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| Great escapes: the strange rise of live-action quest games in Russia | Great escapes: the strange rise of live-action quest games in Russia |
| (about 5 hours later) | |
| “Don’t stop, it’s gonna crush my hand,” I shout as I try to push a button hidden in a wall while a black shutter slowly lowers, inches from my fingers. My friend is standing inside a shabby Soviet-style wardrobe, frantically turning a handle to try to stop the shutter and save my hand. | “Don’t stop, it’s gonna crush my hand,” I shout as I try to push a button hidden in a wall while a black shutter slowly lowers, inches from my fingers. My friend is standing inside a shabby Soviet-style wardrobe, frantically turning a handle to try to stop the shutter and save my hand. |
| Fast forward 10 minutes and we have disarmed a warhead, prevented a nuclear disaster and gotten to the bottom of the Chernobyl explosion. Then we get our coats, pat ourselves on the back, and go for frappuccinos. | Fast forward 10 minutes and we have disarmed a warhead, prevented a nuclear disaster and gotten to the bottom of the Chernobyl explosion. Then we get our coats, pat ourselves on the back, and go for frappuccinos. |
| Suffice to say we didn’t actually disarm any live bombs. Rather we played a real-life room escape game called The Mystery of Chernobyl from a basement in a dusty residential yard in the centre of St Petersburg. | Suffice to say we didn’t actually disarm any live bombs. Rather we played a real-life room escape game called The Mystery of Chernobyl from a basement in a dusty residential yard in the centre of St Petersburg. |
| Room escape games like this one have grown increasingly popular in Russia over the last year. They were initially inspired by video games, where you would have to find your way out of the locked room by looking for clues and solving puzzles. In these real-life quests you and your fellow players have 60 minutes to locate a lock or find a code to escape from a room in real life. | Room escape games like this one have grown increasingly popular in Russia over the last year. They were initially inspired by video games, where you would have to find your way out of the locked room by looking for clues and solving puzzles. In these real-life quests you and your fellow players have 60 minutes to locate a lock or find a code to escape from a room in real life. |
| Related: Escape games: why the latest city-break craze is being locked in a room | |
| The Japanese company Scrap claims to have invented the live-action escape game in 2007. By 2010, the games had spread all over the world, although there are few places where they are as popular as in Russia. | The Japanese company Scrap claims to have invented the live-action escape game in 2007. By 2010, the games had spread all over the world, although there are few places where they are as popular as in Russia. |
| A quick look on Russian search engine Yandex returns more than 20 St Petersburg-based companies that entertain people by locking them up, while Market Watch counts 46 in Moscow, making it the second biggest city for escape gaming outside of Asia. | A quick look on Russian search engine Yandex returns more than 20 St Petersburg-based companies that entertain people by locking them up, while Market Watch counts 46 in Moscow, making it the second biggest city for escape gaming outside of Asia. |
| Scenarios available range from classic zombie apocalypse and prison-break types to ones based on films and TV shows such as True Detective and Twin Peaks. There are also several localised plots that build on the country’s history and culture. A popular sub-genre is the Soviet-experience game, including one in which you have to destroy all the incriminating papers in your dissident friend’s apartment before the secret police turn up. | Scenarios available range from classic zombie apocalypse and prison-break types to ones based on films and TV shows such as True Detective and Twin Peaks. There are also several localised plots that build on the country’s history and culture. A popular sub-genre is the Soviet-experience game, including one in which you have to destroy all the incriminating papers in your dissident friend’s apartment before the secret police turn up. |
| Those tiny doses of other’s lives are not enough for us. Our soul requires a full immersion into the fictional world! | |
| Of course being locked in a confined space might not be everybody’s idea of fun, especially when you have to pay a hefty sum for the privilege. Group games in St Petersburg cost up to 7,000 roubles (£80) for evenings and weekend slots. Why do people want to spend so much money on an activity that isn’t exactly relaxing? | Of course being locked in a confined space might not be everybody’s idea of fun, especially when you have to pay a hefty sum for the privilege. Group games in St Petersburg cost up to 7,000 roubles (£80) for evenings and weekend slots. Why do people want to spend so much money on an activity that isn’t exactly relaxing? |
| A feature in the South China Morning Post analysed the popularity of real-life quests in Hong Kong, noting that they are especially popular with students. In this context perhaps a room escape is more of a reality escape: you simply don’t have enough time to worry about your terrifying to-do list when you’re saving the world from a deadly zombie virus outbreak. | A feature in the South China Morning Post analysed the popularity of real-life quests in Hong Kong, noting that they are especially popular with students. In this context perhaps a room escape is more of a reality escape: you simply don’t have enough time to worry about your terrifying to-do list when you’re saving the world from a deadly zombie virus outbreak. |
| But Denis Shchukin, a lecturer at St Petersburg State University specialising in social philosophy and ethics, believes it’s a feeling of stability that drives players to seek thrills in locked rooms in basements. “You can only enjoy peace and quiet sitting by the fireplace when there’s a snowstorm outside,” he says. | But Denis Shchukin, a lecturer at St Petersburg State University specialising in social philosophy and ethics, believes it’s a feeling of stability that drives players to seek thrills in locked rooms in basements. “You can only enjoy peace and quiet sitting by the fireplace when there’s a snowstorm outside,” he says. |
| With cinema and literature, you’re stuck in the role of the observer. In a real-life escape game, you use your entire body. So does that mean that Russians just want more from their entertainment? “Those tiny doses of others’ lives, the micro-injections, are not enough for us,” Shchukin says. “The Russian soul requires a full immersion into the fictional world.” | With cinema and literature, you’re stuck in the role of the observer. In a real-life escape game, you use your entire body. So does that mean that Russians just want more from their entertainment? “Those tiny doses of others’ lives, the micro-injections, are not enough for us,” Shchukin says. “The Russian soul requires a full immersion into the fictional world.” |
| This article first appeared on The Calvert Journal, a guide to the new east | This article first appeared on The Calvert Journal, a guide to the new east |
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