Getting back in the game - Chicagoland survey of previous Escape Room Players - Vincent Rubino & Jayson Mamaclay May 28, 2020 - Room Escape Artist

Getting back in the game
Chicagoland survey of previous Escape Room Players

Vincent Rubino & Jayson Mamaclay May 28, 2020

Key takeaways
tl;dr;

• Safety is the top priority
• Guests' requirement are high for sanitization, and most will do their part
• Provided Escape Rooms clean & sanitize, they are much safer than most
  activities and compare reasonably even via essentials

• Guests, however, are not coming back immediately
• Live video escape rooms have a market. Pricing looks to be $20/person

Survey methodology

• Previous guests to various escape rooms were surveyed on questions inspired
  by the New Mexico survey of Carie Guido (Thanks Carie!)

• Surveying escape rooms include: Fox in a Box - Chicago, Fuzzy Logic, Escape
  Artistry, Escape Factor, Clued In Escape Rooms, Challenge Accepted,
  Adventures of Time & Space. More than 50k surveys were emailed.

• 584 responses came in giving us a +/- 4% confidence range
• Data came in from 5/15 - 5/22/2020 and has been deduplicated
• Most answers that made this result list were prompted, however, significant
  writeins are noted.

What's critical to return?
Safety!

• Health & Safety is currently the
  top priority at 80%

• Getting back to Normal slightly
  beats out Money or Cost for
  deciding to play

Escape Room Safety
What Owners can do?

• Sanitize & Provide sanitizer
• Staff wear masks
• Allow only Private rooms
• Require masks of guests - 62%
• Allow only one group per lobby
• Offer Cancelation insurance
• Minor options include: Provide gloves to customers, take
  all guests' temperatures, screen guests for symptoms

• 9% say normal cleaning is fine
• 2% say there is nothing EscRooms can do to make me
  feel safe

• A substantial number of guests wrote in that ventilation &
  clean air is a significant concern

Escape Room Safety
What will guests do?

• Wash Hands & Sanitize Hands
• Wear a mask - 75%
• Wear gloves - 50%
• Take their temperature before
  coming - 41%

• A few guests (

When should Escape Rooms
open?

Unlikely to be a clear answer

However, there are some industries that we asked our previous guests
to compare :
perception of safety against
assuming all industries are following CDC guidelines

Safety breakout
Assuming following CDC precautions
v. Dining or Shopping

• Assuming extra CDC precautions
   for all

• Escape Rooms are substantially
   safer than Bars & shopping at a
   shopping mall

• Escape Rooms are similar to
   safety in sit down restaurants,
   non-essential shopping and even
   essential shopping

Safety breakout
Assuming following CDC precautions
v. other activities

• Escape Rooms are substantially
   safer than:

   • Live indoor concerts, pro
      sporting events, live theater,
      going to a gym or pool, outdoor
      theme/water parks/concerts
      AND Movie theaters

• Escape rooms are similar to live
   indoor physical activities such as
   bowling, axe throwing or whirly
   ball

Safety breakout
Assuming following CDC precautions
v. forms of travel

• Escape Rooms are substantially
   safer than Public transportation
   and airline travel

• Escape rooms are similar to
   Uber/Lyft and Valet Parking

So, are customers coming back?

Are guests coming back?
Assuming following CDC precautions

• Yes! 78% rate 3+
• On a scale of 1-5 "How likely are
  you to play Escape Rooms
  assuming CDC precautions?"

• 1 is "Unlikely unless a vaccine or
  treatment"

• 5 is "Open to playing with
  thorough sanitation practices"

WHEN?
Assuming following CDC precautions

• Eh....
• Rating on 0-5, 9% are a 5
• However, 0-2's nearly double the 4's &
  5's AND

• 9% will not come back until there is a
  vaccine or quick treatment regardless
  of level of cleaning

• 0 is "I am unlikely to do so unless there
  is a vaccine/treatment"

• 5 is "I intend to book immediately"

Why?
What makes them want to return?

• Support local business
• Miss playing them
• Need to get out of the house
• Family Activity

Affect of Covid-19
How was your recreational budget affected?

• Most recreational budgets were
  neutral or negative

• However, 9% of recreational
  budgets are somewhat improved

• 1 is "Very negatively - no budget
  for recreational"

• 5 is "Recreational budget has
  actually improved"

Pricing on return
What are your thoughts on pricing?

• Pricing should largely stay the
  same

• 11% however are willing to pay
  more

• 13% will only play if prices are
  discounted

Alternatives?
What else are Escape Room players interested in?

• Buying boxed escape room games delivered
  to my home - 66%

• Buying a created/branded EscRoom game -
  57%

• Playing a Live Video Escape room - 51%
• Gift Certificates - 44%
• Minor options include:
   • buying access to website based point &
     click, buying an escape room mobile app or
     video game, buying a PDF or book,
     ordering merchandise

• 8% say there are no alternatives

Live Video Escape Rooms?
What do you think of directing a live person in an escape
room?

• 49% are interested
• 13% would prefer virtual to
   going to a room!

• 29% are not willing to try

• How much would you pay? $20/
   person was median unprompted
   answer

Questions?
Ask Vincent Rubino or Jayson Mamaclay on Facebook

Appendix

Respondent breakout
Where are you from and/or work?

• City of Chicago - 27%
• Suburbs - 52%
• Outside of Chicagoland - 21%

How serious of an Esc Room Fan?
How many Esc Room companies have you used and can name?

• Median - 1 (of course)
• Average - 2.95

Thank you!
The following sent surveys to all of their previous guests

• Maren Rosenberg of Escape Artistry
• Jonathan Biag and Dexter Cura of Escape Factor
• Andrew Sandage of Fuzzy Logic
• Brian Sommer of CluedIn Escape Rooms
• Matt Hanson of Challenge Accepted
• Chris Lukeman of Adventures in Time & Space
And special thank you to
• Carrie Guido of NM Escape Room for letting us use her survey as a base!

Authors

• Vincent Rubino of Fox in a Box - Chicago
• Jayson Mamaclay of Fuzzy Logic