Escape Room Rumours – 8 October 2018

Welcome to your “weekly” fix of UK and Irish escape room news covering everything that this site has discovered in the last three weeks! Apologies for the delay – I had a busy few weeks preparing for ERIC, the UK escape room conference.

Exit Games is always on the look-out for new rooms or venues that are opening, references in the media or anything else that might be of interest to the readers, so please do send an email if you spot anything of interest. That applies to owners too – feel free to send me your news for inclusion here. Don’t be shy!

On to the news

That’s all I’m aware of. If any of the above is incorrect or if you’re aware of other news, significant discounts or competitions, then let me know via email or in the comments below and I’ll include updates in the next edition.

Thanks for reading!

Saturday will see the biggest DASH yet

DASH 10 logoOn Saturday, the tenth edition of the DASH puzzle hunt takes place around the world. That’s more literal than usual this year; the event will be played in 23 locations in six countries, smashing previous records of 16 and three respectively, with Australia, Canada and Cyprus are set to join the family and host their first events. Welcome!

Happily for us, London is hosting its sixth edition, and this too is set to be the biggest one yet; all the tickets sold out in under 24 hours – possibly well under 24 hours, for it didn’t seem wise to hang around to find out – and through a piece of heroism from the London Game Control team, there are set to be well over 40 teams in London this year compared to a previous record of two dozen. I very much hope to see you there; please say “Hi!” if you see me.

The current weather forecast for London is for a dry start to the day that is set to get cloudier, with an increased risk of rain, as the day progresses; classic DASH weather. The player’s guide sets the form; there have been repeated suggestions from GC that teams need to brush up on their cryptic crossword clue solving skills, and that scissors and clear tape will prove essential this year. Other than that, it may be worth a browse to see what features have been added to ClueKeeper between last DASH and this one, much as the introduction of Zappar integration between DASH 8 and DASH 9 could have been taken to hint at the mixed-reality nature of the final DASH 9 puzzle. It might also be worth looking out on the morning of the day for tweets from Australian DASH players who will finish their event before the rest of the world starts theirs, though I’m sure nobody will post spoilers.

London GC has suggested that there will be a nine-hour overall time limit for puzzling plus transport. In comparison to previous years, I get the impression that the teamwork icebreaker will see a return this year and that this year will contain more content than last year; perhaps a “fast team” time back to between two-and-a-half and three hours, and a “usual team” time of over five hours. A suggestion that London teams might think about planning lunch between puzzles 5-6 might be interpreted to point to relatively quick puzzles early on and longer ones later in the day. I would expect over 600 teams to play worldwide, perhaps 400 of whom will be on the expert track. The logo with its appropriately ten-pointed star-pair design fits right into the tradition of every DASH logo since DASH 6 having a gold/yellow background, except one!

Misremembered Apple and The Magpie have demonstrated world-class form over the years, rubbing shoulders on the scoreboard with teams who have been extremely close to, or even at, the top in other years. There are other excellent solvers in the UK dotted around a number of other teams. (I am not one of them!) I don’t imagine any teams having members with nearly as much escape room experience as team RecklesS2, if that proves a factor. My favourite London team name is Tactical Yutnori, and I very much hope to find out who is behind a team name that is pure Genius.

As ever, set your expectations for a come-down at the end of the day, once the final meta is over and you have to make your way back from the fictional Old West to the factual West End. Why not stay around for a drink and a chat with your fellow solvers at the end, if you can? Many, many thanks to all the people who have put together the hunt: the global co-ordinators, all those who helped playtest and test-solve and the London volunteers on the day. Really looking forward to what’s very likely to be a fantastic event!

Escape Room Rumours – 17 September 2018

Welcome to your weekly fix of UK and Irish escape room news covering everything that this site has discovered in the last seven days!

Exit Games is always on the look-out for new rooms or venues that are opening, references in the media or anything else that might be of interest to the readers, so please do send an email if you spot anything of interest. That applies to owners too – feel free to send me your news for inclusion here. Don’t be shy!

On to the news

That’s all I’m aware of. If any of the above is incorrect or if you’re aware of other news, significant discounts or competitions, then let me know via email or in the comments below and I’ll include updates in the next edition.

Thanks for reading!

Escape Room Rumours – 10 September 2018

Welcome to your weekly fix of UK and Irish escape room news covering everything that this site has discovered in the last seven days!

Exit Games is always on the look-out for new rooms or venues that are opening, references in the media or anything else that might be of interest to the readers, so please do send an email if you spot anything of interest. That applies to owners too – feel free to send me your news for inclusion here. Don’t be shy!

On to the news

That’s all I’m aware of. If any of the above is incorrect or if you’re aware of other news, significant discounts or competitions, then let me know via email or in the comments below and I’ll include updates in the next edition.

Thanks for reading!

Escape Room Rumours – 3 September 2018

Welcome to your weekly fix of UK and Irish escape room news covering everything that this site has discovered in the last seven days!

Exit Games is always on the look-out for new rooms or venues that are opening, references in the media or anything else that might be of interest to the readers, so please do send an email if you spot anything of interest. That applies to owners too – feel free to send me your news for inclusion here. Don’t be shy!

On to the news

That’s all I’m aware of. If any of the above is incorrect or if you’re aware of other news, significant discounts or competitions, then let me know via email or in the comments below and I’ll include updates in the next edition.

Thanks for reading!

Escape Room Rumours – 27 August 2018

Welcome to your weekly fix of UK and Irish escape room news covering everything that this site has discovered in the last seven days!

Exit Games is always on the look-out for new rooms or venues that are opening, references in the media or anything else that might be of interest to the readers, so please do send an email if you spot anything of interest. That applies to owners too – feel free to send me your news for inclusion here. Don’t be shy!

On to the news

That’s all I’m aware of. If any of the above is incorrect or if you’re aware of other news, significant discounts or competitions, then let me know via email or in the comments below and I’ll include updates in the next edition.

Thanks for reading!

ERIC 2018

Long time readers might have seen a post last year covering the first UK’s Escape Room Conference – ERIC. Well, the good news is that it’s back again in little over a month. This time round it’s moved down to London where it will take place near Waterloo on 1st October with welcome drinks on the Sunday afternoon and an after-party in the evening. The speaker line up has been finalised and there’s an impressive set of escape room heavyweights not only from the UK but from across Europe.

From the international arena we see Chris Lattner and Stella Adami jet in from THE ROOM in Berlin, one of the most talked about companies in the world, discussing how to refine games and remain competitive. Fred Pedersen from Now Escape, the escape room aggregation site, will be talking about the future of the industry. Donna Wandt from Quinbook and Twisted Rooms, Hamburg will share her experiences and advice on how escape rooms can work collectively.

There are a host of big names from the UK including several presenters returning to the stage after successful talks last year. Expect to see Nick Moran of Time Run fame talking about his new project Sherlock: The Game is Now, David Middleton from Bewilder Box letting you know how to empower your GMs, Dave Davis and Lewis Hunt from the Escapement running a tech workshop, Alex Souter from the Panic Room teaching you the secrets of creative brainstorming, Alasdair Willett from History Mystery sharing his knowledge on collaborating with public institutions and me (as the Logic Escape Me) sharing a talk with Mark Greenhalgh (aka Really Fun) on the Players’ Perspective and then (as Exit Games) geeking out on some of the escape room statistics that might be of wider interest to owners.

There will also be plenty of new blood with Heidi Richardson from Locked In Edinburgh talking about narrative-led design, Clockwork Dog talking about collaborating with clients, Phil Harris from Pier Pressure showing you how to target corporate customers, Katie Falcon-Uff and Andrew Ingle from TimeTrap discussing their game, the Divide, from a popup and social issue point of view, David Gale from Exciting Escapes giving advice on how to set up a new escape room business, Joe Mills from Time Run, Escape Plan and Sherlock: The Game is Now talking about hybridisation, Kate Surtees and Craig Chalmers from ClueCapers discussing how to run a small but successful business, Alex Mulhall of Co-Decode exploring how existing knowledge can lead your game design and Paul Andrews from Clue Adventure taking on the psychology of escape rooms.

I think you’ll agree that’s an impressive amount of content! But that’s not all – there are also several exhibitors, with Ubisoft, Cluetivity, IndestRoom, Legendary Quests, Now Escape, Buzzshot, Quinbook, The Insurance Centre and COGS (the Clockwork Dog escape room software) all showing off products designed to help make escape room owners’ lives a bit better. Finally, Ubisoft and Logiclocks will both be attending with their games so you can squeeze in an escape room in the unlikely event that neither of the talks appeal during one of the sessions…

Interested? Well, if you’re quick then you might just be able to snag a ticket before they run out. Hope to see you there!

The 22nd Annual Mind Sport Olympiad

The twenty-second annual Mind Sports Olympiad is in progress! This year’s mental-games-themed multi-sports festival started on Sunday 19th August and will be running until Monday 27th August. It’s once again being held at JW3, the London Jewish cultural centre, so Sabbath considerations stop play on the evening of Friday 25th and throughout Saturday 26th.

Some people prefer to focus their efforts on a single mind sport at the highest level they can attain, others take a much broader view that it’s more fun to compete at many different games, and the Mind Sports Olympiad is a great place for those who take the second viewpoint. In a similar way, some people like only escape rooms, others like only logic puzzle contests, others like only cryptic crosswords or mechanical puzzles or geocaching or one of maybe a dozen other things; if you like one but haven’t been exposed to the others then it may well be that you turn out to enjoy the others as well.

This year, Thursday 23rd August is puzzle day. For the first time ever, there are two different puzzle contests that day! In the morning there’s a competition testing people’s skills at Sudoku and Killer Sudoku; an unconnected competition in the afternoon is entitled Advanced Puzzles and will feature Futoshiki, Star Battle, Numberlink, Straights and old favourite kenken (also known as calcudoku – think killer sudoku, but with other mathematical operations as well as addition). £140 will be distributed among the three medalists in the morning Sudoku; the afternoon Puzzles have a £90 prize pot.

There are contests in scores of other mind sports as well; for instance, you might be attracted by the Countdown contest through the day on Sunday 26th or the Chess Puzzles contest that evening. Additionally, there’s an open play room with a well-stocked games library open each day. If you’re not close at all to London, this year you can watch live streaming coverage of the top board in some of the tournaments, sponsored by Bondora. That’s two “o”s and one “a”; don’t fumble the middle vowel or you’ll find something quite different!

Escape Room Rumours – 20 August 2018

Welcome to your weekly fix of UK and Irish escape room news covering everything that this site has discovered in the last seven days!

Exit Games is always on the look-out for new rooms or venues that are opening, references in the media or anything else that might be of interest to the readers, so please do send an email if you spot anything of interest. That applies to owners too – feel free to send me your news for inclusion here. Don’t be shy!

On to the news

That’s all I’m aware of. If any of the above is incorrect or if you’re aware of other news, significant discounts or competitions, then let me know via email or in the comments below and I’ll include updates in the next edition.

Thanks for reading!

Escape Room Rumours – 13 August 2018

Welcome to your weekly fix of UK and Irish escape room news covering everything that this site has discovered in the last seven days!

Exit Games is always on the look-out for new rooms or venues that are opening, references in the media or anything else that might be of interest to the readers, so please do send an email if you spot anything of interest. That applies to owners too – feel free to send me your news for inclusion here. Don’t be shy!

On to the news

That’s all I’m aware of. If any of the above is incorrect or if you’re aware of other news, significant discounts or competitions, then let me know via email or in the comments below and I’ll include updates in the next edition.

Thanks for reading!