Escape room games are insanely popular and can be found in most cities around the world. From Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to Sydney, Australia – the craze shows no signs of slowing down, as more and more people want to test their skills in an immersive world.

But where did it all start? Escape games didn’t become what they are today overnight… Let’s take a look through human history to find out how a simple puzzle could end up with the advanced escape rooms we know and love today!

When Was The First Escape Room Made?

To answer that question, we must first take a brief look through human history:

1. The first puzzles date back to 3000 BC with 49 gaming pieces found inside the Başur Höyük burial mound in southeast Turkey.
2. Egyptians draw game resembling tic-tac-toe onto roofing tiles for entertainment in 1300 BC.
3. King Louis XIV of France orders the creation of an elaborate maze for his son in 1664.
4. British cartographer John Spilsbury created the first recorded jigsaw puzzle in 1776.
5. ‘Tennis for Two’ – the first video game created in 1958 by American physicist William Higinbotham.
6. ‘Crimson Room’ – the first escape room style video game created by Japanese man Toshimitsu Takagi in 2004.
7. FINALLY, the first real-life escape room is created in 2007 by SCARP in Japan!

Real Life Rooms Today!

The first real-life escape rooms were very basic, with few facilities and generic designs – the idea behind the original rooms followed the games that came before them. Players would enter a locked room and solve puzzles, find clues and hidden objects, and escape before time runs out. Simple, right?

Nowadays, when we think about what to expect from an escape room in 2019, the answer is very different!

There are now over 8000 escape rooms worldwide! The competition means that companies are constantly coming up with innovative and ground-breaking ways to attract new customers. Before the boom, an escape room was an activity for puzzle addicts and adrenaline junkies who didn’t mind the purely brain-teasing aspect that was available at the time.

Today, rooms come in all shapes and sizes – literally! Whether they’re outdoor or indoor, in old ruins, in decommissioned aeroplanes, underground or even mobile, escape rooms today can be found in any location. The escape room game genres are extremely versatile and can be any theme you can think of!

They’re also family-friendly, can contain live actors, place an incredible emphasis on immersion, utilize VR technology, have a variety of puzzles… and guess what? They’re still constantly evolving!

If - for whatever reason - you still haven’t got round to trying one, stop what you’re doing and book one TODAY!