Over the years we've had all sorts of groups of people coming to the Escape Key – families, co-workers, birthday parties, hen parties ... nurses, lawyers, soldiers and plumbers. Escape rooms are great fun (we all know that!). But there are many other reasons why our escape rooms are so popular. Here are a few...
An escape from ordinary life
Not only do we encourage an escape from the room itself via teamwork and puzzle-solving, but our rooms are also a great way to escape from the mundane everyday life. When you are inside an escape room, you are saving the world from an asteroid, or rescuing innocent witches – for an hour you can completely forget about a streesful or boring job or that the laundry needs doing. In an escape room you experience lots of new and exciting emotions which you often just don’t get in your usual life.
A chance to discover Newcastle’s heritage
The history and culture of our city has been a huge source of inspiration for our escape rooms. By incorporating fascinating elements of Newcastle’s rich heritage, our rooms offer a unique experience where you can learn about shocking and interesting true events whilst also experiencing them! In our Plague room, you have the chance to escape from the crazed Plague doctor while overlooking a real life plague pit, and in Electric City you must save one of the most significant inventions of Newcastle’s industrial past – the electric light bulb.
Teamwork
Teamwork is essential for a successful escape room experience. Well-designed puzzles can usually only be solved if members of the team work together and communicate. Some tasks are physically impossible to complete on your own, and if one team member fails to announce a finding this could lose vital minutes. It quickly becomes clear who is good at what, who reacts how in a stressful situation and who can be relied upon. This makes escape rooms the perfect activity for getting to know your peers – for example, new co-workers or a friendship reunion – as the success of the game depends on the players’ ability to work together and communicate effectively. If your business is interested in a team building package then please get in touch
Memory improvement
Most escape room tasks use our short-term memory – for example recalling a once-ambiguous item you found ten minutes ago in order to use it to solve another puzzle. In our short-term memory, images and objects in front of us are stored. The more we use our short-term memory, and the more things we store in it, the more it develops; this will happen the more you immerse yourself in escape rooms! There are many beneficial effects of improving your short-term memory, including faster and better situation recognition and problem-solving ability.
Increased creativity
While some escape room puzzles are logic based many of our puzzles room require out-of-the-box thinking, meaning that if we want to be successful, we have to come up with unique ideas rather than use the usual templates. The more we have to think out-of-the-box, the more our creativity develops. Also, you may feel inspired by the creativity and artistic detail that have gone into making our rooms feel as authentic as possible...
Look back at our series of blogs on creating immersive escape rooms
Makes you happy!
It feels good to succeed. When solving puzzles and completing challenging tasks, the brain releases dopamine (the happiness hormone) into the body. This gives us an instant feeling of gratification which is why we often see players 'fighting' to be the one who gets to unlock the final door. Dopamine has many benefits, including lifting mood, sharpening concentration, improving memory and increasing social skills. The brain likes this release of dopamine and therefore craves more of it , motivating you to find more and more difficult challenges and puzzles to solve. This helps to explain why people sometimes find themselves itching for more escape room experiences after their first.
So there you are six positive reasons why playing an escape room is such a fun and rewarding activity. Learn more about The Escape Key's rooms.
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