Marching into a new month! Best of Morty 2025, an Escape Room Fundraiser, and yesterdays' Puzzled Pint ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ‌  ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ‌:  ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏

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Well Howdy, escapists! 👋

...And a very happy March to you all!

It looks like spring it almost here at Escape Industry HQ in the Northern hemisphere. Although it's beginning to warm up, those April showers are an excellent excuse to stay indoors and play new escape rooms.

In this month's issue, we have some exciting new dates for your diary, new escape rooms opening up all over the world, and the top stories we found from around the escape room industry.

Of course, March is also home to EnigMarch! I've been trying to keep up by designing a cryptic clue every day, so don't forget to check out out own newsletter puzzle at the end.

As always we hope you enjoy this issue, and if you have any thoughts or feedback to share (not just on my questionable cryptic clue writing abiliies haha) you can always hit reply and say hello.

Until next month!

Mairi Nolan
Editor of Escape Industry News

 

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🧩 Trending Now

Best of Morty 2025 has been published

This year’s list honors 358 escape games and 10 haunted attractions across 27 countries. Winners are determined by the Morty community score algorithm, which takes into account the recency of rating, user experience, and other factors. Congratulations to all winners!

Read More

Support the Escape Room Go Fund Me

A GoFundMe has been set up for escape room legend Sarah Dodd, which you can read more about here. Additionally, escape room owners around the world have donated prizes for a community raffle supporting Sarah Dodd’s cancer treatment fundraiser.

🎟 £10 = 1 raffle ticket
🏆 Escape room prizes, games & more
📅 Draw: 5 April

If you're interested in donating a prize get in touch with [email protected] directly. Otherwise, tap the button below to enter.

Enter Here

🕹️ Sponsored By

Buzzshot Bookings

The brand new, fully integrated escape room booking system by Buzzshot.

Your booking widget is your escape room’s first impression. Buzzshot Bookings has a beautiful, fully customisable bookings widget that works seamlessly with your existing website and with Buzzshot. Conditional content, themed emails, and upsells built in. Never compromise on customer experience.

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🧾 In Other News

• This month's Puzzled Pint theme is escape rooms! At the time you're reading this, Puzzled Pint will have passed but you can check out the puzzles online.
• China EGA has posted an
article about fire safety (note, this isn't available in English)
• Zolitopia has posted a
blog post including key takeaways on the roundtable on the future of escape rooms. They've also posted a recent post on self-running escape rooms.
• Attractions Magazine has posted a
new review of Doldrick's Escape Room.

Not quite an escape room but we think you'll be interested in...

•
Thinky Dailies are back with Season 2 starting today, and Season 1 is now available to everyone.
• In
the February Challenge Arcades update, there's a good existential question of naming conventions, well worth a read.
• Its the end of an era for Phantom Peak in London, as it ran it's last show in Canada Water. You can
read more about the move on No Proscenium.
• The sequel to Escape From Mystwood Mansion,
Escape the Riddlerock Ruins has been announced.

I normally list the following in "Other News" but I think they deserve their own spaces:

Challenge Arcades Monthly Update
Thinky Third Thursday

 

📆 Upcoming Dates for your Diary

March 1st - 31st
Enigmarch
Online

March 26th - 29th 2026
TransWorld Interactive Entertainment Show
St. Louis, MO, USA

April 12th 2026
Escape Room Awards
Barcelona, Spain

April 19th - 21st 2026
LEAG
Bottrop, Germany

May 30th 2026
ER Champ Stress Test
Online

June 20th 2026
ER Champ Qualifications
Online

August 16th - 17th
RECON 26
Laval, QC, Canada

September 13th - 16th
PuzzolCon
Memphis, TN.

 

🔑 Recent Doors Unlocked

🇺🇸

13th Hour has opened a new room, Fall Harvest in Wharton, NJ.
Break Free Escape Games has reopened their lowest level with 5 rooms in Nashua, NH.
EDscapade has opened two new games in San Jose, CA.
Escapology has opened a new room, MCoBeauty Heist in San Francisco, CA.
(and also I think at lots of Escapology sites, but as a limited pop-up it has now finished)
PlixPlex is a new challenge arcade that has opened in Virginia Beach, VA.
Surf City Escapes is opening this month in Huntington Beach, CA.

🇨🇦

Escape Woodstock has recently opened in Carleton County, NB.
Imaginarium has been steadily reopening its rooms at it's new location in Toronto, ON.

🇬🇧/🇮🇪

South

Arcadia Escape Rooms has opened a new room, Slaughter House, in Bournemouth.
Escape London have opened a new site with 4 rooms in London.
Escapism Plymouth are opening a new room, Dig, in Plymouth.
Screamworks has opened a new room, The Briefcase, in London.

Wales

Beyond Breakout has opened a new room, Clue Crew and the Case of the Feathered Thief in Caersws.

Midlands

Breakout Escape Experience has opened a new branch with four rooms in Merry Hill.
Chase the Adventure has opened a new room, Be Mine Forever, in Stone.
Trapp'd has opened a new room, Rewind, in Wellingborough.

East

Cluetopia has opened a new room, All Alone, in Harwich.
Dread State has opened a new room, Hell House, in Ipswich.
Escape Hunt has opened a new site with 5 rooms in Colchester.
Keylock Games have opened a new room, The Ward, in Wickford.
Norwich Escape Rooms has opened a new room, Zombie Lockdown, in Norwich.

North

Breakout Chester have opened a new room, Crimson Lake Motel, in Chester.
Chapters and Quest has opened a new room, Prison of the Lunatic Sage in Stockton-on-Tees.
Clue Collectors has opened a new room, Chapel of the Cursed Chalice in Heywood.

A shout out to the resources & individuals who were a huge help this month: Escape the Review (UK), Rich Bragg (USA).

 

🔊 Listen

Last month in Podcasts, Radio & Live Shows

Escape This Podcast
"A show that’s a mix of escape room puzzles and tabletop role-playing."

• Up in the Heir - Part 1: Medieval-ish Times ft. Stephen Fishbach and Peih-Gee Law Feb 4
•
Podcast This Escape - Medieval-ish Times Feb 11
•
Up in the Heir - Part 2: My Precious ft. It's Just a Game Feb 18
•
Podcast This Escape - My Precious Feb 25

Inventures
"The podcast where we invite creative minds to invent the ultimate immersive adventure"

• Designing Immersive Games, Without Big Budgets with David Middleton Mar 3

Room Escape Artist
Reality Escape Pod is an interview podcast diving deep with people who make the world’s best immersive games and experiences

• NYC's $42,000 Puzzle Competition - Midnight Madness 2025 Feb 23

The following podcasts didn't release a new episode this month, but you should check them out anyway:

  • The Escapuzzled Podcast
  • The Cager Express: Escape Break
  • The Infinite Escape Room
  • Tori With A Story
 

🔎 March's Puzzle

As a part of Enigmarch (and inspired by Minute Cryptic), I've been trying to write a cryptic clue every day! This month's puzzle are a few I'm proud of:

Lean scrambled hint (4)

A cold victory before the beginning of the end (6)

...and one a friend made for me I enjoyed a lot:

Inside! He is there! Robbery! (5)


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