At this point you’re probably thinking, “that’s dark… but kind of funny…” or you’re in the teeny tiny minority of escape room owners who are really pissed off.
If you are in the vast majority of owners who understand the basics of how to run a safe business and are on board with me, feel free to carry on with the rest of your day.
If you’re feeling like telling the dumbass blogger off, come with me on a short history lesson and thought journey before writing a comment that you will probably regret.
Poland Fire
On January 5th, there was a fire in Poland that claimed the lives of 5 teenage girls. The escape room owner is in prison and is expected to serve a long sentence.
We covered it in depth. If you’re unfamiliar with what happened, read up.
As a result, escape rooms are slowly experiencing a crackdown by fire inspectors all over the world.
This Can’t Happen Again
If something like this happens again or happens on American soil, the ramifications will be catastrophic. They will be especially devastating if the company responsible was anywhere near as negligent as the culpable company in Poland.
Most escape rooms aren’t locking players in or restraining them without providing a self-service way of freeing themselves. Most escape rooms are safe.
There are still some companies, however, who haven’t caught on to the fact that it is not ok to lock your players in your games.
Over on Room Escape Artist, we’re all about grey area. This is not a murky subject. If you are still locking players in your games %^&*ING STOP.
If you feel like fighting me on this, I’ll call your local fire marshal to referee the debate.
A room in the Kansas City area started by chaining all players to a barred wall. There was no way for players to exit without employee assistance until the key was found.
Later in the same room, there was a cage with a magnetic lock that captured two of our players and again there was no escape until we figured out a puzzle. We solved the room, but I pulled an employee aside and politely explained the death traps they had created in that room. To their credit, the owner responded a few days later thanking me for my input and sent images of the updates they had made to the room to remove the dangers I had pointed out.
I’m glad to hear that they were responsive. That’s key.
The lack of chill in this is perfect.
Seconded!
hahaha thank you.