If you have never played any escape game, then you would have wondered why Escape game lovers get all excited when they hear about new escape games, and if you are a hardcore live escape game lover, then people around you would have questioned your interest at least once.
People who have never played live escape games can never get the hype around them and find them overrated and a waste of time, but little do they know that escape games are a great way of developing decision-making and problem-solving skills which are inarguably the most important skills for succeeding in your personal and professional life.
Before knowing how live escape games develop problem-solving and decision-making skills, let’s have a quick review of what escape games are and why people like to try new escape games.
WHAT ARE LIVE ESCAPE GAMES?
An escape room is a themed puzzle room in which participants are locked, and they have to find a way to get out of it in a specific time duration, usually 60 minutes, but some games are shorter or longer than this, depending upon their theme.
A group of highly creative and analytical designers design such rooms, and the themes are usually famous fictitious tales and scenarios like Dracula, murder mysteries, ghost tales, haunted schools, etc.
Sometimes the themes revolve around survival situations like finding a way out of a dark and dense forest, escaping a submarine, getting lost on an island, getting stuck in a deteriorating building, and so on.
The main aim behind such live escape games is to give people a fun-filled experience and a chance to live their fears and conquer them.
People have to solve many traditional and nonconventional puzzles to find clues and hints for their escape, and most escape rooms allow only group participation, as escape games also teach teamwork, and you can not move ahead without your team.
WHY DO PEOPLE LIKE GOING FOR NEW ESCAPE GAMES?
Escape game addicts are always searching for new escape games, and there is a solid reason behind their behavior. Escape games create a sense of panic due to their realistic themes and time limitations, which results in an intense adrenaline rush.
Participants get a dopamine rush when they solve a puzzle, find a clue, or successfully escape the escape room. The unique combination of adrenaline and dopamine rush keeps them hooked and makes them want to play such games again and again.
Plus, escape games challenge your mental capacity and analytical skills, and winning such challenges boosts the confidence of players, and they feel like coming for more.
BEST WAYS: HOW ESCAPE GAMES HELP WITH PROBLEM-SOLVING AND DECISION-MAKING.
With all that being said, here are four ways through which escape games help with problem-solving and decision-making.
ESCAPE GAMES PUT YOU IN A CRITICAL SITUATION.
As they say, a human’s real intelligence, efficiency, and decision making is tested when he is in hot water, and that’s exactly what escape games do. They put you in extremely critical do-or-die situations to see your presence of mind in unfavorable situations.
It is much easier to make good decisions when you have everything aligned in your favor, but it’s extremely difficult to make good decisions when you are in panic mode, have limited time, and have your mind all over the place.
Escape games train you to make quick decisions in even the scariest and most difficult situations.
ESCAPE GAMES HAVE A LOT OF PUZZLES AND HIDDEN CLUES.
Escape games have a lot of traditional and unconventional puzzles, combination locks, and hidden details. Players must use their problem-solving skills to find the answers and move ahead, as everything in escape rooms is extremely cryptic and implicit.
Therefore, players can only move ahead by utilizing their problem-solving skills to the max. Players develop great problem-solving skills after working on a wide range of problems.
ESCAPE GAMES HAVE A TIME LIMIT.
Escape rooms have a time limit, and you have to escape from the game within that specified time limit. Most games have a time limit of just 60 minutes, and in those 60 minutes, you have to make numerous decisions and solve multiple puzzles and problems to move ahead.
You only get a few minutes to solve one problem and make a decision, and that helps a lot in polishing your decision-making and problem-solving skills, as you making so many decisions and solving a lot of puzzles in one hour trains your mind to do the same in everyday life.
ESCAPE GAMES HELP YOU IN DEVELOPING INCLUSIVE DECISION-MAKING.
It is relatively easier to make a decision for yourself or impose your decision on others, but it’s more difficult to make a decision after taking everyone’s opinion into account and then settling for the mutually beneficial one.
In escape games, you have to participate and play as a team. You can not play or win alone.
You have to move with the entire team and have to use inclusive decision-making to reach a conclusion in a critical situation. A lot of companies arrange escape game events for their employees to teach them inclusive decision-making.
CONCLUSION
There is an extreme polarity in peoples’ opinions regarding live escape games; where some people get all worked up when they hear about escape games and call them a waste of time, while on the other hand, we have escape games enthusiasts who are always in search of new escape games.
Whether you love escape games or hate them to the core, you can’t deny their effectiveness in developing problem-solving and decision-making skills.
Escape games put you in difficult and critical situations with a time limit, and all you can do is use your decision-making and problem skills to get out of them.
You have to solve a lot of problems and make a lot of decisions in the specified duration to move forward with your team and learn a lot of valuable lessons and skills like inclusive decision-making along the way.