• Game On '25, a UK escape room conference, is currently seeking speakers on the topics of "future proofing escape rooms", "diversifying portfolios" and "inspirational work". More information here.
• USA Today recently posted it's Top 10 Escape Rooms list.
• Room Escape Artist have announced a second session for Escape, Immerse, Explore Montreal 2025. Find out more here.
• Separately, they've also published a handy guide to overnight escape room recommendations.
• And for that matter... So has the Wall Street Journal.
• Errol Elumir recently posted a round up (and guide) to escape rooms in Greece on The Codex. Read it here.
• Escapuzzled wrote a great round-up of the escape room portion of the Immersive Experience Network in London last month. Read it here.
• Always nice to see escape rooms get positive mentions in papers, read The Seattle Times' new article on fall date ideas. Not quite an escape room but we think you'll be interested in... • New for 2024, there's an officially licensed AMC The Walking Dead outdoor experience operating in Paris and other French cities.
• Thinky Games released a cool new feature that allows you to search their large database of puzzle games for particular recommendations like "no randomness" or "puzzle density" and even "vibes".
• Thinky Third Thursday, a monthly round-up of puzzle video games by Alan Hazelden is now one year old. The same team have also recently released a podcast that interviews puzzle game developers.
• In more disappointing news, Netflix is removing it's interactive titles. |
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📆 Upcoming Dates for your Diary |
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🇺🇸 Beyond Escape NH has opneed a new room, Heart of the Mountain, in Durham, NH.
Boggled Escape Rooms has opened a new room, Paradox, in Calabasas, CA.
Breakout Games has opened a new Monopoly themed escape room in Castleton, IN.
Bronx Escape is opening two escape rooms this Nov-Dev in Bronx, NY.
Cityscape Games is hosting a pop-up Side Quest Escape Game this month in Tacoma, WA.
Clockwise has announced it'll open two new rooms this month in Oakland, CA.
EDscapade has opened a new room, H.O.P.E. in San Jose, CA.
Enter the Imaginarium has opened a new room, The Mind's Eye in Pittsburg, PA.
Lost Games Escape Rooms has opened a new room, Playtime: The Experiment, in Las Vegas, NV.
NW Escape Experience has opened a new room, Atomic Cafe, in Vancouver, WA.
Red Door Escape Room has opened a new site in Las Vegas, CA.
The Escape Date has opened a new room, Christmas Catastrophe, in Pleasant Grove, UT.
The Escape Game just opened a new venue in Tampa, FL.
The Forsaken Archives has opened a new room, Hush, in Escondido, CA.
The Grape Escape has opened a new room, Coven, in Napa, CA.
The Locked Inn has opened a new room, Pumpkin King's Christmas Cabin in Grover Beach, CA.
The Tomb Raider Experience, (whilst not quite an escape room IS designed by one) is now open in Seattle, WA.
Xcapade has opened it's Seven Days in Captivity experience in Newark, CA. 🇨🇦 Cryptic Characters has opened a new room, Starship Minerva, in Edmonton, AB. 🇬🇧/🇮🇪 11th Hour Escape Rooms has opened a new room, Yo Ho Ho Ho! in Chippenham.
All Stars has opened a new room, An Elf's Journey in Weston-Super-Mare.
Beyond Breakout have opened a new room, Smuggler's Cove in Powys.
Case Closed has opened a new escape room-like experience, the Brief Cases, in Edinburgh.
Cluedini have opened a new room, Scrumdiddlyumptious, in Yarm.
Cluetopia has opened a new branch in Braintree, and a new room, North Pole Hotel in Walton.
Cryptic Escape Rooms have opened a new room, Despicable Grinchmas in Hull.
Cryptology has opened a new room, Ho Ho Hurry Up! in Nottingham as well as Sheffield.
Cryptx have opened a new room, Pantomonium, in Knapwell.
Deadlocked has opened a new room, The Reading Witch, in Reading.
Enigma Quests have announced three new escape rooms at their Shoreditch location, in London.
Enigma Rooms Wakefield has opened a new room, GRIMM - Up North in Wakefield.
Epsom Escape Rooms has reopened their room Challenge Chambers, in Epsom.
Escapable have opened a new room, Jack Frost in: No Globe, in Wakefield.
Escape Brum has opened a new room, The Barrington's Job, in Birmingham.
Escape Colchester has opened a new room, Gladiator: Seize the Eagle.
Escape Glasgow has moved locations and opened two new rooms in Glasgow.
Escape Kent has opened a new room, Sub Zero, in Canterbury.
Escape Quests has opened two new rooms in Ross-on-Wye.
Escape Stirling has opened up a new location with two rooms in Stirling.
Escape The Game has opened a new room, Santa Escape - Santa's Christmas Star in Bovey Tracey.
Escapism have opened a new room, Showtime! in Chester, and Plymouth.
High Wycombe Escape Rooms has opened up two Christmas rooms in High Wycombe.
Horror Escape has opened a new room, Twisted Tales, in London.
Keylock Games have opened a new room, The Grunch, in Wickford.
LevelUp Escapes are opening a new room, Snowbound Express in Shrewsbury.
Lock and Code are opening a new room, A Frosty Christmas, in Taunton.
Locked Escapes has opened a new room, Secret Bunker, in St. Albans.
Lucardo have opened two Christmas rooms, one at each of their venues in Manchester and Rawtenstall.
Major Mind Games has opened a Christmas version of The Show Must Go On, in Horsham.
Mission Classified has opened a new room, Operation Save Christmas, in Grimsby.
Paniq Rooms have opened a new room, Christmas Chaos, in Porthmadog.
Pier Pressure have opened a Christmas Room, Mince Spy Mystery, in Brighton.
Room Lockdown Hornhurch has opened a new room, Santa's Grotto, in Hornchurch.
Roomsmiths have opened a new room, The Rubicon, in Plymouth.
Sudbury Escape Rooms have opened a new room, The Crazy Cat Lady, in Sudbury.
The Escaporium has opened a new branch in Liverpool.
The Great Big Escape will open a new room, Tincleton's Twisted Christmas in Dorchester.
The Great Escape Game has opened a new room, Quest for Atlantis, in Sheffield.
Ware Escape Rooms has opened a new room, The Madman in Ware.
XscapeNow have opened a new room, Locking Around the Christmas Tree in Telford. 🇦🇺/🇳🇿 Scram Escape has opened a new escape room-like experience, Prison Island, in Parramatta, New South Wales, Australia.
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!" • Escape Break: From the Graveyard Oct 30 Escape This Podcast
"A show that’s a mix of escape room puzzles and tabletop role-playing." • Break This Game - ft. Matt Johnson Oct 9
• Podcast This Escape - Break This Game Oct 16
• Oceananigans pt. 1 - The Amnesiatic Sea ft. Toby and Tori Oct 23
• Podcast This Escape - The Amnesiatic Sea Oct 30 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." • Elliot Humphries & James Smith - Professor Puzzle Oct 9
• Lisa Levina & Anna Lysova - Scarlet Envelope Oct 23 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." • Puzzles & Prestidigitation: Magician David Kwong Oct 7
• The User-Centric Design of Boxaroo with Fro Myers Oct 14
• Comedy & Collaboration: Brooke Breit, Creative Director at Jackbox Games Oct 21
• Epic & Engrossing: Jeroen van Hasselt, Co-Creator of Demise of the Gricers Oct 28
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." • Group activities are about to begin (Timpson's Prisons part 2) Oct 6
• Une douleur dans le derrière (Timpson's Prisons part 3) Oct 13
• The Cobbler and Shiv (Timpson's Prisons part 4) Oct 20
• Whistler's Stifler's Mother - (Grumbledown Part 1) Oct 27 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." • Omer Aru of Escape Room Herndon Oct 8
• Will and Hunter Voelker - Leader Board Enthusiasts Oct 22 |
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Longtime readers will know I'm a fan of dingbats, and that I usally swap the December puzzle out for a "Christmas Cracker Joke" that are so popular here in the UK. So this is my last opportunity of the year to share my favourite festive dingbats. See if you can solve these: 1. Tofrankouch
2. Hello Spring! Hi Summer! Howdy Autumn! Ciao, Winter!
3. ABCDEFGHIJKMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ |
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