6 Types Of Puzzles You Can Expect When Doing An Escape Room

6 Types Of Puzzles You Can Expect When Doing An Escape Room

When you think of escape rooms, you think of enjoyable puzzles that require you to think outside the box. These puzzles, while challenging, are not impossible to solve. Escape rooms in Singapore are designed with a multitude of puzzles that fit with each room’s atmosphere. When solved, they are meant to lead you towards escape. While the vibe and story of each escape room will be completely distinct, the basics of each puzzle remain more or less familiar. Here are just some you may recognise:

1. Hidden clues

This might be the kind of puzzle most associated with escape rooms. Finding hidden clues or items in an escape room is a staple. These types of clues often contribute a lot to the storytelling. They can range from keys to pieces of paper with codes written on them. Most of the time, these clues are only part of a bigger puzzle.

Hidden Clues

2. Right in front of you the whole time 

Escape rooms are meticulously designed and decorated. Rarely is there any item left there for no reason. Everything in the room should be suspicious to you and can contain clues or hold special significance. So, next time, examine the potted plants or paintings in the room with a careful eye.

3. Sight and sounds

Often, sound and light are incorporated into the narrative of an escape room. As such, you need to keep an eye and ear out for these kinds of puzzles. Light can be used to subtly hide writing, and music can be used as clues. Listen for lyrics that may tell you your next move.

4. Words and numbers

Puzzles that utilise words and numbers in their cues are seen often. This isn’t to say that you need to be an expert to solve these clues. Thinking outside the box is still critical to solving them. Watch out for equations of words that are misspelt. Another puzzle that can often be found in escape rooms is riddles.

5. Actual puzzles 

Puzzles made of physical objects are also quite commonplace in escape rooms. These objects include; knots, jigsaw puzzles, or any object that can be manipulated. These items are usually well within sight and not hidden away. The solution is often found in how you solve them. Recognising patterns and thinking abstractly is integral to solving these types of puzzles.

6. A mix of everything

A good escape room incorporates some of the puzzle elements listed above. A great escape room, however, finds a way to combine all of them in innovative and exciting ways that also fit the story. You will have to use strategy and teamwork to find all the clues and solve the puzzles required to get out of the room. And with the added caveat of the time limit, players will have to use all the tools at their disposal to win.

Conclusion

Clearly, the variety of puzzles available only heightens the experience of solving an escape room. But if you’re nervous about being unable to win at this game, remember that escape is achievable with patience, determination, and a little creativity. At Lockdown Escape, our puzzles are intriguing and infinitely fun to crack. So, what are you waiting for? Come on down and see for yourselves!

The Difference Between A Virtual And Real Life Escape Room

The Difference Between A Virtual And Real Life Escape Room

The escape room has a long and interesting history. In its evolution, the virtual escape room is one of the more popular forms that have emerged. Virtual escape rooms are basically online versions of the interactive series of puzzles we’ve all come to enjoy. There are many similarities between the two formats, but each also facilitates certain differences. Here are some of the most significant ones:

Real Life Escape Rooms

Real life escape rooms 

You can only physically and tangibly interact with your surroundings while doing a real life escape room. Senses exclusively used when interacting with a physical environment, like your olfactory and tactile senses, are activated here. Getting to touch your setting and clues affects your immersion more intensely. You are also required to be more dextrous and agile when moving about the room – which can only trigger the release of hormones like adrenaline.

The rooms are often more uncanny and can feel more lifelike. The setting, atmosphere, and props make you feel like the narrative’s main character. However, because the space is physical, that also means it’s limited. Only a set number of people will be able to join the game at the same time. A big group of people will have to split up into acceptable numbers to participate in a real life escape room.

Virtual escape rooms 

In theory, the reach of a virtual escape room is practically limitless. You can even experience one right at home. A lot of businesses who are looking for team building activities in Singapore turn to online escape rooms. They can engage large groups of people in an affordable, enjoyable, challenging, and challenging activity. People appreciate that they don’t have to go to a physical location to reap the benefits of participating in an escape room. Many tools are available that allow communication – beyond face-to-face meetups – like Zoom or Google Meet. Even though you can’t physically touch anything in virtual escape rooms, the games at Lockdown Escape are so well-made and intricate that you are still fully immersed in the experience.

The scope of virtual escape rooms is also much more extensive. There are no spatial or financial limitations. The rooms in the virtual world can accommodate a significant number of people while also being much more meticulously designed. You can even talk to your teammates through video chat in some iterations. This eliminates the feelings of solitude you might have felt not being able to see your teammates. It is also relatively easy to accommodate; you only need your team and good Wi-Fi.

Conclusion 

Whether you’re planning to do a virtual or real life escape room, each platform has benefits and drawbacks. What helps is having the option to choose what it is you’re looking for. This article helps you decide what kind of escape room to do based on your needs and requirements. But whether you’re looking for a fun and intimate, real life escape room to do with your friends or a limitless and interactive virtual escape room for a team building exercise, Lockdown Escape has you covered. Contact us to learn more today!

The Unseen And Intriguing History Behind The Escape Room

The Unseen And Intriguing History Behind The Escape Room

Escape rooms aren’t exactly a new concept. Even though they’ve only just started to gain notoriety, they’ve actually existed for a while now. Despite beginning in Japan as a humble virtual adventure game, escape rooms have grown immensely in popularity over the years, appealing to people across the globe.

Where it all started

In the beginning, video games utilised commands that relied on textual cues to play the game. Gradually, as technology began to see incredible advancements, so did the gameplay. They began to rely on visuals as well, which ensured the meteoric rise of the industry in the 70s. In order to stand out from the rampant competition at the time, companies started looking to brand new ideas to make games even more immersive.

This desire led to the advent of the point-and-click game, which is arguably a direct ancestor of escape rooms. These were mainly played on computer devices as you were required to use a cursor for the gameplay. The considerable fame these types of games enjoyed led to even more innovation – which would one day lead to the escape room games we know today.

The earliest versions

In the late 80s, a developer named John Wilson made a game that heavily relied on text; Behind Closed Doors. In it, you, as the player and protagonist, are stuck in a room. Sound familiar? Over the years, the concept was developed until it could be adapted to the point-and-click computer gameplay. With access to the Internet in the early 2000s, creators like “Toshimitsu Takagi” made online escape games more and more popular.

This style of game was called “Takagism” in honour of one of the genre’s pioneers. They were noted for their atmospheric storytelling and immersive gameplay experience. They also tend to elicit feelings of isolation through music and restrained interface to heighten the intensity. The games would have players look around their space for clues on how to escape – usually through a single door. These games would then become the catalyst for real-life, physical escape rooms.

The first official escape room

The first real escape room was established in Kyoto, Japan, by Takao Kato in 2007. According to him, a combination of his fascination with the genre of video games and wanting adventure in his own life led to this creation.

In the beginning, these escape rooms were only held in bars and clubs in Japan. Soon, however, physical locations specifically for escape rooms were being built worldwide.

The first official escape room

The appeal of escape rooms

In the mid-2010s, escape rooms saw a massive spike in fame. Besides the many advantages of participating in an escape room and how fun they are, people craved more unique experiences in a world already saturated with media. There is the novelty of being the protagonist of your very own adventure story. People also wanted something more immersive and active. Escape rooms engage people intellectually and physically, making them the perfect activity for many.

Conclusion 

Escape rooms have existed a while in many forms over the past few decades. It is a highly appealing type of adventure that will always remain a one-of-a-kind experience. Lockdown Escape provides a wide variety of activities that excite and intrigue the mind. Come on down and see for yourselves! Contact us today to find out more.

The Psychology Of Participating In An Escape Room

The Psychology Of Participating In An Escape Room

Doing an escape room is like walking into a puzzle. For an entire hour, you stop thinking beyond escaping with whatever tools are at your disposal. Even though you are fully aware that you’re completely safe, you can’t help the thrill you feel. It is one of the many factors that are so attractive to people in the first place. The psychological effect this can have on you is interesting, to say the least. If asked, you might say that the only thing that goes on in the mind when doing an escape room is puzzle-solving tactics. You’d be wrong. This article details the inner journey you undergo when doing an escape room.

1. Survival mode

Escape rooms can often be so enveloping and immersive that you start to feel like you are the hero of the story. The line between fiction and reality becomes slightly blurry. The settings and atmosphere can begin to make you believe that you’re actually in a situation that requires an escape, which triggers your brain’s survival mode. It then releases adrenaline, which can help you concentrate better and allows you to think quicker on your feet.

2. Thinking creatively

Escape rooms at Lockdown Singapore are specifically designed to encourage out-of-the-box thinking. You need to be able to see the bigger picture to come up with answers and understand the clues.

3. Motivates availability heuristics

The clock’s ticking down, and the urgency of the puzzles waiting to be solved encourages your brain to use availability heuristics. This is a way to cut down on excess mental efforts. You start to remember, solve, and make choices quicker than ever before.

Motivates availability heuristics

4. The hard-easy effect

Trying to solve puzzles in an escape room and within a designated time limit can trigger something known as the “hard-easy” effect. Essentially, knowing your time is short can increase stress levels and make solving something relatively easy seem extremely difficult. Oftentimes, you try to overcomplicate matters when the solution is fairly straightforward.

5. Making plans

In escape rooms, people tend to make many plans for how they’ll solve a situation before even stepping foot into one. Most of the time, these plans are rendered useless. It’s fine, though. Improving and thinking of solutions as you go is half the fun.

6. Looking selectively

Brains work in mysterious ways. For example, after solving the first few puzzles, you might think you already have all the answers and end up looking for any signs to confirm your preconceived notions. When you do that, the problem is that you’re overlooking plenty of other clues just because they don’t fit within your guidelines.

7. Feeling the pressure

There are a lot of factors that may lead you to feel like you’re under a lot of pressure when doing an escape room. The situation can cause stress hormones to be released, impairing your judgement and increasing the likelihood of you making impulsive choices.

8. Memory recall

Escape rooms require a lot of recall power. You will be solving a lot of puzzles and obtaining plenty of clues, which are often messy and unclear. The location of these clues is also not organised in any way. Remembering all this information will definitely be a fun challenge!

Conclusion

Escape rooms are very fun and immersive, but they can affect you in new and fascinating ways because of how immersive they are. Lockdown Escape provides you with escape rooms in Singapore that are held in a fun and safe environment to explore aspects of yourself you’d never realised existed. Contact us today to get started!

The 4 Amazing Advantages Of Trying A Virtual Escape Room

The 4 Amazing Advantages Of Trying A Virtual Escape Room

When Covid-19 brought life to a stand-still, it seemed the entire world had shut down, too. Streets were empty, restaurants were closed down, and people were locked in their homes. There was suddenly no place for enjoyment anymore – only worry.

We had to get creative. While being in an actual escape room has its benefits, virtual escape rooms bring the same amount of fun and brain-teasing puzzles, all with the comforts and safety of being at home.

With everything gradually going back to how it was, can virtual escape rooms still be relevant? The answer is yes! We bring you four reasons why.

Boost your solution-finding skills

1. Boost your solution-finding skills

Virtual escape rooms aren’t all just fun and games (although they also are). You can use them to enhance and boost cognitive abilities like recall and, of course, problem-solving in the form of puzzles and riddles. Given that you will need to be searching for clues and solving riddles, it is a given that they will help improve problem-solving skills.

Doing them virtually allows you to hone in on the puzzles themselves without getting distracted by your physical surroundings or external disturbances. It grants you an unprecedented level of focus that you can then use for your intellectual betterment.

2. Learn to communicate better 

Escape rooms are group activities and are invaluable to team building. Virtual escape rooms are no exception. In fact, proper communication is an even bigger requirement when doing the online version, as you will need to listen better to the source and then pass on the message through separate platforms (video meetings, phone calls, etcetera). It can get a bit more complicated without the benefit of being there physically, which is why improving your communication skills to solve the puzzles is essential.

3. Get more efficient

It might not surprise you to know that the goal of every escape room is to escape. It’s the effort that people put in that boosts their productivity levels. Most times, they bring out the best in people, and it shows in the results.

With virtual escape room games, timeliness is even more of a factor than usual, as a timer constantly reminds you of its presence. Productivity increases under a healthy amount of pressure. With some practice, you will be able to translate these skills into the real world in no time.

4. Pass time productively

The mobility of virtual escape rooms means that you will be able to engage in them whenever and wherever you like. You’re now able to keep yourself cognitively and physically busy from your home, your office, or any other location you deem fit. Why be lazy when you can have fun and improve yourself simultaneously instead?

Solve puzzles whenever it strikes your fancy, and watch yourself reap the benefits in time to come.

Conclusion 

After all of this, it’s safe to say that virtual escape rooms are a fantastic use of your time. Not everyone has regular access to it, but luckily, Lockdown Escape in Singapore has online escape games aplenty to choose from. So come on down and take a look for yourselves!

Escape Rooms: The Best Team Building Opportunity?

Escape Rooms: The Best Team Building Opportunity?

A healthy and dynamic workplace is paramount to the business’s overall productivity. This is true of every organisation, whatever kind or however many people are in them. Escape rooms can play a surprising but vital role in creating that kind of environment for your team.

Escape rooms have always been popular. But they are also an inherently team-based activity. Their unique qualities make it the perfect place to detect everyone’s best and worst traits and behaviours. In that way, they aren’t just enjoyable; they’re also informative.

But there are a host of other reasons why completing an escape room with your teammates is highly beneficial. Read on to find out more.

1. You learn to empathise with each other better

The escape room experience is so unique that it binds people together as they try to figure it out. Teamwork and closeness come almost automatically when made to come up with solutions. The challenge of it all is exhilarating and often overtakes any inhibitions team members might have had and allows them to let loose and participate fully.

They can then bond in an unrestricted way, bypassing other social norms to form a stronger connection in a relatively short period of time.

2. You can build trust together

Accomplishing a task in a group can boost morale and increase trust like nothing else. This is especially so when it’s in an interestingly high-pressure situation with low stakes like an escape room. When you put your mind together to solve clues and puzzles and see the tangible results of your efforts, you have evidence that teamwork does work.

With an already deepened understanding towards each other, building trust is the obvious next step. Teams start to establish dynamics internally and get to know each other better outside of the work context. This will ultimately prove to be an asset to efficiency and productivity.

3. You can gauge each member’s strengths

You can gauge each member's strengths

Escape rooms are almost universally enjoyed, which can be attributed to the range of options available so you’d never get bored. There is something for everyone to do. It’s similar to working in a team – there is always a task fit for every member.

Some people are more visual and respond to that sort of stimuli best. They’re able to spot details and find clues others can’t see for this reason. Others might be more cerebral and creative and use more abstract cues to solve problems and riddles.

Whatever the case, everyone can contribute differently. People will then be able to note where everyone’s strength lies and utilise that information for their own projects.

4. They highlight team leaders

With any team, there has to be a leader in some capacity. Whether elected officially or socially agreed upon, they are vital to any task. They keep things moving and delegate work when necessary. They also need to understand their team fundamentally to keep the work up to mark.

Some people are naturally more predisposed to taking the initiative and have the making of a team leader. Escape rooms are ideal for this because these kinds of people emerge in no time to get the game moving. The best part is that this happens organically and without conflict or friction, which is a good sign for all future team endeavours.

Conclusion 

If you’re looking for your next group bonding activity, look no further. Lockdown Escape offers many attractive virtual escape rooms for team building in Singapore. Whatever it is, you’ll find exactly what you need with us, so why wait? Talk to us now to get started.

The 4 Reasons Why We Gravitate Towards Escape Rooms

The 4 Reasons Why We Gravitate Towards Escape Rooms

Escape rooms are an intriguing challenge. You’ve most likely never experienced it like it until you’ve done it. It can be confusing, exhilarating, and just plain fun. You can be anyone you want to be, in any setting you can think. The only thing that you do know is that you have to escape. It’s like you’re the protagonist of your very own quest where what you do actually counts. It’s no wonder the escape room fever has swept the nation.

If you’re still unsure about what’s so special about escape rooms, here are some reasons why people love them:

1. It’s something different 

Whether you’re out with colleagues, friends, family, or significant other, the activities you can do together are somewhat limited. Grabbing meals and watching movies together can get repetitive and stale. With escape rooms, you’re allowed to shake things up a bit.

They’re not for the faint of heart or people who don’t like being challenged. But it’s worth it for those wanting a fun change of pace. Never settle for boredom again. With an escape game room, you can engage all your senses while bonding with others in a way you’d never have expected. Not to mention everything, all the health benefits  you’ll get out of it.

2. You’ll learn to value time better 

Every escape room limits how much time you can spend on it. At first, the time might seem like it’s enough. After all, how are you supposed to solve puzzles for an entire hour? But then, as the clock ticks down, you realise it’s not enough time at all. It never feels like enough time to solve all the clues or discuss them with friends. And when it’s over, you’ll be itching to go back.

3)	Your mood has never been better

3. Your mood has never been better 

Escape rooms encourage critical and out-of-the-box thinking. That kind of problem-solving is immensely satisfying and always puts you in a better mood. Couple that with the natural dopamine release of a workout like the one you’ll get, and you’ve got a healthy mind and body workout.

The natural result is you being happier, no matter what issue you may have in other areas of your life. It’s always good to practice cognitive skills like recall with a fun puzzle for a gratifying day out.

4. You do it as a team 

You’d be hard-pressed to go an hour without your phone in this digital age. We’re constantly documenting everything and putting it on social media for the entire world to see. Often, what we show isn’t even what’s real.

What we lack is real human contact and communication. An forces you to confront the real world and gives you and the people with you a cause to work together for. In this case, you’ll need each other to escape. There’s no better to bond and learn about new facets of the other people. You might think you know someone well only to be completely surprised by how they act under pressure. It’s an opportunity to create long-lasting memories you can keep with you for an entire lifetime.

Conclusion

Now you see why people can’t seem to get enough of this phenomenon. But don’t think our word for it. Come on down to Lockdown Escape for an unforgettable experience. We promise that once won’t be enough. Get in touch with us to learn more now!

5 Surprising Health Advantages Of Doing Escape Rooms

5-Surprising-Health-Advantages-Of-Doing-Escape-Rooms

The popularity of escape rooms is no secret. Since its inception in Japan in the early 2000s, escape rooms have captivated people with the novelty and unique challenge they present. Over the years, the obsession with them has only increased. There are a plethora of reasons for that.

They’re extremely engaging and immersive. You can be the main character in your very own mystery movie – just solve the clues to get out of there, and you’ll have a great story to tell. You can even use them to work on your team building and even improve your cognitive capabilities. As surprising as it may be to believe, there’s even been evidence of a significant number of health benefits to doing escape rooms. Here are some of them:

1) It gives you your recommended amount of exercise 

Escape rooms can be unexpectedly vigorous. The average person requires about half an hour of moderate exercise a day. The challenge of doing an escape room can give you up to twice that amount. A thorough run-through of one makes you run around a lot, investigating every nook and cranny. It is not a sedate activity – which explains the number of calories you can burn in a day spent doing an escape room.

2) It helps broaden certain cognitive capabilities 

The brain is a muscle like any other part of your body, and it needs to be flexed to retain its capabilities. Any sort of brain teasers like puzzles or riddles is a great way to sharpen your memory and improve skills like critical thinking. Things like codes, different languages, and codes are utilised to create escape rooms, which have been proven to improve memory retention.

It-helps-you-improve-your-hand-eye-coordination

3) It helps you improve your hand-eye coordination 

Hand-eye coordination is a fine motor skill, along with spatial awareness that has been shown to develop with escape rooms. These skills are always evolving depending on our day-to-day experiences and thus can and should be improved. Escape rooms inherently require fine motor skills when completing tasks, and enough practice helps you hone them with shocking ease.

4) It enhances your gross motor skills

As we’ve established, escape rooms can be highly physical. As such, there is a certain amount of gross motor skills involved in completing them. These skills range from keeping balance, leaping, and even walking properly. Escape rooms in Lockdown Escape keep you on your toes and put your physical skills to the test.

5) It functions as a form of stress-relief 

Completing an escape room can be immensely satisfying and aids with the dopamine distribution – which is great for relaxing you and relieving tension. As the name suggests, escape rooms are also a great form of escapism. You forget your troubles easily when your biggest issue is trying to solve fun puzzles and riddles. It’s an entirely enveloping experience that allows you to take that break you really need.

Conclusion

Escape rooms are fun but they can also be good for you. They can improve both your mind and body all while giving you the break you deserve, With such a wealth of reasons for you to look into an escape room, what could possibly be stopping by? Drop by Lockdown Escape the best escape game room Singapore has to offer. Contact us today to find out more!

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