We’ve all had that moment of trying to open your refrigerator for a late night snack, only to find a padlock on it. That’s okay though, you’re pretty sure the code can be derived from your Grandma’s old cookbooks. That’s a joke; this situation is highly unrealistic. Unless you’re at Murfreesboro Escape Rooms.

Escape rooms have largely operated this way since the beginning. And there’s nothing wrong with that. Very few people walk into an escape room expecting 100% realism. The issue arises with the locks themselves. Usually the inputs are numbers, or a key. Sometimes you might have to enter letters or even a series of directions. These input options limit storytelling, and we’ve seen them all before. Escape games are about the new and unexpected.

Using tech as opposed to traditional locks allows for a greater variety of inputs; not just numbers and letters, but a sequence of shuffling tiles, or tracing of certain shapes. And since the answers of puzzles no longer have to translate into a number combination, players can move seamlessly to the next puzzle without getting lost on which lock to open next. This leads to more immersive room plots and more satisfying escapes.

Not only does tech like this help keep players on track and immersed in the story, it also makes the impossible possible. Not to pull back the curtain too much but that magical feeling you get when a Michelin Star chef from the beyond is talking to you? That magic was made entirely out of tech, and would not be possible otherwise.

At Murfreesboro Escape Rooms, we are striving to go above and beyond conventional escape games. Our first step is building PastaWay with ZERO conventional locks. Everything will be controlled by tech: all the sounds, the props, and yes, the locks. Our goal with this is not to be high tech. This is not just the next wave of the Internet of Things. This is dynamic storytelling.