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The city escape rooms appeared around the same time that the traditional escape room was making an impression on the public. But we're not sure that the two are related. This is because outdoor escape room games were probably originally conceived as a way of spicing up those meaningless and sooo boring walks around the City designed for tourists. By playing this game in the streets around a city, you can discover a lot more, simply because you'll be looking for implied treasure as well as solving city-based secrets, and exploring the city and discovering it for yourself.
There are a number of reasons why the city escape games are so popular:
Strengthen Team Spirit
The chances are that if you're going to be playing city escape games, it's going to be either with your family or with a group of friends. Just as with playing a traditional escape room game, once the game is over you'll find yourselves feeling even closer, as you would have shared an emotional and satisfying experience together.
Learning Something New
An interactive adventure game based around the cityscape is certainly going to help you to discover much more about the city in question than if you just took a tourist guided route. And because there's a level of gamification involved, then the probability is that you will remember virtually all of your city escape game experience. One thing’s for certain, and that’s playing a city escape game, especially in a city you're not familiar with, is going to be something that will keep you on your toes and you certainly will not feel bored at any point.
Interesting Entertainment
Taking part in a city escape game is a great way to learn something about the city you are discovering. If it's a new city you’re visiting then you were probably thinking of doing the tourist thing anyway. So doing a city escape game seems like a no-brainer. It's a bit like tourism on steroids, in that you're going to see and experience much more than if you had taken the tourist bus or simply made an excursion on your own. And you’ll not be locked in a closed room, as would happen with a traditional escape room game.
We suggest one thing you should try and avoid, is the overall reliance on complex electronic gadgets. Instead, we rather like the more old-fashioned way of having a map, you know, one of those old things made of paper, as opposed to using anything provided by Google on your phone. Of course, as with all escape games there is a narrative or story line that is designed to continually push the player forwards towards their eventual goal. But for it all to come together and create a truly immersive experience, then you will need to have very skilled game designers, along with the use of their ability to create riddles that are much more interesting than simply “find a note here.”
Hide The Clues in Pain Sight
In all honesty we would suggest that playing in an outdoor city escape is going to be a much more nuanced experience when compared with a traditional escape room. In the latter, the owner of the escape room doesn't have to concern themselves so much with the placement of the puzzles or clues. But working in the public space in the cityscape, is a completely different matter. You’ll be placing riddles, clues, and puzzles in public, though they will often have to be in plain sight to avoid members of the public picking them up. In truth, that's not an easy task, but if you can do it well then it will add hugely to the entertainment value of your game.
The Historical Novel Approach
One of the common themes that you will find in city escape games is that of uncovering ancient secrets in the style of a historical adventure novel. The riddles and tasks can be very different from those which you would find in a traditional escape room and can include such things as geo-positioning, augmented-reality, physical aspects, and logical reasoning. As such, the city itself becomes the actors as well as the decoration for the game. Providing the narrative and plot are interesting enough, then you can create a totally immersive experience for all the players involved.
Watch The Weather
Playing outside, you will always have to take into consideration the weather conditions. In truth, bad conditions such as rain, hail and snow can overshadow the whole gameplay and lead to a less than satisfactory result. Obviously the weather is a real thing and we cannot circumnavigate it, though many games will offer players the possibility of completing any half play games once the weather returns to normal. On a related note make sure you dress accordingly and most importantly of all, bring a pair of comfortable walking shoes.
Cheap as Chips
One final point we should mention and that's the price. Without any rent to pay, expensive props and decoration, or people sitting in a reception area, your running costs are going to be minimal. We reckon it's something a single, well organised person could run on their own. Once the narrative has been designed, and the riddles and clues, placed around the city, it's just a case of sitting back and letting the game play out.
