Virtual Reality Escape Room Opening In Washington D.C.

(Newswire.net — November 15, 2016) Washington, D.C. — Insomnia Escape Room DC is opening the first VR room in the Capital city.   An escape room is an adventure game where players are locked in a room where they use clues and solve puzzles to escape the room within a set time limit. Games can be set in a range of “locations” such as a castle, a prison, or even a monastery.

Escape games actually began in Japan back in 2008. With that early beginning, the ball was picked up in 2011 by a company in Budapest called Parapark that greatly expanded the genre to Europe and Australia. Twenty locations later, escape room games were becoming a genuine phenomenon. Interestingly enough, the founder of Parapark, Attilia Gyurkovics, claims he had no knowledge of the Japanese games and based his games on his job experience as a personality trainer.

By 2015, there were over 2,800 escape room venues throughout the world. With relatively low upfront costs and a per person charge of about US $25-30 per person for one hour, operators have sprung up in virtually every major city in Europe and the U.S.

Combining escape room adventures with VR seems like the next logical step in the evolution of the games. Wearing state-of-the art VR headsets, players move through movie-grade sets handling real props that correspond to virtual world objects as a form of passive haptics which is a fancy name for tactile feedback.

Virtual Reality is a totally computer-generated immersive experience that puts the user in a different environment that feels like an alternate reality. It utilizes a headset that wraps around your head and eyes, separating you from the actual space you’re actually occupying. Images are sent to your eyes via two small lenses. VR can enable the user to go on never-before imagined journeys in outer space or in the deepest depths of a mighty ocean. At the more basic surface level of our planet, the user can hike over a frozen Arctic wasteland, tour an art museum, or experience a film as if they are really in it.  All this without leaving the comfort of their favorite couch.

VR is available in a couple different forms. There’s the relatively inexpensive headsets that work with a smartphone. The more expensive way to go is with a powerful gaming console or PC.

When the power of VR technology is combined with the “virtual” feel of participating in an escape room adventure, you have a potent mix of two gaming trends that can make for a totally immersive experience never achieved in the gaming world before.

Throw in real-life props and very high quality sets, and you may just have created a nation of gaming addicts the likes of which we have never seen before.

Insomnia tries to distinguish itself from other escape room games by providing those high quality sets with real-life props. Other room companies may lock you in a room with strangers and ask you to solve random puzzles. Insomnia places you inside the “movie” of your adventure where you live the life of the main hero. You and your group complete the secret mission to make your escape.

Insomnia Escape Room DC has garnered some great reviews since its opening. Players have raved about the gorgeously decorated rooms with real props. They also enjoy the innovative puzzles with solid story lines that really transport the player into the adventure. Now with the addition of VR, it’s hard to see how they don’t have a runaway hit on their hands.