Escape Rooms Should Scale Up [Design]

24 March 2019

1 minute

Over the years, certain design elements in escape rooms have repeatedly jumped out at us. One such design choice is scale.

Make it Bigger

Most escape room interactions can be improved by making them bigger.

Seeing this video reminded me of how much fun it can be when something mundane is blown up to a larger scale.

Choose Wisely

I’m not telling you to make a giant screwdriver. That’s a giant leverage tool and in the wrong player’s hands, things could get ugly fast. I know this.

That said, there are plenty of other items in escape rooms that would be far more interesting if they were larger than life.

Video found via BoingBoing.

One response to “Escape Rooms Should Scale Up [Design]”

David L

March 24, 2019 at 2:23 pm

I agree that sometimes you need to “be different” to be interesting. Upsizing is one of those ideas that is easy to do poorly, hard to do well. I made an oversized fully functional old-tyme padlock that covers the width and half the height of a standard door. The barrel of the skeleton key is made out of 12 inch pipe. It makes people gasp at the sight and grin when they learn that it works just like its standard sized brethren.

The video was interesting to watch (except for the licking of the razorblade near the end). So much work goes into these things and it only works if all the effort is complemented by creative talent. Great Post!

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🖋️ Author

Written by

David Spira

Co-Founder of Room Escape Artist & Co-Host of Reality Escape Pod. David conceived of Room Escape Artist because he saw the potential of this new entertainment medium back in 2014. From the start, he applied his professional skills as a digital experience designer to the burgeoning industry of escape rooms. David is full of ideas: from in-depth research pieces to new content types… like cute animals solving puzzles. He is always pushing REA to try new things, take risks, and be something more.

Room Escape Artist