Challenge rooms are a new concept. Instead of the traditional solved-and-done aspect of an escape room, challenge rooms are not really an “escape game”. In many challenge rooms, the challenge is perfectly clear but still requires skills and training to manage and will trigger guests to return (like bowling, go-kart, and laser tag). Also, all rooms or cells, with riddles or brain puzzles are constructed to give the guest a new challenge each time as the clues and skill patterns are randomized.
Effectively challenge rooms are designed to be played again and again. Each time the guest can improve their score (If they get better!) A challenge facility should consist of at least 20 cells, taking up over 300m2. Zone has a well-established partner in this business; Prison Island. Prison Island has more than 15 years of operation under their belt and over 40 centres worldwide.
From research and experience, we know that guests come back regularly for repeat play which assures us that each room is challenging and maintains its appeal despite previous entrances. Generally, guests will spend 1-2 hours within this space, so challenge rooms significantly improve the catchment pull of your facility!
Challenge rooms are highly automated and so have a very low staff cost. Each individual room has a play-time of just a couple of minutes, however, most guests will retry each room a number of times on each visit. This means, even with a long time spent at the attraction, many guests won’t try all of the rooms on their first visit.
In terms of capacity, with 20 rooms, you can accommodate 16 teams of 4 at the same time, or 80% capacity. The through-put of the attractions is high for the space required.