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Hello enthusiasts, owners, and general escapees, This is a fun one from me this month as I'm quite literally writing this from an escape room conference! Hello from Le Salon des Loisirs Immersifs, the main French escape room conference as organised by EscapeGame.fr! 👋 It always falls around the same time this newsletter is due and whilst I normally write it on my train back home to the UK, I figured this time I'd find a nice quiet corner between the networking, talks and awards to draft this month's email. |
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France aside, it's also a very international issue since this month also saw the announcement of the EGA2025 Summit in China, and Germany's LEAG escape room convention dates. Exciting! Will you (yes you!) be going to either of them? Let us know. Another one of the international things I wanted to share the most is to remind everyone it is TERPECA season! What is TERPECA? It's like the Oscars of the escape room world. An effort to find the best escape rooms in the world, as nominated and voted for by experienced players. This month nominations are open to folks who have played over 200 rooms. Next month is voting, which you can take part if you've played over 100. No matter if you're an owner or enthusiast, engaging with things like TERPECA (and your local country's organisations and awards) are the best way you can support the industry. Mairi Nolan
Editor of Escape Industry News P.S. What? An October issue with no Halloween puns from me? Oh my gourd! What a grave situation. Haha, kidding. Have an excellent spooky season.  |
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TERPECA Nominations are Open TERPECA season has fully begun, and as of earlier this month nominations are now open. If you're not an approved nominator, but you've played 200+ rooms and would like to nominate, visit the link below to apply or upgrade. Nominations are due October 31 at 11:59 PM Pacific time. After which point the voting phase will begin, which is open to folks who have played 100+ rooms. |
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The 9th EGA2025 Summit will take place Nov 8th - 9th in Hangzhou, China According to a recent update from EGA, the EGA2025 Interactive Entertainment Summit will take place in Hangzhou, China this November with a theme of "Update of Interactive Entertainment" (and which I'm sure I poorly mistranslated). If you want to learn more about this, check out the link below - though note this page (and the event) is in Chinese. |
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The USA Today 10 Best Escape Rooms list has been published In other escape room news, the USA Today 10 Best has published their escape room ranking. They do this alongside other categories each year. As a public vote, the USA Today 10 Best Escape Room ranking doesn't usually carry a huge amount of weight, however this year's seems a little more accurate to the US market, with more theme park and escape room folks on the panel. |
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• The ER Champ Finale and Conference takes place in Sofia, Bulgaria on October 20th this month.
• ERIC (Escape Room Industry Conference) will also take place later this month at the Immersive Experience Network Summit on October 21st - 22nd in London, UK.
• The October edition of ERA (Escape Rooms Australia) mag is now live. As always, this is a great resource for all things happening in the country.
• LEAG (Live Escape and Adventure Games) 2026 convention has been announced. It'll take place in Bottrop, Germany in April 2026.
• If you've got any young people in your life, this week's issue of The Week Junior has a great article on how to build an escape room.
• Room Escape Artist's Richard Burns has published an excellent piece titled "Escape Room Players Should Be Asking Why Too", and Matthew Stein has published an equally excellent piece on "Choreographing Player Movement in Escape Rooms"
• Room Escape Artist has also published their Halloween recommendations.
Escape Room Insights has posted an article on the top 5 playable-in-English Chinese immersive experiences Not quite an escape room but we think you'll be interested in...
• Thinky Con has been announced to return from November 5th - 6th online. Talks are videogame focused, but cover a wide range of topics, including puzzle design, production, art, marketing etc.
• And speaking of Thinky Games, I wrote a piece about the new escape room video game, The House of Tesla this month. I normally list the following in "Other News" but I think they deserve their own spaces: Challenge Arcades Monthly Update
Thinky Third Thursday  |
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📆 Upcoming Dates for your Diary |
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🔑 Recent Doors Unlocked |
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🇺🇸 60out Hollywood has opened a new room, Big Brain Labs, in Los Angeles, CA.
Escape Room LA has opened a new room, Here, Kitty Kitty in Los Angeles, CA.
Himitsu Station has opened it's room in Salt Lake City, UT.
Intrepid Escape Rooms has opened a new room, The Tipsy Tailor, in Tustin, CA.
Lockhouse plans to open 3 new rooms this month in Santa Clarita, CA.
Novel Escape has opened a new room, Royale Casino Heist, in Austin, TX.
Race2Escape has opened a new room, Burn Notice, in Albany GA.
SRO Theatre has opened some new pop-up rooms in Yelm, WA.
Tinkture has opened a new room, Bob's Lost: The Boy of Painting, in New Orleans, LA. 🇬🇧/🇮🇪 London Room Lockdown has opened a new seasonal room, Once Upon A Halloween, in Hornchurch.
Screamworks has opened a new room, Granny, in East London. South England Eastbourne Escape Rooms has opened a new room, Cube World, in Eastbourne.
Kernow Escape has opened a new room, Starvault: Blackout, in Falmouth.
Lock & Code Escape Rooms has opened a new room, The Death of Hugh Gennerd, in Taunton.
Major Mind Games has opened a new room, The Not-So-Scary Haunting, in Horsham.
Sticks and Bones has opened a new room, The Legend of Captain Bones, in Weymouth.
The Panic Room has opened a new room, Whodunit: Motel Murder, in Gravesend. Midlands Escape Leicester has opened a new room, Alien, in Leicester.
Houdini’s will soon open Apocalypse: Shelter 23 in Nottingham. East of England Cluetopia Braintree has opened a new room, Retro Mania, in Braintree.
EO Escape Rooms is about to open a new room, Backstage Reloaded, in Suffolk.
Escape Peterborough has opened a new room, Odyssey Twenty Three, in Peterborough.
Exit Rooms Cambridge has opened a new room, The Secret Clubhouse, in Cambridge.
LockHouse Escape Games has opened a new room, Time Machine, in Cambridge.
PerpleXed Escape Rooms has opened a new seasonal pop-up, The Ghost Collector, in Suffolk.
Suffolk Escape Academy has opened a new room, Dead Salvation, in Bury St Edmunds. Yorkshire and the Humber Escape Room Hull has opened a new tabletop escape game, Operation: Safeguard, in Hull. Scotland Case Closed has opened a new room, Deep Cover, in Edinburgh.
Nomad Escape will open a new room, Haunted Circus, in Glasgow mid-October. Wales Houdini’s has opened a new site with 3 escape rooms in Wrexham. 🇦🇺/🇳🇿 Dr Q Escape Room has opened a new room, Breathtaker, in Melbourne, VIC.
Escape House has opened a new room, The Mad Magician, in Narre Warren, VIC.
Escape Room Oz has opened a new room, Murder at Chateau Noir, in Caloundra, QLD.
Escape Room Townsville has opened a new room, Nautilus, in Townsville, QLD.
Scarborough Fair Escape Rooms has opened a new room, Portal, in Caringbah NSW.
The Mystery Rooms has opened two new rooms in Glen Innes, NSW. A shout out to the resources & individuals who were a huge help this month: Escape the Review (UK), Rich Bragg (USA), ERA Mag (Australia).  |
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If you're a long time reader you'll know I love riddles. Here's a simple one a friend sent me on October 1st to celebrate the start of spooky season: I’m tall when I’m young, I’m short when I’m old, and once a year, I make heavy pumpkins light. What am I? |
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