2026-07-10 · history
The Real Escape Game (2007) — Two Rooms in Kyoto That Grew Into a Worldwide Locked Room
On July 7, 2007, at the Inspiblo gallery in Kyoto, Takao Kato split roughly 100 guests into 14 teams across two rooms as entertainment for the third-anniversary party of his free paper SCRAP. That night became the first installment of what would be called the 'Real Escape Game' — a phenomenon that grew into a worldwide commercial industry. Kato has testified himself that the spark was watching a staffer get hooked on web escape games. I read this night as a rare documented case of a puzzle walking out of the screen and into physical space.