Escape the Room in Hong Kong

Do you know Hongkongers pay money to escape from jail?

No, don’t worry. Not the real jail. Hong Kong’s judiciary system is not that bad…for now.

I am talking about the “jail” from real life escape game.

For those who don’t know what it is, it is a physical puzzle game which is based on the “Escape the Room” videogames, where the players are locked inside an unknown room and have to search for the clues in the room to find a way out. While the earliest real life escape room was created in 2006, the game (physical one) didn’t get popular until a few years back.

And Hong Kong is a latecomer on this matter. Freeing HK (逃出香港) is the first escape room game we have in Hong Kong. It was founded by 4 youngsters in 2012. As “outdated” as it may be, the game got so popular among Hongkongers (especially the younger generation) and received wide media coverage. The founders were even interviewed by some oversea media like BBC news, CNN and AFP.

The founders think that the game is not only about escaping from a physical room, but also symbolizes Hongkongers’ way to escape from daily stress and boredom. They hope their success can encourage the public to archive their dreams.

There have been more real life escape games in Hong Kong since then, with the fees ranging between HK$80 and HK$120. Though I have heard complaints from participating tourists because some puzzles are written in Chinese and they can’t read them…

Yeah, I can imagine the frustration.

At least they will let you out once the time limit (45 minutes) is over…