You’ve embarked on a long voyage with your team of explorers across the Seven Seas in search of buried treasure. Unfortunately, your team crosses paths with the notorious Captain Redbeard, a fearsome pirate who has been cursed by Davy Jones to deliver 1000 souls for his bidding.

To make matters worse: you are the last remaining souls that Redbeard needs to lift his curse. Can you escape his ship before time runs out?

So goes the premise for The Great Pirate Escape, one of our most popular themes at Brainy Actz. With so many escape rooms opening left and right (over 2,000 worldwide), it’s no wonder why the ultimate immersive adventure shows no immediate signs of slowing down.

“Seeing this industry rise to new cinematic heights makes us strive to deliver the best experience possible for our clients,” said Anthony Bennett, CEO of Brainy Actz Inc. “It’s definitely a challenge to bring forth a unique exciting adventure, but that’s the beauty of this business; every adventure is different and that opens bold, new possibilities.”

Believe it or not, there are still many people who are unfamiliar with the whole “escape room” concept. Most of the time, they have no idea what to expect coming into the experience itself.

Escape rooms are part of a new era in consumer experience: the idea of spending money on fun activities instead of a regular consumer product. Usual forms of entertainment would include happy hour, going to the movies, or attending a concert.

But, games are becoming more and more popular everyday.

“In this day and age, people want to be entertained. Escape rooms are such a unique form of entertainment because they encompass several aspects of a great game – interactive storytelling, puzzles, logic, reasoning – while also adding a social element in a mystery-type scenario,” Brainy Actz CFO Angelo Anello said.

There are so many different escape rooms around with a wide variety of puzzles and challenges to get anyone interested in experiencing the immersive adventure for themselves, unaware that they’re about to experience something far beyond anything they’ve experienced before. These real-life puzzle games have such a broad demographic, which allows designers to be more creative during the construction process of their escape rooms.

With the majority of the driving force stemming from millennials, many companies like Google, The Irvine Company, and Chase Bank have jumped on board with the escape room concept due to its innate nature in fostering critical thinking and team building. Escape games are great activities because, not only are they entertaining and fun, but they allow people to think differently and work together regardless of their individual backgrounds. An intern has the power to lead his group of supervisors in solving the mysteries of the escape room and this demonstrates the kind of positive impact escape rooms can have in settings outside of the professional world.

According to Bennett, Brainy Actz strives to revolutionize the escape room industry not only through their room and puzzle builds, but through their creative storytelling and social engagement by their participants. “We’ve come to realize that people connect with our stories on a personal level,” Bennett said. “90% of the time, we’re glued to our mobile devices. These social, immersive experiences force you to get out of your bubble and embrace the real world – working with other people to achieve a common goal.”

Social experiences have been on the rise for quite some time and the myriad of escape room experiences foreshadows future growth for the industry. Consumers understand that these live adventures are unlike any other and they can’t be repeated under the exact same conditions. Every escape room experience is different and that means there will always be a plethora of immersive games to challenge and conquer.

While the U.S. market hasn’t fully been penetrated, it’s only a matter of time before escape rooms become a regular thing like going to the movies or attending a sporting event. With so much potential, escape rooms will only improve over time.

The real question is: by how much?

Having been around for a couple years now, customers have developed certain preferences, which some companies have adapted to in their own way. From designing their rooms with Hollywood-style set designs to incorporating different forms of technology into their puzzles, companies try to find a balance between user experience, technology, and production value.

Everyone has their own preferences, but most agree that the story itself should be the force that ties all of these creative elements together. An escape room is an immersive experience after all, and these elements need to complement each other well enough in order to fully captivate participants.

Is it safe to say that escape rooms will be around for a long time?

Not necessarily.

Only one thing is for certain: we’ve only scratched the surface.