Participating In An Escape Room And Psychology

Participating in an escape room is a new trend where psychology plays a fundamental role. In this game, a group of people are locked in a room, and they have to find a key that allows them to escape. They do this by following a series of clues and solving puzzles. They have a limited time to find the key.

In this playful adventure, psychological processes are combined with physical activity and social cooperation. These types of activities also show how teamwork helps solve problems that cannot be solved by a single person (or at least not within a reasonable time). These tasks make us realize that we need to work with each other.

Flyktrum improves cooperation and communication within the group.

Escape rooms transport us to a parallel universe where we are detectives and explorers. We start by listening to a story, one for each room. It only takes a few seconds for us to feel like the main characters in this adventure. All of a sudden and without realizing it, we have a common goal to achieve together with the others in the group: to escape.

That’s when the game begins. We need to find a way out of the room within 60 minutes. The clues can be anywhere: under tables, hidden in books, inside drawers with maple compartments, etc. A good strategy is to distribute the tasks within the group. You can then write down all the clues that you find that you feel will help the group reach the goal.

The escape rooms were originally created for adults, but anyone from 14 and up can participate as long as an adult is involved. This takes the escape rooms to a good activity where participants of different ages can learn to work together. There are also escape rooms that are specially adapted for children.

The escape rooms first appeared in PC games. So-called controversial games were made as an alternative to the games with low graphics that occurred during this time. In the game, you were greeted by a simple still image, a situation or an interaction with a character, and everything was described in writing. There were various options where the players had to make decisions based on the situation that had been described. And based on the decisions that the players made, the game took different directions.

Many of these controversial games were basically escape rooms. You had to make the right decision to save your life, save the princess’ life, escape from prison, kill an evil figure. These games have evolved over time and may have lost their essence due to the amazing graphics that nowadays appear in games.

However, the game’s layout has become popular again, all in connection with the development of smartphones. In Japan, for example, there were competitions with real escape rooms in 2008.

But the first escape rooms opened their doors in Budapest, Hungary, in 2011 thanks to Attila Gyurkovics. It was a game called Parapark, where a group had to try to find a way out within a limited time.

Gyurkovic developed the escape room based on the flow of psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi.

Flow is a state in which a person is completely absorbed by an activity. Time flies and actions, thoughts and movements follow each other. The flow occurs when there is a balance between the challenges of the activity and our ability to solve them.

The flow theory says that if we do an activity because we like it and experience a balance between our abilities and the challenges we face, we enter a mental state where everything flows. At that moment, it seems that time moves very fast and that ideas arise freely in our minds.

Flow within escape room

Many have said that they have experienced the flow described in Csikszentmihaly’s flow theory by participating in an escape room. These rooms are places where the only purpose is for the participants to have fun together and take on the challenge. They are therefore a fun activity regardless of whether you manage to get out or not.

Having to go through a process where you feel satisfied after every thing you can do (you find a key in a box, solve a puzzle or open a lock) makes you feel more interested in continuing the game and focusing on the challenges you face, and this also means that what you worry about in everyday life disappears for a while.