Race to Escape

It all started online. The first few staged escape room games spreaded on the internet as wildfire in the early 2000s. Who would ever think that time that, within a decade, real life exit games will be such popular entertaiments worldwide? In the summer of 2015 American TV network Science Channel started their own reality competition series called Race to Escape.

The game where two teams battle each other and the clock is hosted by comedian Jimmy Pardo. The plot is simple: team Red and Blue get locked in two totally identical themed-rooms. They have 60 minutes to find all the five 4-digit code to unlock the door’s vaults. The first team who escapes obviously wins the game.

It is pure fun itself, but to increase pressure, there is a nice amount of money to win. The team which gets out of the room earlier can win the money prize up to $25,000. If they find out all the solutions in 20 minutes they can share the whole amount. But if they cannot escape in 20 minutes, they lose $5,000 in every 5 minutes. As a hint they are allowed to use the code-braker but it costs $5,000 each.

It’s pure fun to watch others trying to exit. Jimmy Pardo, the narrator and game master, helps them with funny and ironic comments as well. During each gameplay we as viewers can see which clue is next and what the teams should do to escape.

In the first season Science Channel aired 6 episodes in the first season. Different teams, different rooms – study, chinese restaurant, bar, school, garage, barbershop. The series got 19% more viewers than average, so let’s hope the success will bring in more seasons of the exiting show.

You can watch the show’s two producers guiding through the set and making of the series in this video:

Are you looking for more curiosities? Check out our article about real life escape room facts all around the world.