All the features of opening a quest room from scratch: is it profitable, how much does it cost, recruitment, choice of location, profitability and other pitfalls of the quest business.

Live quests in real time are the same role-playing games, the venue for which can be a space limited by four walls and a roof, and free territories: city streets, wastelands, abandoned buildings on the outskirts. At the same time, if earlier neutral territories came to the fore, like those that we listed above, now you can open the quest room.

These projects are distinguished by high profitability and prospects for development. The main adherents of moving into the plots of computer games and films are not outcasts and outsiders, but young wealthy people aged 20-35 years. They are looking for non-standard entertainment and prefer active recreation and sports drive to clubs with bars.

Frequent visitors to secret rooms are corporate clients who are trying to rally the team within the framework of non-standard tasks and eliminate the discord between employees of the accounting department and the production department. It is most promising to open a new project in the regions. Here, we have already heard about this novelty in the event environment, but there is no competition yet. That guarantees a record short payback period - 3-6 months. Find out more about the escape room supplier. 

Niche Situation: How to Succeed in the Escape Room Business
Quests in reality

Reality games in the West have not surprised anyone since the 2000s. However, the youth of the event direction did not become an obstacle to its popularity.

Success in the business of quest games will be on the side of those who can deftly maneuver in the Internet space, find an audience and developers. On the side of the brave and decisive, there is an important advantage - the crisis has no power over the limits outside the real world. Since those who are forced to dodge reality are trying to escape from it to a place where gasoline prices do not rise, and the dollar against the ruble does not matter.

Market analysis of competitors
Today, the direction is becoming increasingly popular. According to the Guild of Quests, created to popularize the latter, at the end of 2015, 950 projects were opened in the Russian Federation, in which the players have the goal of getting out of the room, completing certain tasks, trying on the skin of a maniac from a movie or a brave knight, fighting evil.

More successful is the possibility of launching a project in a city with a population of at least 400 thousand inhabitants. It is in such centers that the main funds are concentrated. In an alternative reality, they positively take a break from life, sparing no money for leisure.

Before you join the race for ratings, study your competitors in the face. Perhaps in your city you will become a pioneer. However, the risk of colliding with rivals is great. It can be:

branches of large corporations that offer quest rooms for children and adults of various subjects and high quality services; the only method of struggle is distance (the farther you are, the better) and interesting advertising;
small organizations that do not pose a particular threat, as they have a small budget and offer a limited number of games.
A feature of game projects launched in reality is a kind of relationship between competitors. If in normal situations they openly compete, the effect of word of mouth works here. One firm thus unwittingly advertises others.

We determine the format of the quest: city, room, children's audience
The first stage of entering the market is the choice of the form of the game. So, about the possibilities in more detail.

Escape from
Escape the room quests are projects where players need to leave the room while solving auxiliary tasks along the way. The organization of such a game requires significant costs. Since the action takes place indoors, the latter must be suitably equipped and furnished. The plot of the game is built around intellectual competitions, the launch of an alternative reality, etc.

Quests in the city
Role-playing games with tasks distributed over a settlement look different (it doesn’t matter if you have a village in front of you with 20 residential buildings or a metropolis with 2 million people).

They are also joined by action-packed detective stories that involve solving mysteries, searching for criminals and getting rid of the massacre of innocent victims. The entourage of the action is abandoned buildings and elevator shafts, strange SMS messages with keys to secret codes, landfills and narrow streets.

Since it is at first glance easier to organize a quest around the city than an apartment building, we will also mention the risks of the enterprise. These include dependence on weather conditions and the possibility of losing reputation due to a single miscalculation. For example, the loss of one player at the facility threatens to churn over 50% of customers.

Children's quest rooms
Children's quest rooms are classified as family entertainment, as they can be passed both in the company of peers and with parents. The games are designed specifically for children, the minimum age for a participant is 6 years. For example, Harry Potter's Chamber of Secrets, Questroom's realistic adventure game, promises a myriad of mysteries and adventures that can bring a family or team members together.

For teenagers, there are other options. Let's say Arcanum by Quest Brothers, a simplified version of an adult game adapted for ages 10-14. And for the youngest gamers, adventures based on fairy tales are intended, with the huts of Baba Yaga and Koshchei, a guiding ball and a wolf that acts as a horse.

Quest in nature
Quests in nature differ from others in that they do not require the equipment of a special site. All you need is costumes and a fascinating plot, as in The Heir, developed by the Komnata company. Here you will need to compete for the title of successor to the head of the mafia. You can show your authority and pass all the tests only by gathering a gang, coming up with a name and a battle cry for it. The number of participants is 2–4.

Every outdoor quest is a risk. Therefore, pay special attention to safety precautions. Before the start of the game, its participants must sign in the log about the passage of the briefing. By this fact, they confirm that they themselves are responsible for injuries and other unpleasant situations.

Franchise
New franchise game offers appear on the market every month. The line includes DozoR and Encounter, Claustrophobia, Rabbit Hole, Real Quest, Questime, Room, Exit the Room. The names are millions.

Franchising is good because you work under a well-known name and do not spend money on creating scripts, automated systems, etc. Questroom, for example, requires a hefty entry fee from franchisees. However, entrepreneurs do not complain - writing scripts and testing them, creating and promoting a site require much more money. Find out more about turk-key escape rooms. 

The location of the playing area and a suitable room
A space for a new project in the entertainment industry may be essential (in indoor games) or not needed at all (urban arcades).

Opening a quest room involves finding a decent room with a conceptual renovation. Of course, this will require a lot of money. It is important that the gaming hall is located near the metro and ground transport stops. The city center is ideal, where advertising banners and a sign can work to attract an additional audience.

Role-playing games can be carried out in anti-cafes, which are organized according to the principle of game libraries. The advantage of such cooperation is the exclusion of rental fees (the owners of the establishments themselves benefit from your projects, which increase the interest of visitors to the place).

Even better is the situation with city games and outdoor marathons, which take place on the territory of customers and neutral spaces (recreation centers, parks).

What you need to open a quest room: room refurbishment and repair
The next thing you need to open a game project is to convert the room to a ready-made scenario. The cost of these events is from 100,000 to 2.5 million rubles. The exact amount depends on the scope of the event, the chosen special effects. At the initial stage, 125 thousand rubles will be required to equip one room. Each room is equipped with CCTV cameras to control the gameplay.

Repair must fit into the scenario. If you have 4 rooms, you can equip one for horror, the second for fantasy, the third for detective stories, and in the fourth you can make a quest room for children.

In this case, the initial repair will not be final. Once every 3-4 months, the interiors and scenarios will have to be modified so that the interest of visitors does not weaken. All these projects can be implemented within an apartment of 130–140 sq. meters. Then, with the development of the business, you can increase the area by renting a larger room.

In a closed room, everything should correspond to the style and objectives of the script. Sound and visual effects will emphasize the overall concept and add realism to what is happening.

Also, costumes and game props will not be superfluous, which can be ordered on specialized sites and partially bought in stores for pranks. In city quests, it is important not to forget about the connection between the players. SMS, envelopes, etc. are the most convenient options.

scenarios in reality. Where to find authors?
The basis of any game in reality is the script. The principle of their creation is the same as for the release of films and performances. A whole team of director, screenwriter, editor is working on the script. It is rational to entrust these duties to professionals in their field, which can be found on freelance exchanges, through portals such as Head Hunter and fl.ru. When concluding a franchise agreement, you will receive scripts for free.

Projects where players are tasked with finding a way out of a room are based on a mystery or riddle. The denouement of the intrigue should follow logically from the plot, but not be obvious from the first game steps. It is optimal when the organizers offer several options for the development of the plot, which vary depending on the age, interests and experience of gamers.

Before you open up your escape room to reality and play your first game, field-play the scenario and fix bugs, evaluate the characters for their need for the story, and consider new twists and turns. For testing, it is successful to attract volunteers from among interested young people in their own VKontakte or Facebook group.

Staffing issue
Since it is impossible to organize a quest in reality without a script, it will take some effort to find professional scriptwriters and editors. You don't have to take them on board. It is much more convenient to pay fees based on the results of work. One scenario will cost at least 15-20 thousand rubles.

In order for the games to go according to your plan, you definitely need an administrator who will meet the players and explain the rules to them, take calls and fill out applications. The salary of such a specialist will be 40-50 thousand rubles.

To promote the project and organize an advertising campaign, a marketer will also be required. His responsibilities will include interaction with advertisers, organizing contests in social networks, attracting customers. The salary level for a marketer in the capital is from 45 thousand rubles.

If you decide to open a quest, you may need episodic characters - testers, decorators responsible for special effects. It is more convenient to invite them on a piecework basis. The most needed people will not hurt in the state on the "salary + interest" payment system. The experience of employees in the event direction is desirable, for the administrator - the basic skills of the host of events.

Documents and licenses
The business associated with opening your own quest room needs to be legalized. To do this, the entrepreneur must register as an individual entrepreneur or LLC.

It is also necessary to take into account that games in real life are among the unsafe entertainment, especially when it comes to projects that take place on city streets or outside the city. In the latter situations, as we have already mentioned, injuries and accidents are possible.

A document that can protect the entrepreneur and players is a written safety briefing, by signing which, customers take responsibility for risk factors. Another way to avoid problems is to change the format of the game, when all situations that go beyond the bounds of reason are excluded from the scenario.

It is not necessary to use your own cash desk when organizing a quest for children or adults, since all transactions can be carried out using a cashless payment. To do this, you will need to open a bank account for the organization. It will be more convenient for users to sign up for games and pay for them if you connect mobile and Internet acquiring services.

If you use cash settlement, provide in the budget for the purchase of a cash register and its maintenance.

It is not required to obtain a license for this type of activity.

Marketing
When opening a quest creation business, you must launch your own website - potential visitors are looking for quest makers online, so missing out on such a sales channel is a crime. Be sure to post released games, scenarios, schedules, and prices on the site that are being prepared for launch.

Here, on the virtual site of your company, the visitor will be able to get acquainted with the plots, see photos of the premises and surroundings, evaluate the level of visualization and, finally, find out the contact details.

Organization and business development should include the promotion of quests in social media. Here it is convenient to conduct a dialogue with customers, sign them up for games, and inform them about new products and schedules. Discussions will not be superfluous, where visitors will leave feedback on how they themselves took part in the games. You can create albums with pictures of gamers, publish videos, and more.

A huge role for promotion in reality is played by word of mouth, the level of development of the event industry in your city, the reputation of competitors. There are also flyers and business cards in crowded places of potential gamers, discounts and bonuses, contests for the best scenario, etc.

It is good to advertise reality quests in a blog dedicated to a business project. It can publish news about the latest events, photo reports and text content. It is important that the content of the site is regarded as useful and necessary not only by search robots, but also by people.

Business plan
To calculate the cost of the quest, you will need to make a business plan. You can write it yourself (examples on the web will become the basis) or delegate this responsibility to specialists. The second option is more profitable, since miscalculations and errors are excluded.

Is it profitable to open a quest room?
Quest rooms are an interesting and promising direction, is it profitable to open such a project? Undoubtedly, if the theme captivates you, and there are several ideas for scenarios in your luggage. The advantage is that at the initial stage, you can get by with a minimum of funds. Enough of your group in social networks, a blog, a good script and 2-3 assistants.

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