The Psychology Behind the Escape Room

According to an article from Harvard Business Review, there are four key experience-design principles. These include (1) themed experiences, (2) positive cues that give the right impression, (3) available memorabilia, and (4) the engagement of all five senses. Now consider how an escape room fulfills these principles. The rooms are themed (Beasley’s Billions and Pyramid Paradox), you have a photo to remember your experience, and you use almost all of your senses to get out of the room (no tasting necessary—for now). The escape room experience is meant to give you a memory that will last for years. This blog post divides the four realms of experience as entertainment, educational, esthetic, and escapist. Escape rooms provide entertaining storylines, force players to think and learn, have visually appealing environments, and give participants an opportunity to participate and immerse themselves in an exciting situation.

Deepening/Building Relationships

You don’t learn anything about a person by seeing a movie with them. Escape rooms force you to put down the phone and engage with others on a personal level. Businesses and corporations are now using escape rooms as a means to create employee bonding. Say you’ve created a new team with people from all around the world—a fun escape room competition between the HR department and IT forces you to work with others and get to know how they respond to situations outside the office. Part of this deepened relationship comes from sharing a memorable experience. Nowadays, family time is spent doing exciting activities outside the house rather than board games played on the kitchen table. With free time so limited, parents are counting on fun activities to entice their kids. An activity that involves so much teamwork and communication naturally lends itself to deepening relationships.

Easily Shareable on Social Media

With the ability to ‘check in’ at certain locations on Facebook, it’s easier than ever to make your every move known to the world. Once you complete (or fail) your escape room, you’re normally asked to pose for a picture with your group. This not only gives the escape room some free marketing (with their logo in the background), but it also gives you a photo that you can share online. Now more than ever, images and videos are taking over social media. Instagram and snapchat are solely dedicated to image sharing, and most Facebook statuses now come with an image. For many, social media is a tool to show people that they live an active, exciting life. It’s more about manipulating other people’s perception of you than anything. Unique experiences like concerts and escape rooms provide great ammunition for a social media post.