Since the pandemic started, there’s been adaptations of different activities that allows us to remain entertained in a safe way. One of these activities are escape rooms. Escape rooms are an activity where you and your team are placed in a situation and need to solve puzzles and clues to achieve the goal in the allotted time.
Physical escape rooms have gone through a transformation into virtual play, where there are now different types of virtual-type of escape rooms to experience. While nothing beats being in an actual physical escape room, some do come pretty close.
Here is a list of escape rooms that have been adapted for virtual play with an actor livestreaming the game for you to experience through a conference call and inventory system.
Gold Rush – Mindtrap Escape Room
One of the pioneering games in the U.S. for remote-play livestream escape rooms, Gold Rush gives the players an interactive experience to be remembered. The avatar that guides the players through is full of wit, humor, and just plain fun. Puzzles are of the typical escape room type, but they are creatively implemented and simplified for optimized virtual gameplay.
Ready Mayor One – Rock Avenue Escape Room
“Art mimics real life! Everyone in our small town of Davinport is nowhere to be seen, however, our fearless Mayor is still trying to solve the mystery of what happened to Dominic Fontana, but he can’t do it himself!”
One of the first and still one of the best remote-play escape rooms, Ready Mayor One also features devices that players can control in the physical location from the safety and comfort of their own home!
Book at Rock Avenue Escape Room
Various Games – The Escape Game
“Getting out and meeting up can be a challenge right now but we know you still want fun and interactive ways to get together with friends, family, or coworkers. That’s why The Escape Game is offering a brand new way to play our award-winning escape rooms.
Log onto Zoom (or your preferred video conference service) with your team. Our TEG host will join to get you started and help throughout the game. Your guide’s already in the room with a live camera feed. Work with your team to direct your guide through the adventure. Pick up clues in your digital dash”
The Escape Game is one of the biggest franchises of escape rooms with multiple locations across the U.S. It only makes sense that they also joined in on the remote adventure club.
The Return of the Magician – UNLOCKED: Escape Room
Though not a nationwide franchise like The Escape Game, UNLOCKED has also joined in on the remote adventure fun with a conversion of their flagship game into a virtual format. Using the same inventory system as Mindtrap Escape Room’s Gold Rush but also adding in interactive puzzles with custom programming, UNLOCKED provides both a compelling and interactive approach to virtual escape rooms. Disclaimer: One of the co-hosts of NTFTTpod co-owns this escape room.
The Vanishing Act – Locurio
Another magic-themed escape room, this has also been converted to an online experience that is one to remember! If the previous game was the opening act, this would definitely be the main event. Locurio has executed a very unique virtual escape room that promotes teamwork as well as enhances the sense of wonder players have when they play an escape room. Figure out what the magician’s secrets are by booking a game with them belowl
Various Audio Escape Rooms – Trapped Puzzle Rooms
The games over at Trapped are different than everything else on this list because the escape rooms are primarily focused on an audio experience. Some games will include images that will be sent to your team to review and analyze, through Discord or another chat service. However, the fun of the experience is through the engaging avatar/gamemaster via what’s similar to what you’d experience with a dungeon master in Dungeons and Dragons. Definitely a unique and fun time if you are up for something different!
Interrogation Room – District 3 Escape Rooms
District 3 Escape Rooms uses the popular Telescape Live system to deliver their remote game experience, and their avatar is VERY fun to interact with! Not only is this game an escape room, but it really feels like an interactive theater since you get to have some fun with a frantic and crazed individual in the interrogation room. That’s as much of spoilers as we’ll get into!
Book at District 3 Escape Rooms
Miss Jezebel Online Experience – 60out
60out is another one of the biggest escape room franchises in the nation, but they also have a very unique immersive theater experience that isn’t very common in other escape rooms. The Miss Jezebel experience has been further pushed to its limits by conversion to an online format, and it’s one that will be a different and memorable time for you and your team! Definitely one to check out for something not so escape-y.
Various – Enchambered Live Escape Room Adventure
Enchambered is already voted as the top escape room in the nation by USA Today in 2019, so it is only natural that they created a worthy online experience as well. The games at Enchambered are unique in that there are scenarios for two players in which each player is given only part of what’s needed, so there is forced cooperation to succeed. Not only that, but their game Alone Together is completely free while the others are “pay what you want” models.
Pursuit of the Assassin Artist – OMESCAPE
This list wouldn’t be complete without the NUMBER ONE virtual escape room in the nation! Pursuit of the Assassin Artist is a game that’s just SO unique and you’d have to play it to understand how fun it can be. Let’s just say that the game avatar is very, VERY patient, and you definitely will remember this game for the rest of your life. If you had to book only one game on this entire list, this is it.