From The ERA Team: Time Changes Everything!

Over the past three years, the ERA team has grown from a small local group of four enthusiasts to a North American wide organization with teams in Toronto, Los Angeles, New York City, Kansas City… and even more to come! With the unexpected growth of the industry and passing length of time we sometimes receive comments like: “We love following your site because the reviews are exactly the same as our own experiences, but why do your older reviews on the site seem to have higher scores than they should?”

This is a great question! Our reviews certainly have, and will continue to slowly change over time. To explain why this is happening, we need to give a quick historical recap of escape rooms in North America…

Three years ago there were no more than 30-40 escape room companies scattered across all of North America. During those times, an enthusiast was easily identified as anyone willing to drive more than three hours to experience a new company (unless you were fortunate enough to live in a cluster area of companies like Southern California or Southern Ontario). All you needed to make a good escape room experience was a decent sized space, a few puzzles, a 30-second backstory that fit the room’s theme, a nicely decorated set, and a friendly owner/game master. IF a company had all of those elements, they were among the industry leaders.

Fast forward to the present where North America now has thousands of escape rooms that utilize high production set designs, professional story writers, professional room designers, high tech inventions, multi-level, multi-room, multi-optional in game experiences, etc, etc, etc! The more you see, the more you realize how quickly this industry is changing! What was the ‘norm’ three years ago is now considered ‘old’ and no longer as entertaining as it once was. Enthusiasts shun linear rooms that lead you from one locked desk, cabinet, or box to the next desk, cabinet, or box. Adding further to the change is the development of an escape room community where people can instantly discuss and compare rooms in their home city to other escape rooms across Canada and the USA thanks to reviewers like the Esc Room Addict Team. Escape room tourism is even a thing now! The ‘norm’ has shifted and continues to include newer, bigger, and more spectacular ways of presenting an escape room experience.

We strive to have our reviews reflect these same changes. For this reason we always indicate the date on our reviews and encourage people to make sure that they’re not comparing reviews from several years ago to a more recent review (even within the same company). An average score on our website from three years ago would be lower if it was compared to an average score three weeks ago. These are exciting times of growth and change for the Esc Room Addict team, and for those companies who are maturing with the industry…

Thank you for your continued support and don’t forget to spread the good word about EscRoomAddict.com everywhere you go… the more followers and support we have, the more we can offer! Happy escaping!