Escape Room Design Guru Reveals 13 Secrets

nowescape.com/blog/escape-room-design-guru-reveals-13-secrets

Fred Pedersen May 14,

2016

There is not much information on how to design a good escape room available on the
Internet.

Would you like to learn the secrets of escape room design from someone who has designed
over 250 escape rooms worldwide?

In this guest blog post. Daniele Colombo, an entrepreneur who runs his own escape room
design company, shares 13 secrets to designing “must-play” escape games that leave people
eager to come back for more.

Want to learn the secrets to astonishing customers, as well as how to avoid common
mistakes, from a top expert in the industry?

Read on.

In the last years, escape games have been a very important part of my life.

A fun game played by chance in Budapest became my business, and now having reached
the milestone of having designed over 250 rooms in 54 countries, I would like to share my
opinion of some do’s and don’ts in escape game design.

I have seen the escape game business change drastically – from homemade joints in
garages made with grandma’s furniture to serious businesses that invested and made back
hundreds of thousands dollars.

Two things to remember: This is a business, AND this is a game.

Most new investors in these ventures tend to forget this, and the experience is technically
flawless but emotionally sterile.

Invest in passion.

Keep up the excitement.

Make people dream.

1/8
Of course you want a profit, but never forget that people want to be challenged and
entertained; look at your business as a way to keep escape games alive and to spread the
concept, as it is still very niche.

Yes, I am aware there was a reality show. And in the past, [there have been] a few shows,
like Fort Boyard, movies, [such as] The Cube and Saw, and features in the U.S. [like] popular
serials and talk shows. Nevertheless, every time I mention escape games, people have no
idea what I’m talking about.

Now cutting short my already too long intro let’s get to the juice.

Medieval room after wall panel installations

1. Music and lights

. . . are always underrated.

DO have a great soundtrack tailored to the theme and lights to enhance your decor.

DON’T invest in an expensive audio setup or lights and expensive soundproofing.

2. Marketing
DO everything.

Have people dressed as pirates and aliens give out fliers and contact firms, teams, and
clubs.

[Stage] stunts and invite bloggers, TV, and radio stations.

Make it a date escape or hide Easter eggs.

Let players dress up and take a lot of pictures posing with theme-related gadgets.

Watermark [your] pictures instead of the lame picture with the logo printout in the
background.

Engage in social media; post riddles.

Buy mobile escape games to [take] to parties, events, and corporate team building
[exercises].

2/8
DON’T invest too much in websites, promotional videos, most paid advertisements (I do
advise well-targeted Facebook and Google ads and reliable firms), and signs (it’s not a walk-
in business).

For more creative tips for marketing your escape room,

check out 21 Ways to Sell More Escape Games

Scenographer warehouse making seven-foot statues and a sarcophagus for Tutankhamun’s Tomb rooms for a delivery
to Europe

3. Design
DO work with an established and reliable firm, unless you are really handy or crafty and
have great logic and creative skills.

DON’T get scammed or lose money!

We often get called by people who either tried a DIY operation or found a cheap firm that
[did] a cheap job just for us to fix it.

Secret room preview; can’t name what room.

4. Story
DO have a good one liner story. Make sure the gameplay follows the story.

DON’T overdo it.

People want to play full stop. They want to hear a one-minute intro and get in the room. U.S.
customers are obsessed with stories.

Do you remember when you were in school, and just before a fun activity, a teacher would
give you a lecture about it? Just keep that memory in mind . . .

5. Decoration
DO build visually pleasing rooms, find second-hand furniture, have high-quality decorations,
[hire] local artists, and make everyone’s jaw drop in amazement.

3/8
DON’T buy valuable furniture or objects that will get destroyed, overdecorate with items
that are unnecessary and confusing, or buy props from unreliable firms (they rarely work).

Black & White room in X Hostel Bucharest, where three music video clips were shot

6. Clues
DO [provide] hint buttons.

Players ask for a clue by pressing a button. Once they do this, a light goes on in the control
room and in the game room for 10 minutes. This paces the game so all clues are not used
at once. Hints are delivered as pictures of what to logically connect in the game.

DON’T give the solution, give vocal clues unless crystal clear, enter the room, or give hints
without being asked.

7. Competition
DO open escape games when and where there is competition.

In Europe, some cities have up to 140 games! And the best businesses still make lots of
money.

DON’T think that competition is bad.

Once players are through your games they’ll never come back.

More businesses also do marketing, [which] benefits you, too.

P.S. In Europe and most of the world, all bookings are private, while in the United States,
most bookings are open, so strangers play together.

P.P.S. Prices of games vary a lot country to country. Averages per-person, per-hour (in USD):
Eastern Europe, Latin America, and Africa: $12, Western Europe: $20, USA: $25.

Statues installed in Tutankhamun’s tomb have lasers and other

sensors embedded in them.

8. Tech
DO look into new technical developments and items even just for a wow effect.
4/8
Everyone loves magic.

Virtual reality escape games are popping up, but it’s a totally different experience.

DON’T only do tech.

Remember, it’s a game where people with different intelligences play.

Have a balance of tech, traditional (even padlocks), fun, and skills. And never forget, it’s logic
and a smooth flow that keeps it all together.

Setting up the atmosphere for the first room of Mad Hatter, Spain

9. Atmosphere
DO consider smoke or bubble machines and sound and smell effects so players are fully
immersed in the theme.

DO have a reception area that is complementary to the games and give players clothing and
accessories to wear and use (the line between cool and lame is very thin here).

DON’T leave windows [exposed] so players can see outside (it spoils the effect), leave the
walls plain white, or reuse the same props for a new theme in the same location.

A scary theme inspired by Saw movies www.sportpark-gelsenkirchen.de

10. Themes
DO

If you’re first in the market, go classic: Sherlock Holmes, pirates, Medieval, mad scientist,
black & white, bank heist, prison escape, stop the bomb, zombies . . .

If you’re last in the market, be innovative.

If your city has legends and myths or is historically important, these can all be ideas for new,
original, and cool themes.

Or ask us to make new ones: catacombs, ancient civilizations, escape the cave, rock ’n’ roll, a
more sensual one with a Webcam to challenge the game master, a sports one in a locker
room, an educational one for kids, and a million others.
5/8
DON’T be lame.

11. Innovation
This is the most important for all the industry.

DON’T copy what you see.

You see three hints; you do three hints.

You see one-hour games; you do one-hour games.

You see x number of people; you do x number of people.

You see x size room; you make x size room.

You see a popular theme; you copy it.

Etc.

DO dare.

Be crazy and fun.

Astonish people.

Stun them with new concepts.

Devise new dynamics.

Create something different.

Forget the rules and all you played before.

Evolve escape games.

This is the only way we will all be moving forward.

Without evolution and people who dare to change the rules, there is no future for escape
rooms.

General NO NO:

Not having a logical flow that all players understand

Assuming players know specifics of anything before entering the room that are not as
obvious as H2O
6/8
Tediously making people go through books in the games

Too many padlocks of the same kind

Tiny objects, props, and clues

Too many distractions

Items [that are] impossible to find

Fake clues

Overcrowded rooms

Overpaying [and purchasing from] iffy online prop providers

Underestimating the time and costs of construction, fire codes, and other regulations

General YES YES (based on rooms we designed that people loved):

Last puzzle in the room makes the team win or lose

More space in rooms for a maze or some crawling, climbing etc.

A room entrance that is a slide.

Shorter and smaller games.

Longer and bigger games.

Outdoor escape: We design games in tents to bring around festivals, concerts, parks, and
private gardens, and also to conference rooms or shopping malls.

And something new we want to develop – secrets 12 and 13.

12. CITY ESCAPE

It’s a crossover between treasure hunt, sightseeing and escape room; for tourists and locals.
There can be human interactions as going to a shop and after saying a codeword receive an
envelope to continue the quest. It can be totally automated online or it can be with SMS to
an operator. Yes, it will be expensive for us to develop but if it kicks in and becomes popular
you will build us a statue. Games with a story to follow in other games: 4 chapters and you
re only allowed to play if you played the previous chapter. Level of difficulty changes and

13.PROJECTION FOR THE USA

7/8
The market went from 17% of our clients in 2015 to 75% now. This means that the time to
invest is NOW. Every day we are getting requests for quotes. If you see a gap in the market
don’t wait too long, it’s your chance.

About the Author

Daniele Colombo is an Italian and Irish citizen living in Bucharest. He started his first
business at age 23 with the first X Hostel in Varna, Bulgaria. Over the next few years he and
his partners opened seven hostels in Europe.

CNN listed X Hostel in the top 10 party hostels worldwide. The hostel was so popular, 240
people had the brand’s X logo permanently tattooed on their bodies.

In 2014, after playing his first escape game in Budapest, Daniele decided to open two games
in his hostel. After a huge success and the great popularity of the rooms, he expanded to
other cities. Later, his business evolved, and his main focus today is designing games for 3rd
parties.

Currently, Daniele owns the Escape the Room Design firm that has sold and implemented
the greatest number of games worldwide with the widest range of themes.

His team is made up of passionate players, smart professionals, and intrepid design
pioneers that keep up to date with the market’s evolving needs and wants

Feel free to contact Daniele and his international team of designers at

www.buyescapegames.com and www.escaperoomfranchise.com
For more escape rooms designers browse our Escape Room Resources Directory.

8/8