The escape room story was exactly the opposite of how computer games are often developed.
This translation back into real life naturally makes for a particularly intense gaming experience, as all the senses are stimulated in the real environment.
In this blog article you will find information about the incredible – and extremely rapid – development history of this game form, which has been booming for years and is an unforgettable experience, especially for friends, families, teams, school classes, stag and hen parties, birthday parties and many more.
Escape room history: the origins
The first escape room story known worldwide was handed down to us by the ancient Greeks.
In order to escape from the Minotaur’s labyrinth on Crete, Theseus used Ariadne’s ball of wool. He unwound Ariadne’s thread as he entered the underground passages and – after killing the bloodthirsty monster – found his way out of the labyrinth along the thread without any problems. This principle is still used today by speleologists, ice divers, firemen and others to ensure a safe retreat from a confusing situation.
As already mentioned, the escape room story began in the digital world – and initially in single-player mode. Thanks to various influences such as scavenger hunts, puzzle books, board games, etc., the first interactive point-and-click adventure games quickly became very popular.
These games involved searching for clues in a digital room and solving various puzzles, for example to get to the next room or to freedom, or to solve a murder and much more.
Who invented the escape room?
One of these first online adventure games was called “Crimson Room” and was developed by Toshimitsu Takagi from Japan in 2004. This gave rise to the first live escape games, also in Japan, in 2007.
In Europe, the first escape room called “Parapark” was opened in Budapest, Hungary, in 2011.
The concept of live escape room games was first presented in the USA in 2012, where it was immediately and enthusiastically received. It was there that the makers of OPOLUM first got wind of live escape rooms and then founded our current GmbH in 2014. In 2015, we launched under the name “TwistedRooms” opposite the Speicherstadt on 400 square meters. Back then, we were pioneers in a new industry that was yet to fully develop. Check out our Escape Room Hamburg directly here!
A hype that continues unabated to this day, constantly contributing to the development of ever wilder, more complicated and even more exciting
The Escape Room story in Germany
The first German escape room was called “HintQuest” and opened its doors in Munich in August 2013.
In February 2017, there were already 208 escape game providers in 90 German cities with 426 individual game rooms.
Also in 2017, the first German provider opened an escape room in Berlin in which players move around empty rooms with a head-mounted display (aka VR glasses). In this way, the game is also partly moving back in the direction of PC gaming (which has proven to be more of a step backwards. Click here for the other blog )
The development of escape rooms – ever higher, faster, further
Driven by internally acclaimed XXL Escape Rooms, more and more escape rooms have opened in Germany since 2018 that have flashed the escape room community! Everyone was talking about these rooms, the effects, the setting and the atmosphere. From then on, there were more and more escape rooms that shifted the focus away from the puzzles and towards immersion. The players completed “to do’s” that made sense in the context of the story. You had to think less and less. Instead, it was more and more about the experience and the impression. A trend that continues to grow to this day. In the OPOLUM Escape Room Hamburg, we merge the really classic puzzles, the real thinking, the really cool cooperative puzzles with immersion. We want escape rooms to still be puzzle rooms in the future. But we also want immersion, atmosphere and XXL movie sets. Both are possible! At least at OPOLUM!
Experience exciting escape room stories live
A real escape room with good friends in a real room, where you have to solve puzzles and look for, find and use things correctly in order to successfully complete an exciting adventure together, cannot be topped by any virtual game, no matter how sophisticated.
The premium version of these live adventures can be found in the OPOLUM Escape Room Hamburg, where
