Escape Rooms and Advertising! How Lock Chicago Can Build Your Brand.

Hello Again!

As entrepreneurs who are constantly trying to build our brand presence on and offline we understand the importance and how companies are using escape rooms and other unique methods to increase their presence. We recently had the great opportunity to partner with McDonald's and help unveil their 3 new "Big Mac's" to the world as well as assist in delivering over 10,000 bottles of their secret sauce to the loyal fanbase!

We were initially contacted by a production agency tasked with making it all happen and knew from minute one that this was going to be no ordinary escape room design project. The task seemed simple enough - develop one escape room that could be replicated 3 times to be live streamed across the world on 3 major social media platforms of Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

We worked closely with the props teams to develop puzzles that incorporated McDonald's legacy and culture as well as facts about the new Big Mac rollouts. All in all it was a very unique and creative way for McDonald's to get their message across (with over 100,000 views currently across 3 platforms) and we expect to see many other companies/brands hopping on board with this trend!

Even now we are seeing the video game "Resident Evil" launch their nationwide live escape room tour to advertise and promote their newest version of the game coming out. Companies are getting wise to the way that they can interact with their fans and escape rooms provide the perfect venue to do so.

Us at Lock Chicago certainly support that notion and are here to lend a hand for those looking to venture into this space and those who are just curious to find different escape games coming to their city! Until next time...

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

Who Would You Do An Escape Room With?

Hello Again! 

We've seen hundreds of amazing groups come through our Lock Chicago escape rooms over the years and we love seeing the different compositions whether it's coworkers, friends, family, college/high school students, and more. As escape rooms continue to grow in popularity it's nice seeing celebrities and public figures making headlines as they bring their own friends to take up the cause.

Most recently actress Kristen Bell brought fellow coworker Ted Danson and his wife along to do an escape room which went interesting to say the least! Patton Oswald, Chris Evans, and others have used Escape Rooms to donate money to charities and other organizations while having fun at the same time.

Who's your ideal person to do an Escape Room with? Sound off! 

http://www.contactmusic.net/kristen-bell/news/escape-room-game-was-a-big-challenge-for-kristen-bell-ted-danson_5523967

Escape Room Gift Cards and Lock Chicago Donations

Hello Again! 

We're only 4 days away from Christmas and hopefully if you're reading this you've gotten most of your holiday shopping done. Lucky for you Escape Rooms offer a great gifting opportunity for family and friends who are looking to take on new experiences!

Gift cards are also a great way to contribute to the community and your favorite charities. Whether it's a silent auction, raffle, or giveaway it's a great way to contribute to a relate able cause and introduce people to escape rooms.

What are some of your favorite Christmas gifts you've given or received? What could be better than spending time with family trying to uncover buried treasure or escape a zombie?

We hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season and finds everything they are looking for!

Cheers,

Lock Chicago

Happy Holidays From Lock Chicago, Our Escape Room to Yours

With only two weeks away from Christmas and New Years we wanted to wish everyone a Happy Holidays! It's been nearly a year since we opened and been an amazing experience meeting other owners and sharing our love of escape rooms with the community.

When we initially opened Lock Chicago we wanted to create the ultimate experience leveraging puzzles and games no other escape room was utilizing. While it's impossible to know what's being offered throughout the world we have had an amazing time connecting and networking with other owners who share a passion for the industry. 

It is important that all escape room owners help each other out because the last thing we want is for a new room to open and fail causing first time escape room goers to be turned off to the industry. I'm sure it's been a busy year for everyone so take some time during the busy holidays to rest up, relax, (maybe repair your rooms from the holiday madness) and spend time with friends and family.

We know we will!

Cheers,

Lock Chicago

Top 10 Chicagoland Escape Rooms

We're thrilled to be included in Fun Things To Do's Top 10 Escape Rooms in Chicago! We are always working to make your experience with us better, and we'll be having some big changes coming in the beginning of 2017, so stay tuned!

Be sure to check out some of the other great options on the list as well as other non-escape room categories on their website!

Cheers,

Lock Chicago

Christmas is Coming to Lock Chicago!

Hello All,

We hope everyone had a Happy Halloween and now that election mania has passed we can focus on the brighter things such as Holiday Parties and the Thanksgiving/Christmas season!

Escape Rooms provide the unique opportunity to be tailored in a wide variety of ways. Many rooms change themes based on the season, holiday, and more with Halloween and Christmas being the focal point of this. Generally escape rooms tend to be busier during the winter months as the weather gets colder and people look for more indoor recreational activities when there is a foot of snow on the ground (at least here in Chicago).

Themed rooms provide a unique experience and us at Lock Chicago are happy to provide that to our customers. Many escape rooms will open a completely new themed room for the holidays where others might opt to adjust the existing theme to make it more festive.

Corporate Christmas/holiday parties are a large factor in this as well as companies look to venture outside the box for their get togethers. What better way to celebrate a successful year than pounding back some egg nog and saving Santa's reindeer?

If anyone's come across a stellar holiday-themed escape room feel free to sound off in the comments or send us a message! As always we love hearing from you and can't wait to get our snow on this season.

Cheers,

Brian, Bane, and Alex - Lock Chicago

Moving Lock Chicago Locations

Hello Again!

Welcome back to Lock Chicago's blog. Today we're briefly going to chat about the process from moving your escape room from location A to location B. 

Whether it be growth, a better rent deal, or anything there are many reasons why you would want/have to relocate. It's crazy to think that it's almost been one year since we signed our lease for our current address and while we have certainly had our ups and downs, it's time that we increase our space to create more rooms for our awesome customers!

We were lucky enough at our original Lock Chicago location to find a space with pre-built rooms where we didn't have to do anything other than construct the escape room itself. Now that we are looking at a new 5,800 square foot space across the street there is a lot to be done in terms of sectioning out the space. 

It's one thing to concept an escape room out of an existing space but now with the absolute freedom to design a room how we want it opens it up for endless possibilities. From negotiation commercial leases to working with the city of Evanston to get the necessary building permits, fire inspections, and more there's a lot going on but the most important advice we recommend is to be thorough! There will likely be nothing more damaging to a successful move than missing something and having to backtrack to get an updated business license or installing sprinklers because the fire alarms didn't quite cut it.

Get a good lawyer, realtor, and architect and it will make your job significantly easier! 

Cheers,

Lock Chicago

Curating Escape Room Social Media Content by Lock Chicago

Hello All!

Today's post will feature how we manage our social media content most notably Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Google Plus.

In a world where more and more of our news sources are coming from news feeds instead of newspapers it is extremely important that all businesses, not just escape rooms utilize their advantages to stay relevant. We've seen so many other escape rooms simply post pictures of their teams which is great, but let's be honest your followers only care so much about viewing strangers successes and failures.

Memes, videos, Boomerangs, and more have taken over the social media scene in an innovative way to capture the 1-2 second attention span many of us have as we scroll through various apps. It's important to show what you do and where you came from, but if you want to engage your followers you need to post and craft entertaining content which will cause people to react. Contests are another great way to spread the word as you can keep followers coming back to your pages to see if they won or if there are any updates.

Stay on the cutting edge folks! Social media is your friend and if you want to continue to reach a new fanbase every day you need to make sure you have content that they will be interested in. Lock Chicago out! 

Check us out at:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lockchicago

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/explore/locations/1023578797/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/lock_chicago

Cheers,

Brian, Bane, and Alex

Halloween at Lock Chicago

Hello Again!

T-26 days until Halloween and we'll be dressing our escape rooms up with some spooky flair. The concept of Escape Rooms is interesting because how it is many times tied to the themes of Haunted Houses and other various "scare factor" attractions across the world. There are a few even in Evanston this time of year where we are located.

Halloween plays a big part with this because not only are you fully immersed in an experience but many times as a guest you are playing the part of a character in a plot/movie. Escape rooms truly capitalize on this and provide different unique opportunities to celebrate the season other than getting the wits scared out of you by a mindless zombie (nothing against all our friends with Zombie rooms out there!)

What will YOU be dressing up as for Halloween? Feel free to leave a comment here!

Cheers,

Brian, Bane, and Alex - Lock Chicago

Escape Rooms: Where Are They? (Not Just Lock Chicago!)

Hello Again!

We wanted to follow up our last post to highlight a growing trend in the Escape Room Industry. When we began in Evanston back in January we were 1 of 15 companies in Illinois operating some form of an escape room. Just under 10 months later we are now 1 of 40 companies.

Escape Rooms are growing at an extremely rapid rate which is great for the industry as it continues to spread the word and increase exposure for this exciting and fun activity. More mainstream outlets are getting on board as well as we see hit television shows such as "The Big Bang Theory" and more highlighting Escape Rooms on their broadcast.

Disney recently announced a new "Guardians of the Galaxy" themed Escape Room in their park. The success of rooms throughout the country will undoubtedly spur an increase for larger outlets to capitalize on the success. 

To us at Lock Chicago this is great news because it continues to challenge us and other Escape Rooms to create the best possible experience for the most important person, our guests. If you're looking for nearby escape rooms feel free to visit the popular website: http://escaperoomdirectory.com/ which has a large index of rooms across the world!

Until next time take care and happy escaping!

Cheers,

Brian, Bane, and Alex

Lock Chicago and Partnering with Local Escape Rooms

Hello again! It's been a while since we last posted but don't think we took the summer off - today's feature is regarding connecting and partnering with other Escape Rooms in your area. Last night we met with a dozen other escape room owners in the Chicagoland area at another location (thanks to DOA for hosting)!

In an industry that's growing faster every day it's important to understand the dynamics at play and what's working across the business. The worse thing that can happen to the industry is poor quality escape rooms opening and turning potential customers off to the whole idea. This is why escape rooms must continually help and push each other to create the ultimate live experience for their guests.

We are currently working on forming a Chicago Escape Room Association which will give us leverage when working with as many partners as we do. All escape rooms need the same things, insurance, building materials, building space, and if you can work together as a team to reach these common goals you have a lot more power than if you stood alone.

While it can be challenging to unify those in the industry with as many new rooms appearing across the United States and International community, the nice thing is everyone understands what one another has to go through within their own escape rooms and by sharing ideas and fostering a helpful community it will only continue to further grow the business.

That being said please feel free to reach out to us at Lock Chicago if we can provide any advice, tips, or just conversation regarding anything Escape Rooms!

Cheers,

Brian, Bane, and Alex

Pokemon GO, Lock Chicago, and Escape Room Advertising

I'm sure if you're reading this you're well aware by now of the huge trend of Pokemon GO taking the world by storm. Not only does it boast an impressive amount of users in just a few short days but it is driving unfathomable amounts of new business to small businesses and companies across the world. 

Escape Rooms are one of those businesses primed to take advantage of the games recent success. For those who aren't familiar, players collect different Pokemon through the game which is linked to GPS locations across the country. There are various items called "lures" you can use to attract Pokemon which players pursue. In downtown Chicago you can see hundreds of players swarming buildings that are essentially Pokemon hotspots. Companies can purchase lures and use them to attract Pokemon which in turn, attract customers.

In an industry such as escape rooms where it is relatively unknown in the United States this is a great way to increase exposure and even if players aren't immediately booking, raises awareness for this experience. Here at Lock Chicago our philosophy is that all escape rooms are working together, and the more people that know about them the better escape rooms will strive to be and provide a better experience for its players!

Pokemon GO is rapidly changing the way us and other companies advertise and reach their customers and its exciting to continue to learn new methods to grow your brand. Next time you're in the area feel free to stop by and see if there's any new Pokemon to catch by us!

-Brian and Bane

Lock Chicago and Mayfest's Mobile Escape Room

Hello again! Two weekends ago we had the privilege of partnering with Northwestern University's Mayfest student group and Dillo Day to host a mobile escape room on the festival grounds. We had a TON of fun as this was a completely new experience for us as well.

The mini-escape room experience lasted 20 minutes so it was certainly an interesting challenge for us to develop something way out of the norm where a lot of factors are out of our control. Typically we know the exact space and terrain we are working with in our building but with Dillo Day we are working in a tent located nearby the main stages which can provide a not-so-quiet environment for our guests. 

Our initial thought was to create an hour long puzzle and then test it utilizing as many puzzles and challenges as we could within a 25-30 minute time frame. We then reached out to the Mayfest coordinator's to make sure our room was themed to the festival and incorporated as many designs and decorations as we could.

Figuring out the reset time was the final piece which was actually much easier than our typical rooms due to many of the parts being unchanged throughout the duration of the experience. Our plan is to craft more mobile experiences not just around Evanston but throughout Chicago where we can engage more members of the community.

For an in-depth look at the experience check out this great article written by the "Daily Northwestern". http://dailynorthwestern.com/2016/05/18/ae/dillo-day-will-feature-first-ever-mobile-escape-room/

Cheers,

Brian and Bane, Lock Chicago  

Northwestern's Dillo Day & Lock Chicago Present: Championship Week

We're excited to announce our partnership with Northwestern University and their annual music festival - "Dillo Day"! Taking place on Saturday, May 21st we will be providing a mini-mobile escape room experience on festival grounds for guests to participate in! This will be completely different than our current rooms, "Sunburn" and "Malfunction" so if you've already done both at our main location feel free to stop by for a new experience!

Guests will have 20 minutes to work their way through the Dillo themed challenges and see if they have what it takes to conquer Lock Chicago's newest challenge. Tickets are 9$ per person.

In addition to our mobile escape room we are thrilled to present "Championship Week", which takes place from May 1st-May 8th. We are offering all Northwestern Students and Faculty 30% off all our escape rooms for the chance to compete against one another for glory and prizes! We will be recording times of teams and keeping daily leader boards to showcase the best and brightest at NU. We will be checking ID's however so if you've already been to our rooms in the past we apologize but you will not be eligible to compete in those specific rooms during Championship week for the prizes :( But have no fear as we have some exciting new rooms launching in a few months! If you have done Malfunction you will be eligible to compete in Sunburn, and vice versa.

Northwestern Students and Faculty can use the code "LOCKCHAMPION" when booking. Note that the code will only apply to rooms reserved between May 1st-May 8th.

Stay tuned for more updates as the month unfolds! Good luck to all teams competing.

Cheers,

Brian and Bane

Opening Day - Malfunction

It took months of planning and preparation but on April 1st we were proud to launch our newest escape room, "Malfunction" to the public! 

We tested the room with close to 20 groups for weeks leading up to that Saturday making minor tweaks here and there to adjust for puzzle solvency and design. Learning how to operate one escape room is challenging enough but with over 65 guests arriving throughout the day a large portion involved learning on the fly.

With less than 3 hours of sleep we funneled all the caffeine known to man into our systems and greeted our new groups which included families, friends, companies coming for team-building events and many more. To say we were nervous would be an understatement but by far the most rewarding aspect of owning an escape room is seeing the enjoyment from guests as they navigate through our rooms which less than 3 months ago were nothing but empty office spaces.

We aren't close to being done yet by any means! When interacting with groups one of the most important pieces is to ask for constructive feedback because complacency can never be an option. Escape rooms must always continue to innovate and push the limits of the human imagination to provide the best possible experience for its users.

Escape rooms are not in competition with one another. In a perfect world we would love to see every escape room succeed because truly the worst scenario would be a first time escape-roomer visiting one that was poorly developed and tested and swearing them off altogether.

We hope you enjoyed this post and look forward to seeing you sometime for our new room!

Cheers,

Brian and Bane

2nd Room - "Malfunction" Opening!

We are excited to announce the arrival of our new escape room - "Malfunction"! Available on April 1st we have begun taking reservations as we complete final testing stages for the puzzles.

Sunburn will continue to run during it's normal times but we are adding additional slots for Malfunction reservations. Unlike Sunburn, Malfunction is geared towards smaller teams of 4-5 as they navigate through the challenges presented in the "engine room". 

Our focus was to provide an opportunity for our initial Sunburn escapees to return and have their revenge on a new Lock Chicago room seeing that many of our guests initially were first time escape-room goers! We are thrilled to see some of these amazing groups come back and earn a new picture on the "Wall of Champions". 

Check below as the escape room saga continues...

You and your team arrive at Keplar Station on the outer perimeter of Mars with one mission: save the lives of the dozens of crew members trapped there. With near complete power failure following a sudden meteor shower, the life-support is the only remaining function and it won't last long. Your engineering team has exactly 60 minutes before the station shuts down for good, will you persevere and be the heroes or remain trapped in the annals of space?

Good Luck!

Brian and Bane

Lock Chicago Interview - North by Northwestern

Last week we had the opportunity to sit down and speak with Margaret from the North by Northwestern magazine. We shared our thoughts on everything and anything Lock Chicago related and plans for the upcoming year! This has been a truly amazing experience thus far and seeing groups come through and enjoy themselves is really what it's all about. Escape Rooms are all about the experience and it is our #1 goal to ensure that stays at the forefront of every decision we make.

Check the link below for the interview!

http://www.northbynorthwestern.com/story/escape-in-evanston/

2 Weeks In - New Record Holders!

Checking in again almost 3 weeks after our opening day and we have some exciting news - Lock Chicago's Sunburn room officially has new record holders for best time! An amazing team of 8 came through and working together like champions - unlocked the Sun Treasure with a time of 57:16!

We've had over 30 groups come through in the first 15 days resulting in a solve-rate of 5/30. A few teams have been right on the cusp and given another minute or two that 5/30 number might look very different. It's been an amazing time watching groups work their way around our escape room and seeing the different communication styles that lead to success or a place on our Wall of Valiant Efforts. 

Looking forward to see what our groups this week can bring as they attempt to dismantle the current record holders! Check back in for an update soon. Thanks for reading!

The Potential of Escape Rooms: Location

When we started designing our first Lock Chicago escape room, we asked ourselves, "What is an Escape Game, and what are its restrictions?" One of the biggest considerations for an Escape room is of course the room itself. Most commonly, the space is a room in a building (usually an office or something similar) that's been revamped and redesigned to hold an escape room in it, but that is in no way the only way to have an escape room.

Giant Escape Rooms

There is a myth (/truth) that in Japan, the chain Escape Rooms (which is where all escape rooms started) actually plan out special escape room events that go beyond their actual rooms. I'm not sure how often they do these, but every now and again they will rent out a giant warehouse and prepare it to hold 1000 people for a HUGE mass escape room event. Now I've never done one, nor can I imagine how they would run an escape room on that scale successfully, but it completely breaks the restraints that having a confined space puts on your every day escape room. Granted you're still in a 'confined space', but it's a warehouse.

Teeny Tiny Escape Rooms

 Now this option is much more doable for the average escape room owner, and one that we at Lock Chicago plan on taking full advantage of once the weather gets warmer and the city festivals start coming out. Escape rooms usually last an hour, but there's nothing that says that's how long they absolutely HAVE to be. An hour is the absolute sweet spot, of course (and if you want to read more on that then take a look at this), but if you make the room smaller, you can easily design something that players can have fun trying to solve in 15-20 minutes. This is where the idea of the fair-ground escape game comes into play.

At a local festival or block party, a simple escape room can be easily (and cheaply) popped up with a simple canvas tent and some furniture. By making the time limit 15-30 minutes instead of an hour and dropping the price of entrance per customer, you can make a great activity for guests and festival-goers. This also allows younger children to participate, as escape rooms are usually made for the 16+ demographic. Easy to reset and easy to run, these one-day escape rooms bring the game to a much wider audience in a much friendlier and casual environment, and should be considered by any escape-game owners looking to get more involved with their communities.

While we're just getting our start, we here at Lock Chicago are always thinking of ways to expand our escape rooms beyond the room itself, and beyond 'escaping', too. This not only opens us up to more creative avenues of provision, but it also makes our games in the actual space more creative, too. The more you do, the more you do. That's as simple as it gets.