In this study day participants get the unique experience of building and playing their own escape rooms. In groups they will respond to themes and stories in real heritage sites and then using escape room props, equipment and tools, will devise their own pop-up escape rooms. Playing the roles of designer and player they will get a real sense for what makes a successful immersive experience.

You will benefit from an in-depth walk-through of the entire process of designing, developing and delivering an immersive playable experience and discover how you don’t need ludicrous budgets to create a memorable experience in your museum that will get your heart racing.

You will learn how to turn themes and collection stories into puzzles, how to create an exciting narrative that has historical integrity and how to structure a game so it is sustainable. But the main goal of this session is to get participants to think outside the box… by literally breaking out of the box!

Workshop leader Sacha Coward will use his skills and experience of working in the weird world between escape room designer and museum professional to offer you hands-on tips on how museums (of almost any scale and theme) can create fun, frightening, thrilling and meaningful experiences. This is a brilliant opportunity to learn how to introduce gaming into museum engagement and have a LOT of fun whilst you’re at it!