Mind Gaming
The Art of Escape Room Design
A vlog series with Dr. Scott Nicholson, mastermind of the Red Bull Escape Room World Championship.
Dr. Scott Nicholson, the designer of the Red Bull Escape Room World Championship, has been researching the design and development of escape rooms and is Professor of Game Design and Development and Director of the BGNlab at Wilfrid Laurier University in Brantford, Ontario, Canada.
In a vlog series, he will share with us some of his findings, as well as introduce to us what escape rooms are!
vlog #1: What is an Escape Room?
Real-life room escape games are a type of physical adventure game in which a group of people are “locked” in a room with other participants and have to use elements of the room to solve a series of puzzles, find clues, and escape the room within a limited amount of time. Some games include sub-plots, other are just puzzle oriented. Players must be observant and use their critical thinking skills to escape the room. Other inspirations include adventure board games and movies.
Escape rooms require teamwork, communication, and delegation as well as critical thinking, attention to detail, and lateral thinking. They are accessible to a wide age range of players and do not favor any gender; in fact, the most successful teams are those that are made up of players with a variety of experiences, skills, background knowledge, and physical abilities.
As they are live-action games taking place in the physical world, they create opportunities for players to engage directly with each other in the same way that tabletop games do; players eager to look at something other than a glowing screen are flocking to games in the physical world for face-to-face engagement opportunities.
vlog #2: The Story behind Red Bull Mind Gamers
vlog #3: The Design Process of the ultimate Escape Room:
vlog #4: The Team
vlog #5: How to create the perfect team for an Escape Room
vlog #6: Bringing the design to life
To participate in the Red Bull Escape Room World Championship, find the nearest qualifier to your location here.