5 ms·

I live in a smaller city where I’d say the number of escape rooms is about equivalent to the number of bowling alleys (less than 5 of each come to mind). How’s

I live in a smaller city where I’d say the number of escape rooms is about equivalent to the number of bowling alleys (less than 5 of each come to mind). How’s the best way to measure if the market is saturated?

dfeojm-zlib 7y ago
I would find a better (defensible) business model that's better than a restaurant that anyone can open. ER's have zero intellectual property and anyone can start such a business for little investment. Do something else (hard/er/expensive/tedious for most people) that lends itself to greater monopolization by you, and that's profitable. (Build something defensible and profitable that customers love.)
- EForEndeavour 7y ago
  Would your advice to anyone interested in building an escape room not to build an escape room?
- TheSoftwareGuy 7y ago
  Not everyone needs to be a billionaire monopolist, I think most people can be happy with a solid consistent income
- braythwayt 7y ago
  I wrote some books. Books are completely indefensible. There are billions of the things, and new ones get written all the time. I made some money. I was and am very happy to have written books. Is writing books a good business? Perhaps not, if viewed through the “The world is divided into unicorns and NOOPs” lens. But I don’t look at the world through that lens. See also: Making music, opening a social pub, running a day care, organizing festivals or conferences... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lifestyle_business https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lifestyle_business
lozenge 7y ago
Do these rooms have an online booking system? Check their occupancy rate!
sokoloff 7y ago
Call up and see what availability they have next week.
gkoberger 7y ago
I think the answers you've gotten are looking at it the wrong way! For bowling alleys, checking availability is a good way to see if there's room for another one. Since Escape Rooms have 0 replay-ability, you're not really competing for "regulars". There's likely hundreds of people who have already done all ~5, and would be eager to do a 6th. If those 5 have gotten enough people to come, most of their patrons will happily come do yours, too. You're not really "competing". In a way, you're more like a movie than a movie theater.
- walterbell 7y ago
  Excellent point! Could escape rooms go on tour like theatrical productions? Producers swap escape room teams/spaces between cities? Professional roadies who are expert in setup/teardown?
  - gkoberger 7y ago
    They do! There's a few companies (SCRAP, PanIQ, The Escape Game) in SF already that are set up that way. They have a ton of locations, and host games for 1.5-2 years, and then swap them with other locations around the world. SCRAP also has some deals with media companies to do touring escape rooms; I've played a Zelda one and a Pacific Rim one. There's also many companies that sell escape room plans. So rather than creating your own, you'd spend $5-10k to "buy" one and then build it yourself. They usually guarantee a X-mile radius that you'll be unique, so that you aren't competing against the same game.
- bena 7y ago
  I would imagine that the various companies mix it up. Change the room every now and then
- Waterluvian 7y ago
  Zero replayability is such an issue. So often you want to share the joy with others. Surely some escape rooms can apply what puzzle video games do: same puzzles, different variables.
jccooper 7y ago
If they’re on average not full on a Saturday, the market is over saturated. If they’re full on Thursday, the market is under saturated. In between, there’s probably room but you’ll have to fight for it. Also, if there are more than about 13 in your market, you’re going to have problems getting noticed because the review sites have huge first mover bias. In general, the market is over saturated, and will probably see more closures than openings over the next year.

dfeojm-zlib 7y ago

I would find a better (defensible) business model that's better than a restaurant that anyone can open. ER's have zero intellectual property and anyone can start such a business for little investment. Do something else (hard/er/expensive/tedious for most people) that lends itself to greater monopolization by you, and that's profitable. (Build something defensible and profitable that customers love.)

EForEndeavour 7y ago
Would your advice to anyone interested in building an escape room not to build an escape room?
TheSoftwareGuy 7y ago
Not everyone needs to be a billionaire monopolist, I think most people can be happy with a solid consistent income
braythwayt 7y ago
I wrote some books. Books are completely indefensible. There are billions of the things, and new ones get written all the time. I made some money. I was and am very happy to have written books. Is writing books a good business? Perhaps not, if viewed through the “The world is divided into unicorns and NOOPs” lens. But I don’t look at the world through that lens. See also: Making music, opening a social pub, running a day care, organizing festivals or conferences... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lifestyle_business https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lifestyle_business

lozenge 7y ago

Do these rooms have an online booking system? Check their occupancy rate!

sokoloff 7y ago

Call up and see what availability they have next week.

gkoberger 7y ago

I think the answers you've gotten are looking at it the wrong way! For bowling alleys, checking availability is a good way to see if there's room for another one. Since Escape Rooms have 0 replay-ability, you're not really competing for "regulars". There's likely hundreds of people who have already done all ~5, and would be eager to do a 6th. If those 5 have gotten enough people to come, most of their patrons will happily come do yours, too. You're not really "competing". In a way, you're more like a movie than a movie theater.

walterbell 7y ago
Excellent point! Could escape rooms go on tour like theatrical productions? Producers swap escape room teams/spaces between cities? Professional roadies who are expert in setup/teardown?
- gkoberger 7y ago
  They do! There's a few companies (SCRAP, PanIQ, The Escape Game) in SF already that are set up that way. They have a ton of locations, and host games for 1.5-2 years, and then swap them with other locations around the world. SCRAP also has some deals with media companies to do touring escape rooms; I've played a Zelda one and a Pacific Rim one. There's also many companies that sell escape room plans. So rather than creating your own, you'd spend $5-10k to "buy" one and then build it yourself. They usually guarantee a X-mile radius that you'll be unique, so that you aren't competing against the same game.
bena 7y ago
I would imagine that the various companies mix it up. Change the room every now and then
Waterluvian 7y ago
Zero replayability is such an issue. So often you want to share the joy with others. Surely some escape rooms can apply what puzzle video games do: same puzzles, different variables.

jccooper 7y ago

If they’re on average not full on a Saturday, the market is over saturated. If they’re full on Thursday, the market is under saturated. In between, there’s probably room but you’ll have to fight for it. Also, if there are more than about 13 in your market, you’re going to have problems getting noticed because the review sites have huge first mover bias. In general, the market is over saturated, and will probably see more closures than openings over the next year.