vrCAVE Blog

With pandemic restrictions shutting down or at least fundamentally changing entertainment for the last year, people are itching to get out and do some fun activities. I personally can't wait to get out of the house and see a movie, visit an escape room, or go to the bar with friends as soon as it's safe.

You can bet it's going to be the same for most people. You don't want to miss this opportunity. 

If you’ve been paying attention to trends in the family entertainment center industry, you’ll be at least somewhat familiar with virtual reality by now.

Facing the pandemic, escape rooms have had to innovate and change the way they provide entertainment and value to their clients. Not being able to be physically open to the public has, for many, been the hardest part of all.

With restrictions lifting in many areas, it is time for some optimism — but let's look at what some escape rooms have been doing to make it through these hard times and see what we can learn for the future.

That satisfying feeling of a lock clicking open in your hands. That’s what’s sold escape rooms to customers around the world, and that’s not going to change.

There’s always going to be something about walking into a physical space and opening all those doors, rifling through all those papers, and trying to figure out the combination for that stubborn briefcase lock. But that doesn’t mean that’s all an escape room business can offer.

So, you're interested in starting an escape room business. You love the experiences you've had playing others' rooms and want to offer the same.

This list is designed for entrepreneurs to get the information they need quickly to determine if an escape room is right for them. 

Conventional business wisdom says a new customer costs five times as much as getting a sale from an existing customer.

Socrates once said, "I know that I know nothing." You may feel like you're at that point with escape rooms. But don't worry. You came to the right place.

Having previously lost my own entertainment company to COVID-19, I personally understand how the pandemic has set a lot of entertainment business owners back. I'm happy to be on the vrCAVE business team now, as it lets me help some of those still working to make it through. For many, it's still going to be tough for a while, and you may be looking for ways to diversify your offering to reengage past customers and put yourself in a strong competitive position when location-based entertainment demand is back. One option? Add a virtual reality escape room.

Science centers and museums have an incredible opportunity in virtual reality. The technology opens up amazing and intuitive new ways of storytelling, entertainment, and education — in fact, the potential role of science centres in pioneering and sharing this technology with their visitors mirrors the role they played in early adoption of IMAX.

In a world about to recover from COVID-19, science centers and museums will need to reconnect with their communities. The time is right to bring VR tech onboard to play an important role in this work.

We get it. It takes a lot to keep your escape room business running — and then one of your staff members calls in sick. You’re understaffed on your prime-time Saturday and have to reset rooms and deal with customers at the same time on top of everything else.

Something gets missed in a reset, the puzzles don't work, and nobody notices. It would've taken five seconds to flip that switch or reset that lock, but a group walks away with a disappointing experience: an escape room owner's worst nightmare.