Escape Rooms

Choose an Escape Room for your Corporate Event!

Corporate events are an essential aspect of any business as they allow employees to connect, build relationships, and foster a positive work environment. However, planning a corporate event that is both engaging and interactive can be challenging. One activity that has gained popularity in recent years is escape rooms. Escape rooms offer a unique and exciting experience for corporate events, which can benefit businesses in many ways. In our newest Lock Chicago blog post we’ll explore why escape rooms are great for corporate events and those participating.

This phrase gets used most commonly as reasoning for any event but we certainly have to start with Team Building. One of the primary reasons why escape rooms are great for corporate events is that they promote team building. Escape rooms require players to work together and communicate effectively to solve puzzles and escape the room. This teamwork can improve relationships among coworkers and build trust. It also allows employees to develop their problem-solving and critical thinking skills, which are valuable in the workplace.

Stress relief: Corporate events can be stressful for employees as they may feel pressure to socialize and network with colleagues. Escape rooms offer a fun and immersive experience that can help alleviate this stress. It provides an opportunity for employees to unwind and have fun while still building relationships and engaging in team-building activities.

Improves communication: Communication is a vital skill in any workplace. Escape rooms require participants to communicate effectively to solve puzzles and escape the room. By participating in an escape room, employees can develop their communication skills, which can improve their overall performance at work. It also allows coworkers to get to know each other better and learn how to communicate effectively with each other.

Boosts morale: A positive work environment is crucial for employee satisfaction and productivity. Escape rooms provide a fun and exciting experience that can boost morale and create a positive work environment. By participating in an escape room, employees can feel valued and appreciated by their employer, which can lead to increased job satisfaction.

Encourages creativity: Escape rooms require participants to think creatively and outside the box to solve puzzles and escape the room. This type of thinking can be beneficial in the workplace, where creativity and innovation are highly valued. By participating in an escape room, employees can develop their creativity skills and apply them to their work.

Promotes healthy competition: Escape rooms can also promote healthy competition among employees. By working together to solve puzzles and escape the room, employees can feel a sense of accomplishment and healthy competition. This competition can motivate employees to work harder and achieve their goals in the workplace.

In conclusion, escape rooms are an excellent activity for corporate events. They promote team building, communication, creativity, and healthy competition, while also providing stress relief and boosting morale.

At Lock Chicago we offer unique team building experiences not just with Escape Rooms but with Scavenger Hunts and on-site events as well! Whether you want us to visit a location of your choice or set up an interactive Scavenger Hunt through our partner, Roamli we’ve got plenty of options. Overall Escape Rooms are a fun and exciting experience that your employees will surely appreciate and we look forward to hopefully hosting you in the future!

Why you should book an Escape Room this Valentine's Day!

Looking for a new experience to celebrate with your partner? With Valentine's Day just around the corner, escape rooms offer a unique and fun way to celebrate the holiday with your significant other. Here's why:

Strengthening relationships: Escape rooms require teamwork and communication to solve puzzles and escape the room within a set time limit. This makes it a great opportunity for couples to work together and strengthen their relationship. It's a fun and exciting way to bond and see how well they work as a team. By overcoming challenges together, couples can build trust, mutual respect, and a sense of accomplishment.

A change of pace: Valentine's Day can sometimes feel like just another day, with the usual dinner and movie date options. An escape room offers something different, something exciting, and a change of pace from the usual routine. It's a great way to make the holiday feel special and memorable.

Encourages creativity and critical thinking: Escape rooms are designed to challenge the participants' problem-solving and critical thinking skills. This can be a great opportunity for couples to let their creative juices flow and come up with innovative solutions to the puzzles. By working together, couples can think outside the box and approach problems in a new way.

Builds excitement and anticipation: Escape rooms are full of surprises, twists, and turns. They are designed to build excitement and anticipation, making it an ideal choice for a Valentine's Day date. The rush of adrenaline that comes with solving puzzles and escaping the room is a great way to add an extra layer of excitement to the holiday.

A unique bonding experience: An escape room is a unique bonding experience that can't be replicated. It's an opportunity to create memories that will last a lifetime. The experience is exclusive and exclusive, making it an ideal way to celebrate Valentine's Day with your significant other. We offer private escape room experiences that are great for two or if you’re looking to double date!

Increases intimacy: Escape rooms are a great way to increase intimacy. They provide an opportunity for couples to interact and get to know each other in a new way. By working together to solve puzzles, couples can deepen their understanding of each other's strengths, weaknesses, and communication styles. This can lead to increased intimacy and a stronger relationship. Make sure you save some patience up however as escape rooms will certainly test these skills!

In conclusion, escape rooms are a great way to celebrate Valentine's Day and make it a holiday to remember. They offer a unique and exciting experience that brings couples closer together and challenges their problem-solving skills. With its immersive and interactive nature, an escape room is the perfect way to create memories that will last a lifetime. So why not try something different this Valentine's Day and visit us at Lock Chicago!

Escape Rooms & Team Building

Happy 2023 friends! It’s been a great year and with Escape rooms continuing to grow in popularity especially in team building we wanted to highlight some of the best benefits for your organization. Escape rooms are a fun and immersive activity that has become increasingly popular in the past decade throughout the United States. These interactive puzzles & challenges require participants to solve riddles and clues in order to "escape" a themed room within a certain amount of time. While they are often thought of as just a fun way to spend an afternoon or evening, escape rooms can also have significant benefits for team building and personal development. Our experiences at Lock Chicago are all “Mission-Based” meaning you’re not physically locked in the room, rather you’re trying to work together and accomplish a common goal such as saving the world or recovering the stolen artifact.

One of the primary benefits of escape rooms is that they encourage teamwork and communication. Since the puzzles require collaboration and problem-solving, participants must work together and communicate effectively in order to succeed. This can be especially beneficial for work teams, as it helps to improve communication and build trust within the group.

Escape rooms also require participants to think creatively and outside of the box. In order to solve the puzzles, players must come up with unique and innovative solutions, which can be a great way to stimulate the mind and promote creative thinking. This can be particularly useful in a work setting, where employees may be expected to come up with creative solutions to problems on a regular basis.

In addition to promoting teamwork and creativity, escape rooms can also help to improve leadership skills. Since the puzzles require strategy and planning, participants must often take on leadership roles in order to guide the group to success. This can be a great way to develop leadership skills and learn how to effectively delegate tasks.

Escape rooms can also be a great way to bond with coworkers or friends. The immersive nature of the activity allows participants to fully engage and connect with one another, which can lead to stronger relationships and a sense of community. This can be especially beneficial for work teams, as it can help to improve morale and increase productivity.

Finally, escape rooms can be a great way to relieve stress and have fun. The immersive nature of the activity allows participants to fully engage and forget about their daily stresses for a while, which can be a great way to relax and recharge. This can be particularly beneficial for work teams, as it can help to improve mental health and prevent burnout.

All in all - escape rooms are a fun and immersive activity that can have significant benefits for team building and personal development. They encourage teamwork and communication, promote creative thinking, improve leadership skills, bond individuals, and provide a fun and stress-relieving activity. If you are looking for a unique and engaging team building activity, an escape room may be the perfect fit. We’ve seen sports team including the Chicago Bears, Northwestern Wildcats, and many other visiting programs leverage this with new and veteran players so come join in on the fun!

Lock Chicago & Roamli's Evanston Summer Scavenger Hunt!

Chicago summer’s are something special, and other than the 90-100+ degree days we know most people are outside enjoying the beaches and other outdoor recreational activities. So what better way to have some escape room-like outdoor fun than with our first Evanston Summer Scavenger Hunt?

We partnered with the company Roamli, which builds customizable Scavenger Hunts anywhere in the world that you can play on your phone or mobile device. So we decided to highlight some of the hidden gems and most unique sights around Evanston including murals, architectural gems, statues, and more!

Last Saturday we were lucky enough to have some cooler weather for the 2 hour event and our teams were off to the races! We had a total of 40 “Challenges” for teams to uncover and our 1st place team ended up finding 35/40 for our top spot and grand prize! 2nd and 3rd place were close behind with over 30+ each of their own.

The most enjoyable part of hosting these events is seeing teams spot each other around the city. There’s no set starting point so even in a town as large as Evanston it’s great to see groups out and about exploring their neighborhoods.

If you’re looking for more unique outdoor team building experiences look no further!

Lock Chicago Room Updates & New Puzzles

We’re excited to announce we’ve updated our escape rooms with new puzzles and theming! It’s been nearly two years since we’ve moved from our previous 820 Davis location and we’ve been gradually making changes to our rooms in order to create the best possible experience for you all. We recently hired a theater design student from Northwestern to help us take the themes to the next level and we’re excited to share it with the community.

The most important thing for us is that kept the same level of challenge difficulty and room completion rate while adding new thematic decorations to enhance the experience. Matsuri is currently at a 48% success rate, Icarus is 52%, and Malfunction is 39%. We hope you all get a chance to experience our updated rooms and look forward to any feedback!

Happy Halloween!

Hey Again!

We know it’s been a while so we figured Halloween would be a great time to get another post going. We’ve seen some great costumes from escape room guests over the past week and will be holding our annual “Best Dressed” contest this season. Whoever has the best costume will be rewarded with a free 10-person Private Escape Room experience to any of our rooms! Details are sent out in the confirmation email when reserving but please feel free to also reach out with any questions.

We’re also excited about the upcoming holiday season. We’re running a 10% corporate/group special for the months of December and January. Just give us a call at 312-646-0051 or email us at info@lockedchicago.com and we’ll help your group celebrate some stellar wins in 2018!

Until next time - we hope to see you soon!

Thanks,

Lock Chicago Escape Rooms

Brand New Virtual Reality Arcade at Lock Chicago

Hello!

We missed you all and figured it was time to catch up since the last post back in September when we opened our 3rd escape room, "Matsuri". We're excited to announce that since then we've recently opened our state of the art Virtual Reality Arcade at Lock Chicago in Evanston. 

Equipped with 2 HTC Vive headsets and a spacious play area, guests can compete in head to head challenges or fight cooperatively against hordes of robotic aliens or zombies! We have dozens of unique games and experiences including hits such as Beat Saber, Rick and Morty's VR Experience, Arizona Sunshine, and more.

Pricing is $20/person for the hour and you can bring up to 8 total guests. With multiple 50'' flat screen televisions see what they see and immerse yourselves in the experience. Come check us out and see what all the hype is about! 

Cheers,

Brian, Bane, and Alex - Lock Chicago

Escape Room #3 - "Matsuri" Opening October 14th!

Hello Again!

It's been a busy couple months but we're excited to finally announce the arrival of our 3rd Escape Room, "Matsuri"!

The village of Matsuri is on the verge of peace. The rival gangs that run the village have decided to end their decades-long-conflict by celebrating with a fireworks festival, and your company, Hanabi, will be providing the fireworks.

However, the grand finale has been stolen by the village thief and taken to their hideout! Luckily everyone knows where that is because that kind of goes with the gig when everyone knows you're the village thief. But without the grand finale, the rival gangs will accuse each other of sabotage and the warring will continue.

You'll have to use your brain and teamwork to solve the traps in the hideout of the thief and recover the fireworks. The village of Matsuri depends on you!

Matsuri opens on October 14th but we will be doing testing throughout October prior to the official release. For those of you who have been in contact with us over the past few months we'll be reaching out and sending you your invitation soon but if you're interested send us an email at info@lockedchicago.com and we'll see if we have any slots available! 

Happy Escaping!

Lock Chicago

Lock Chicago and the Escape Room Festival Season!

Hello Again!

Today we're going to talk about Escape Rooms and the unique opportunity they bring to different street festivals, concerts, and outdoor events throughout the community and city. While escape rooms initially started out as designs built specifically for in-house locations the industry and experience has grown so much beyond that point. Larger companies and brands such as Zelda, Resident Evil, Ford, and more are crafting unique mobile experiences that they can take from city to city that not only promote an upcoming event but drive awareness for the unique experiences of an escape room.

Us at Lock Chicago are no different as we initially began our foray into mobile games with our partnership with Northwestern University's "Dillo Day" student-run music festival. We set up a 30 minute mobile escape room on the festival grounds back in 2016 and we look to ramp that up even further in 2017. 

The nice thing about being able to create an experience on the go is that you can take it virtually anywhere. As Spring and Summer inches closer keep an eye out for all the local community festivals in the area. Evanston has an abundant amount in their downtown area which makes a perfect opportunity for you to contribute and drive awareness of your own escape rooms brand in a fun and innovative way.

Just make sure you're prepared for any weather situation as that can put a damper on the outdoor escape room experience as well as durable props (us at Lock Chicago learned that the hard way).

In any case best of luck as we get through this seemingly mild winter and onwards towards warmer weather!

Cheers,

Lock Chicago

Now Hiring Escape Room Game Masters/Operations Manager at Lock Chicago!

Game Master 
Lock Chicago Escape Games – Evanston, IL 60610 
$10 an hour - Part-time

Do you want the coolest job you've ever had? We are currently looking to add multiple part-time team members to our Lock Chicago team at Lock Chicago - Escape Games.

We are a rapidly growing, team-building, design consulting and retail entertainment company. We are looking for someone with wide ranging talents to work in conjunction with our current Operations Manager and learn the business as we expand to our new location in the coming months.

The positions we are looking to fill will be titled "Game Master". To be considered please submit a resume with the subject of "Game Master Application" to info@lockedchicago.com.

Game Master:

  • This is a unique and one-of-a-kind job! You will educate our guests on how it all works. You will inform them of their objectives while in the room. You will work in a control room and coach the guests while on their journey to escape! You will be their guide when they stumble and offer them hints if needed. You will then prepare the Escape Room for the next group of guests.
  • You must be fun and enthusiastic as you are a big part of the whole guest experience from beginning to end.
  • Prior to applying to this position you must first familiarize yourself with the concept of Escape Rooms and the worldwide phenomenon that is spreading fast across the US. Escape Rooms stimulate the mind, your sense of curiosity and your ability to work with others in an effort to escape.
  • Please visit our website at www.lockedchicago.com to learn more.
  • If on one hand you like video games, playing chess, and solving puzzles/riddles, while on the other hand you like designing, building and/or fixing things, you have found the perfect job!

This job requires you to be:

  • Remotely view and monitor games in progress and assist participants
  • Customer Service focused
  • Professional, polished and well-spoken
  • Hands-on and handy with tools and gadgets
  • Game or puzzle-minded
  • Creative thinker
  • Flexible with regards to work schedule

This job requires the following experience:

  • Retail, amusement or hospitality experience.
  • Comfortable engaging with both small and large groups of people.
  • Public Speaking experiences a plus!
  • We'll teach you the rest!

Lock Chicago Data and Escape Room Statistics

Escape Rooms have been around for over a decade across the world but within the past 3 years have recently begun to gain mainstream popularity across the United States. But are they just a fad or will they follow the same path as Laser Tag or other similar games? We spoke with guests and other escape rooms to pull together some interesting key data pieces about the state of the industry in the United States. Special thanks to King's Escape Room for information from their infographic! 

  • From a survey of 1,000 33.9% of respondents said they had never heard of an Escape Room before!
  • 100% of respondents ages 18-24 loved their Escape Room experience.
  • 50/50 there was no correlation between male/female on opinions of escape rooms.
  • 84.9% of those who had visited an Escape Room in the past year "loved" their experience.
  • There are over 2,300 escape rooms in the United States compared to 2,200 in Russia where the industry has been thriving.

There is no doubt that this industry will continue to grow at a staggering rate but all things must eventually slow down especially as others look to play in the same space and join the market. It is up to the customer to decide on what makes the most special experience and escape rooms to keep up and continue to provide that experience. 

If you haven't tried an escape room yet what are you waiting for?? 

Cheers,

Lock Chicago

Escape Room Gift Cards and Lock Chicago Donations

Hello Again! 

We're only 4 days away from Christmas and hopefully if you're reading this you've gotten most of your holiday shopping done. Lucky for you Escape Rooms offer a great gifting opportunity for family and friends who are looking to take on new experiences!

Gift cards are also a great way to contribute to the community and your favorite charities. Whether it's a silent auction, raffle, or giveaway it's a great way to contribute to a relate able cause and introduce people to escape rooms.

What are some of your favorite Christmas gifts you've given or received? What could be better than spending time with family trying to uncover buried treasure or escape a zombie?

We hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season and finds everything they are looking for!

Cheers,

Lock Chicago

Christmas is Coming to Lock Chicago!

Hello All,

We hope everyone had a Happy Halloween and now that election mania has passed we can focus on the brighter things such as Holiday Parties and the Thanksgiving/Christmas season!

Escape Rooms provide the unique opportunity to be tailored in a wide variety of ways. Many rooms change themes based on the season, holiday, and more with Halloween and Christmas being the focal point of this. Generally escape rooms tend to be busier during the winter months as the weather gets colder and people look for more indoor recreational activities when there is a foot of snow on the ground (at least here in Chicago).

Themed rooms provide a unique experience and us at Lock Chicago are happy to provide that to our customers. Many escape rooms will open a completely new themed room for the holidays where others might opt to adjust the existing theme to make it more festive.

Corporate Christmas/holiday parties are a large factor in this as well as companies look to venture outside the box for their get togethers. What better way to celebrate a successful year than pounding back some egg nog and saving Santa's reindeer?

If anyone's come across a stellar holiday-themed escape room feel free to sound off in the comments or send us a message! As always we love hearing from you and can't wait to get our snow on this season.

Cheers,

Brian, Bane, and Alex - Lock Chicago

Escape Rooms: Where Are They? (Not Just Lock Chicago!)

Hello Again!

We wanted to follow up our last post to highlight a growing trend in the Escape Room Industry. When we began in Evanston back in January we were 1 of 15 companies in Illinois operating some form of an escape room. Just under 10 months later we are now 1 of 40 companies.

Escape Rooms are growing at an extremely rapid rate which is great for the industry as it continues to spread the word and increase exposure for this exciting and fun activity. More mainstream outlets are getting on board as well as we see hit television shows such as "The Big Bang Theory" and more highlighting Escape Rooms on their broadcast.

Disney recently announced a new "Guardians of the Galaxy" themed Escape Room in their park. The success of rooms throughout the country will undoubtedly spur an increase for larger outlets to capitalize on the success. 

To us at Lock Chicago this is great news because it continues to challenge us and other Escape Rooms to create the best possible experience for the most important person, our guests. If you're looking for nearby escape rooms feel free to visit the popular website: http://escaperoomdirectory.com/ which has a large index of rooms across the world!

Until next time take care and happy escaping!

Cheers,

Brian, Bane, and Alex

Lock Chicago and Partnering with Local Escape Rooms

Hello again! It's been a while since we last posted but don't think we took the summer off - today's feature is regarding connecting and partnering with other Escape Rooms in your area. Last night we met with a dozen other escape room owners in the Chicagoland area at another location (thanks to DOA for hosting)!

In an industry that's growing faster every day it's important to understand the dynamics at play and what's working across the business. The worse thing that can happen to the industry is poor quality escape rooms opening and turning potential customers off to the whole idea. This is why escape rooms must continually help and push each other to create the ultimate live experience for their guests.

We are currently working on forming a Chicago Escape Room Association which will give us leverage when working with as many partners as we do. All escape rooms need the same things, insurance, building materials, building space, and if you can work together as a team to reach these common goals you have a lot more power than if you stood alone.

While it can be challenging to unify those in the industry with as many new rooms appearing across the United States and International community, the nice thing is everyone understands what one another has to go through within their own escape rooms and by sharing ideas and fostering a helpful community it will only continue to further grow the business.

That being said please feel free to reach out to us at Lock Chicago if we can provide any advice, tips, or just conversation regarding anything Escape Rooms!

Cheers,

Brian, Bane, and Alex