Escape rooms have become increasingly popular as a unique, engaging, and creative form of entertainment. Beyond the traditional locked-room puzzle format, escape room designers are constantly pushing boundaries with innovative and creative escape room themes.
Luckily for escape room enthusiasts, many centers are prepared to think outside the box, giving you and your fellow escapees the chance to immerse yourself in dozens of different scenarios. Go beyond common escape room themes with these creative options for a memorable and thrilling escape room experience.
Creative horror-themed escape rooms are some of the best as they provide the ultimate spine-tingling experience. Our escape rooms include several blood-curdling escape room experiences from encountering evil spirits to visiting a torture chamber from the Middle Ages.
Be prepared to face your biggest fears, experience breathtaking suspense, and be overwhelmed by a sense of impending doom.
Our horror-themed escape rooms are best suited for adult groups. Keep your wits about you in our Hannibal Lecter-inspired story Cannibal’s Den (available in Hollywood, LA, and Plano, TX), in which you will escape the lunatic’s lair and make your bid for freedom.
Other creative horror-themed escape rooms and scenarios include:
If you're looking for an adrenaline rush, terrifying escape rooms may be just up your street. Expect jump scares, an intense and dark atmosphere, eerie sounds, and chilling props. These escape rooms are not for the faint-hearted!
If you’re not into high-tension situations, get easily anxious, or don’t like unexpected surprises, fun escape rooms are a good escape room theme for you. Comedy escape rooms offer a more lighthearted alternative to typical adrenaline-pumping escape rooms but offer an experience that’s every bit as memorable.
Some creative comedy escape room scenarios include:
Adults who love both fantasy and humor will love Malediction (available in Koreatown, LA, and Plano, TX). Ask for the mature R-rated version of the game if you want to add some spice to the experience and don’t mind getting roasted.
A pirate-themed escape room like Pirates: Wanted! at our Hollywood location offers a swashbuckling adventure on the high seas. Step into the world of pirates, treasure maps, and hidden secrets as you work together to solve puzzles and escape before time runs out.
Look out for these adventures to shiver the timbers of every budding Jack Sparrow:
Family-friendly escape rooms offer a fun and engaging activity that can be enjoyed by people of all ages. These rooms are designed with children and families in mind, featuring puzzles and challenges that are appropriate and enjoyable for younger audiences.
We love the family favorite Kablam in Redondo Beach, a game where candy-making meets villainous deeds in sweet-flavored fun for all the family.
Other creative family-friendly escape room scenarios include the following:
Creative historical escape rooms offer a unique and immersive experience that transports players back to a specific time period. These rooms are designed to educate and entertain, combining the excitement of an escape room with the intrigue of history.
Historical scenarios can be an awesome escape room game for children and teenagers to get engaged with history and even learn something along the way. History buffs will also relish the chance to experience a different time period and feel like they’re part of the story.
Travel back in time with these creative historical scenarios:
If you're a history buff or simply looking for a unique and educational experience, a creative historical escape room is a great choice.
Murder mystery escape rooms offer a unique and engaging experience that combines the excitement of an escape room with the intrigue of a detective novel. In these rooms, players are tasked with solving a murder case by investigating the crime scene, interviewing suspects, and piecing together clues to identify the killer.
The best murder mystery escape rooms include an intricate storyline that’s carefully crafted with twists, turns, and red herrings to keep players engaged. Murder mysteries are also highly interactive, with character interactions at the forefront of the game. Players may need to interview suspects, gather evidence, and analyze their behavior to identify the killer.
Popular murder mystery scenarios include:
Victorian mansion: Solve a murder in a grand Victorian estate, complete with hidden rooms and secret passages. Private detective agency: Investigate a mysterious client's disappearance or a series of unsolved crimes. Mafia-style crime scene: Uncover the secrets of a mobster's death and bring the killer to justice. Historical setting: Solve a murder set in a specific time period, such as the Roaring Twenties or the Victorian era. Agatha Christie-inspired challenges: Step into Hercule Poirot’s shoes as you walk the corridors of the Orient Express and play other detective games to solve the whodunit.
Work Together to Catch the Killer A murder mystery escape room lends itself perfectly to friendship groups as well as work team-building exercises. A 2017 systematic review of research into the effectiveness of teamwork training revealed that teamwork interventions had a significant, medium-to-large impact on teamwork.
Working together on an escape room puzzle is a great choice for a team-building event as it unites the team by giving them a shared objective. Taking your team outside of the office will also allow your team to see each other in a different light, strengthen bonds, and create long-lasting memories of great times spent together.
Would-be fugitives looking to recreate the thrill of the escape from Alcatraz will find an exciting challenge in a prison break escape room. These rooms are designed to simulate prison breaks, with players tasked with overcoming obstacles, cracking codes, and finding a way to break free before time runs out.
The room is often designed to look like a real prison cell or a prison yard. Players must solve a variety of puzzles, including lockpicking, combination codes, hidden compartments, and even physical challenges like climbing walls or crawling through tight spaces. Just like a real breakout, players are given a limited time to escape, adding to the excitement and tension that the most famous escapees have faced.
Check out these creative prison escape room challenges:
Escaping the cell: Unlock the cell door and find a way to bypass security systems. Overcoming guards: Avoid detection from guards or security cameras as you make your way toward the light. Finding a way out: Locate a hidden exit or tunnel to escape the prison, avoid the crooked guards, and disappear into the sunset. Gathering supplies: Collect tools and equipment that will aid in the escape.
Our take on the prison escape scenario, Heretics at our Koreatown location, is a thrilling mix of 15th-century horror and a classic prison break. Unjustly thrown into a cell for witchcraft, your challenge is to escape the dungeon before the horrifying Bloody Elbow returns to pick you apart bone by bone.
Imagine yourself trapped in a top-secret military facility, surrounded by intricate puzzles and challenges. A military-themed escape room offers a thrilling and immersive experience that puts your problem-solving skills to the test. The military escape room theme offers great scope to immerse yourself in everything military, release your inner G.I. Joe, and play out your battlefield or espionage dreams.
Popular escape room situations include:
Cold War: Solve puzzles related to spies, nuclear weapons, and international relations. Special forces: Complete missions as elite soldiers, navigating obstacles and overcoming challenges. Military intelligence: Decipher classified documents and uncover hidden secrets.
Fancy trying your hand at escaping military scientists and their demonic experiments? Project Minotaur at our Hollywood location is our most epic challenge yet, pushing escapees to their limits as they flee becoming the latest test subjects and encounter the project’s terrifying namesake.
The escape room industry is booming and there are now many popular escape room themes and scenarios to enjoy. From historical adventures to futuristic dystopias, there's an escape room experience for everyone. There is also a wide range of escape room objectives to keep things interesting and challenge your wits in different ways.
The creativity and innovation behind the themes we’ve described here ensure that each visit is a unique and unforgettable experience. Gather friends, family, or colleagues and make long-lasting memories in one of these creative escape rooms.
Ivan is an expert in escape room design and development for almost a decade. He and his team have developed dozens of 5-star escape rooms across multiple genres in the United States, focusing on amazing live experience and unforgettable storytelling.
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