Well, Captivating Worlds offers Immersive Adventures. The idea is to immerse participants in a storyline that quickens the pulse and evokes industry as well as it does emotion. Fundamentally – it is designed to entertain. There are a wide range of reasons to book an adventure with us, everything from celebrating a particular date, having a cool date night, engaging in special family and neighbor time, and of course, for polishing your teamwork skills. Does Captivating Worlds offer Escape Rooms? Honestly . . . yes and no. No, our experiences don’t require you to “escape”, nor do they in any way resemble most of the “escape room” experiences that started cropping up a few years back. But it is true that our offerings are part of the Escape Room industry. We are part of that wave, but we’re different in our approach. We emphasize storytelling through immersive environments and effects, opting for a heavier dose of entertainment to make you feel like you are actually experiencing something that you may have only seen in the movies. And the appeal of our offerings? We would like to think that anyone can participate in our adventures, and further, would want to.
But let me talk a bit about the roots of the industry. There are some surprising facts. Escape Rooms are staged games for small groups that usually run about hour in duration. They are rooted in the “Experience Economy,” a term coined by the founders of the Strategic Horizons consultancy back in the late 1990’s. We all know that millennials epitomize this trend; they value products that are “memorable”, products that are experienced. It’s not a bad thing. However, there are a lot of people who offer products that do this badly. Escape Rooms are in the market of providing memorable experiences, and most would agree, it has stumbled more than it’s hit any stride. It’s definitely something new and exciting, but the promise has fallen short.
After the first escape room opened its doors in Japan in 2007, it took until 2013 before it hit the shores of the United States in Washington state. Fashioned, in part, on exploratory computer games, escape rooms were designed to bring that virtual exploration to the physical world with tangible clues, tactile objects and friends and family. Teamwork and a race against time closed the deal and escape rooms have garnered millions of fans. The trick for us is to take that foundation and move it to the next level. So that’s where Captivating Worlds comes from. It comes from an industry with a most unfortunate name, the Escape Room industry. However, it’s destiny is to provide you with a chance to experience something new, different and awesome. We can’t wait to thrill you with our Immersive Adventures.
Footnotes: “Welcome to the Experience Economy” July-Aug 1998, by B. Joseph Pine II and James H. Gilmore, Harvard Business Review “How to Make Money in Trendy Businesses And Survive When the Trend Ends”, Dec 5, 2016, Ashlea Halpern, Entrepreneur