Mobile escape room: the game comes to your event

Yes, an escape room can come to your company. In Krakow, EscapeCity runs this kind of service: it brings chests full of puzzles to your office, hotel or restaurant, and even onto a boat, into a castle or outdoors. The game is designed for groups of 10 or more, and at large events, using augmented reality, for a hundred or more players at once. The operator is based in Krakow and the surrounding area, and travel to other cities is arranged separately.

An escape room usually means a visit to a specially prepared space. In the mobile version, the logistics change: the game comes to wherever your meeting takes place. That doesn’t mean any scenario can be set up anywhere without preparation, though. First you need to match the idea for the game with the conditions of the specific space and the schedule of the day.

What actually arrives for the players?

The core is a set of black chests with puzzles: padlocks, combination locks, hidden compartments and mechanical solutions. The game doesn’t recreate a whole fixed escape room with its set design. Instead, it fits into a conference room, a restaurant or an office. In selected scenarios, the chests are combined with tablets and augmented reality elements.

The game is run by Game Masters. They introduce the story, keep the pace and help out when a team gets stuck. According to the EscapeCity mobile escape room page, the operator takes care of setting up the space, hosting the game and packing up afterwards, and the price also includes technical support and photos after the game. The materials are in Polish and English, and on request a French, German or Spanish version can be prepared.

How much time should you set aside in the programme?

The operator offers two basic options:

• a short module of 15 to 30 minutes, played in rotation, for example as a break during a conference or a coffee break,
• a full scenario of 60 to 90 minutes, when the game is meant to be the main team building activity.

In Team Battle mode, several teams solve the same puzzles at the same time. That adds an element of competition: each team decides whether to take a hint and lose points, or to fight on alone. If you care more about cooperation than about the score, tell the organiser.

The venue and the schedule are part of the game

Picture a company event with a speech, a dinner and an hour set aside for a shared challenge. If setup only starts after the speech, there may not be enough time left for the game itself. That’s why your plan needs separate slots for setting up the stations, the briefing, the game and packing up the equipment. Ask directly how far in advance the room needs to be available to the crew.

With a bigger group, ask whether everyone plays at the same time or in rounds. In the second case, keeping the people who are waiting busy matters just as much. In the first, you may need more space and a different number of Game Masters.

Describe the room conditions too: available tables, noise, lighting, whether a separate area can be set aside, and access to power. Outdoors, you also need shelter from the weather. Don’t assume the game is rainproof just because it can be transported.

Personalisation needs specifics

EscapeCity lets you weave your product, logo or company values into the puzzles. It’s worth telling the difference between changing a few materials and creating a completely new scenario, though. These are different amounts of work, they need separate arrangements and they affect the quote.

A sample question for the organiser might be: “We’d like the finale to mark our team’s tenth anniversary. Can you adapt the content of one task, and what materials will you need?” That’s more specific than asking for a game “all about our company”.

Don’t put private stories into the puzzles that could embarrass anyone. The surprise can be about how the game unfolds, but it shouldn’t force anyone to reveal personal information.

What should you include in your first message?

Give the date, the town, the type of venue, the approximate number of people and the time available in the schedule. Add the language of the game, the purpose of the meeting (team building, a break, a team competition) and any needs related to participants’ mobility. If not all the details are known yet, say which ones still need to be confirmed. The cost depends on the number of participants and the extras you choose, so the operator prepares an exact quote based on a description like this.

The mobile format saves participants a trip to a separate venue. The event organiser still has to prepare the space and agree the logistics, though. It’s exactly these arrangements that make the game a natural part of the meeting, and not an attraction fighting the dinner for the same tables.