The concept of escape rooms originates from the gaming scene, where such puzzle games have been published in many different versions, particularly as online games. The first escape room was opened in Japan in 2007. 

The game works as a reality game: a group is locked in one or more rooms for a certain amount of time, from which they can only escape on their own once they have solved a certain number of puzzles. The game is obviously not suitable for people who suffer from claustrophobia. The rooms are usually based on a specific theme, and the puzzles correspond to this theme.

The idea spread from Japan across the world. In Switzerland, the first game rooms were created in Bern in 2012, inspired by adventure games. Physics teacher Gabriel Palacios had developed games for his students in which they had to use physics experiments to reveal previously invisible codes. This later led to the commercial escape rooms of the company "AdventureRooms", which now operates such game rooms in 20 cities in Switzerland. There are also many licensees around the world.

Angelika Valkova and Aravindh Chithambaram

Mastermind Escape Rooms offers a variety of puzzle worlds. In "Harry Potter: Guardians of Magic", participants enter the ancient halls of an old school where the shadows of the past still linger. Secrets are hidden everywhere, waiting to be discovered. The objective is to find your way into the House of Snakes.

In "Escape from Alcatraz", participants are innocently imprisoned and - you might have guessed it - must find a way to escape from Alcatraz. The game is set in the 1960s. A previous escapee has hidden clues to help them.

There is also a fun puzzle game based on Aladdin and the Magic Lamp called "Escape to Agrabah 1889". In search of riches, a pair of thieves find themselves in Agrabah. The city is poverty-stricken, yet the Sultan is filthy rich. How can that be?

After Sunday's rapid chess tournament, the players in the Masters and Challengers were given a day off, not because they were tired, but for organisational reasons related to the schedule and the other tournaments.

As the pictures show, the participants had a lot of fun and really got into "their" theme world.

Biel Adventure Rooms...