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LMGI COMPASS
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Fall 2021
THE ESCAPE ROOM—WHERE DID IT START?
Most attribute the idea of brick-and-mortar escape rooms to a man named Takao Kato,
who fi rst opened an escape room location in Japan in 2006. The inspiration can be traced
back to puzzle-based video games or games which feature "escape scenarios," and Kato
had become obsessed with an online game called Crimson Room in which you awaken in
a nondescript room with no idea how you got there and must move around the digital
space, fi nding and collecting objects in order to get out.
While the escape room business itself has suffered under COVID, there were still an
estimated 2,080 rooms spread across the U.S. alone in February of 2021, according to a
report by roomescapeartist.com. The rooms feature themes inspired by everything from
Egyptian pharaoh's and pyramids to murder mysteries, zombie outbreaks and more.
There's even a room set around baking cupcakes (yes, cupcakes) and another where you
can be locked inside a "submarine." There are even rooms based on popular book or fi lm
themes like Harry Potter or Back to the Future.
Taylor Russell (left) & Logan Miller in Escape Room: Tournament of Champions.
Photo: David Bloomer/Sony Pictures Entertainment
