Easter Eggs & Escape Rooms!

We usually add a little extra excitement over the Easter long weekend by hiding chocolate eggs in our escape rooms for players to find and enjoy during their visit. Unfortunately, since we are under another provincial lockdown our games are temporarily closed and we will miss this year’s egg hunt.

 

However – did you know that there are always a bunch of Easter eggs hidden in our games?!

Origins

These kinds of Easter eggs are fun, hidden references to something outside of the game itself. You might have encountered other Easter eggs in movies, computer programs or video games. The original example is reported to have been part of an Atari video game in the 1980s.  A programmer hid a special feature under one solitary pixel – which upon being discovered revealed his name and some other content. Although Atari was not aware of the hidden feature when the game was first released, they (and other developers that followed) included both simple and complex hidden ‘eggs’ in later games for players to discover.

 

Another great example of Easter eggs can be found in Disney’s animated movies. A sharp eye will notice small references to a Disney character or story hidden in a scenes of another, unrelated film. Some Pixar movies have dozens of these references – a quick google search will show you many websites just dedicated to uncovering all the eggs.

Hidden in Plain Sight

When designing our escape rooms we thought it would be fun to hide a few Easter eggs throughout each game. In order for these to work we had need to make sure:

• The egg was hidden in plan sight and blended into the room décor. One important aspect of an Easter egg is that it cannot be obvious or distracting from the rest of the game.
• The egg did not confuse players from the game itself. In other words, it needed to be clear that the Easter egg was not part of the game. It must not be confused as a clue or something needed to complete the escape room.
• The reference should feel like an inside joke. If a player notices the Easter egg, and knows what it refers to, the result should make them smile.

That last point is what makes the Easter eggs so fun for us. Most of the time, players will not notice them, or might not know what they mean. But when someone does, they often laugh & make a point to mention it to us after their game.

 

Another fun aspect of the inside joke is it does allow us to ‘tip our hats’ to some of the design inspirations for that game while still keeping our actual theme completely original.

Can you find them?

Some of our Easter eggs are easier to spot, while others (and their meaning) are much more obscure. We have posted an album on our Facebook page with photos – check it out and let us know in the comments if you can spot the references!