Setting up an Escape Room

AIM spoke to Ameeta Lodhia, Business Development Manager, Museum of the Order of St John to uncover how the team set up an Escape Room, opening up new markets in their Clerkenwell neighbourhood.

Someone has been leaking parliamentary debates to The Gentleman’s Magazine, a treasonable offence! Come and solve this 280-year-old crime in the very room that it occurred . . .

The Museum of the Order of St John opened up its Council Chamber as an Escape Room in April this year, revisiting the room’s historic use as the editorial hub of The Gentleman’s Magazine, one of the most widely read publications in Georgian London. Players have 60 minutes while the ‘editors are out to lunch’ to snoop around and figure out who has been causing international uproar by leaking parliamentary reports. By using their powers of deduction and lateral thinking, can they solve the mystery?

An Escape Room – sometimes called a Puzzle Room, a Crystal Maze, or an Exit Game – is a game in which a team of players are ‘locked’ in a room, working together to solve puzzles and uncover clues that lead to a final answer to win the game, and escape the room, all within 60 minutes.

“We are focussed on growing and diversifying our public programme and encouraging new audiences to come in and engage with our spaces,” explains Ameeta Lodhia, Business Development Manager.

“Clerkenwell is the design hub of London, so many young working professionals are returning to the area now that offices are open. We’re keen to engage more with people who walk under our Gateway constantly yet have never stepped foot within the building.”

As with many recent initiatives across the sector, Covid disrupted the original plans, Ameeta explains; “We began planning this pre-Covid so it was held up for almost two years whilst we figured out if we could afford to run it again. We looked at the investment we had made and weighed that against the opportunity to re-launch our public programmes, working in tandem with our Audience Development Plan to get new people into the museum.”

The team set themselves clear goals: increase museum revenue; maximise the use of spaces in a low impact manner that respects the integrity of the building; increase and diversify audiences; and raise the profile of the museum. So now it is up and running, how is it going?

“We have had much more interest now than when we first launched; offering it out to local partners with a discount has meant that we have had a range of team ‘Away Days’ here. We’ve also learned how easily parts from the room need replacing through constant handling and use. And having multiple members of the team trained to facilitate this is something I would do again. I think having a range of offers within our public programme is useful. For our team, it’s about not just appealing to a particular type of person.”

Whilst the pandemic interruption was the key challenge, now the room is open, the team have one key suggestion to share with those thinking about a similar initiative. “Do your research to see how these types of ventures run in your area; overall it’s a great way to use a room differently and to engage staff.”

Click here to visit The Museum of the Order of St John website>>