Escape-room cafés, popular recreational spaces among younger generations, are drawing attention for also being used as experiential learning spaces for elementary, middle and high school students.
Through mystery-based escape rooms, students can develop observation skills, logical thinking and collaboration. The venues have evolved into local experiential content where classmates, club members and friends work together to solve problems.
One venue attracting attention is the Sherlock Holmes Ansan branch, which recently opened in Ansan-si, Gyeonggi Province. Sherlock Holmes is one of South Korea's leading escape-room brands and was developed by Unreal Company, an IT company specializing in experiential content. After operating escape-room content for about 10 years, Sherlock Holmes now offers themes in various genres at approximately 40 locations nationwide.
Amid this trend, the Ansan branch, which opened last month, is reportedly expanding its role as a space that helps improve students' learning abilities. Participants observe clues, exchange ideas and search for answers within a limited time, gaining both the enjoyment of deduction and experience working as a team.
An escape room is not a format in which participants are simply given the correct answer. Instead, it is an interactive experience in which they examine information and devices placed throughout the space and connect multiple clues to reach a conclusion. Team members may spot clues that one person would overlook, and the process of reconciling different interpretations naturally encourages communication and the division of roles as the group moves to the next stage.
The process experienced during the educational activity can be organized into a systematic four-stage program: ▶ Stage 1 (Observation): Look for small changes in objects and signs in the space, as well as colors and numbers. ▶ Stage 2 (Deduction): Connect scattered clues and systematically test possible answers. ▶ Stage 3 (Collaboration): Share discovered information and coordinate roles and the order of tasks within the team. ▶ Stage 4 (Time Management): Set priorities among the problems and stay focused within the limited time.
For elementary school students, the experience centers on carefully observing their surroundings and explaining their thoughts to their peers. Middle and high school students can develop logical thinking, time-management skills and situational judgment as they prioritize clues, formulate hypotheses and verify the results.
In particular, many escape rooms are designed so that participants cannot progress unless they share information discovered by each team member, rather than having one person solve every problem. Participants from a class, club or group of friends divide responsibilities such as observation, note-taking and checking devices, switching roles when necessary to achieve a common goal. After the experience, they can also naturally reflect on the activity by reviewing missed clues and effective communication methods.
The Sherlock Holmes Ansan branch has excluded thrill- and horror-focused content and instead consists of pure problem-solving themes, allowing children and teenagers to use the venue with confidence. The branch is said to feature so-called cognitive-development themes designed around collaboration, in which groups can solve problems more quickly by working together.
The venue has consequently received an explosive response from users, a trend reflected in the numbers. Just one month after opening, it ranked first in visitor reviews on the NAVER portal, with a rating of 4.99. The review-evaluation responses also showed high satisfaction with its distinctive themes, with "The problems are fresh," "The story is well developed," and "There are many fun themes" ranking first through third, respectively.
Unreal Company explained, "The branch has not been open for long. It is only at the stage of surpassing 400 reviews, yet a rating of 4.99 is an unusual phenomenon we have never seen nationwide."
A representative of the Sherlock Holmes Ansan branch said, "The greatest advantage of an escape room is that students observe and deduce while becoming fully immersed in the experience, then work out their ideas together." The representative added, "We will continue operating the branch so students in the Ansan-si area can enjoy a unique team activity with their friends without having to travel far."
Reporter Choi Man-sik cms@sportschosun.com
This article has been translated by GripLabs Mingo AI.
