With most out-of-home entertainment experiences unraveling during pandemic lockdowns, leisure facilities have been forced to devise alternative experiences to connect with their audiences in the home and offer their wares. In the process, these alternative experiences may be dramatically transforming key aspects of their businesses. This has been particularly evident in the world of escape rooms, which are heavily anchored in physical play.

When the shutdown last March put the physical Insomnia Escape Room DC on hiatus, the company searched for ways to deliver its game experiences online, according to Alex Gerasimov, one of the company’s owners. It started testing an online game experience soon after the lockdown, allowing players to “explore a room with cameras and try and solve puzzles” with the assistance of an avatar gamemaster, said Gerasimov.

As Gerasimov explains, the company decided to change direction and develop a “more online, automated” escape room experience. The company created a virtual, 360-degree escape game space by filming all the physical rooms in the real Insomnia Escape Room DC site.

READ FULL ARTICLE HERE