Finally Moved! Lock Chicago's New Escape Room Facilities

Hello Again!

We know it's been a few months since our last post and it's been a crazy 60 days as we've fully transitioned out of our original location and onto our new facilities at 820 Davis Street, Suite 151 in Evanston. Have no fear as we're still literally one block away from our prior location just with some new upgrades.

We have an additional 2,400 square feet to work with for a total of 4,000 with 2 new escape rooms coming by the end of 2017! We have added some new features to our existing "Sunburn" and "Malfunction" escape rooms and increased the capacity to 10 players each for "Private Rooms". They will still remain 8 players each for the "Public Room" function.

Feel free to stop by at our new spot to chat or take a sneak peek at our upcoming escape room concepts as we look to build on our new Lock Chicago location!

Best Regards,

Brian, Bane, and Alex - Lock Chicago

Lock Chicago and the Escape Room Festival Season!

Hello Again!

Today we're going to talk about Escape Rooms and the unique opportunity they bring to different street festivals, concerts, and outdoor events throughout the community and city. While escape rooms initially started out as designs built specifically for in-house locations the industry and experience has grown so much beyond that point. Larger companies and brands such as Zelda, Resident Evil, Ford, and more are crafting unique mobile experiences that they can take from city to city that not only promote an upcoming event but drive awareness for the unique experiences of an escape room.

Us at Lock Chicago are no different as we initially began our foray into mobile games with our partnership with Northwestern University's "Dillo Day" student-run music festival. We set up a 30 minute mobile escape room on the festival grounds back in 2016 and we look to ramp that up even further in 2017. 

The nice thing about being able to create an experience on the go is that you can take it virtually anywhere. As Spring and Summer inches closer keep an eye out for all the local community festivals in the area. Evanston has an abundant amount in their downtown area which makes a perfect opportunity for you to contribute and drive awareness of your own escape rooms brand in a fun and innovative way.

Just make sure you're prepared for any weather situation as that can put a damper on the outdoor escape room experience as well as durable props (us at Lock Chicago learned that the hard way).

In any case best of luck as we get through this seemingly mild winter and onwards towards warmer weather!

Cheers,

Lock Chicago

Lock Chicago Data and Escape Room Statistics

Escape Rooms have been around for over a decade across the world but within the past 3 years have recently begun to gain mainstream popularity across the United States. But are they just a fad or will they follow the same path as Laser Tag or other similar games? We spoke with guests and other escape rooms to pull together some interesting key data pieces about the state of the industry in the United States. Special thanks to King's Escape Room for information from their infographic! 

• From a survey of 1,000 33.9% of respondents said they had never heard of an Escape Room before!
• 100% of respondents ages 18-24 loved their Escape Room experience.
• 50/50 there was no correlation between male/female on opinions of escape rooms.
• 84.9% of those who had visited an Escape Room in the past year "loved" their experience.
• There are over 2,300 escape rooms in the United States compared to 2,200 in Russia where the industry has been thriving.

There is no doubt that this industry will continue to grow at a staggering rate but all things must eventually slow down especially as others look to play in the same space and join the market. It is up to the customer to decide on what makes the most special experience and escape rooms to keep up and continue to provide that experience. 

If you haven't tried an escape room yet what are you waiting for?? 

Cheers,

Lock Chicago