BioXcape – the first educational escape room in Bulgaria

The first educational escape room of its kind in Bulgaria - BioXcape - was created by the National Museum of Natural Sciences at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, the Bulgarian Biodiversity Foundation and Mist Engineering, with financial support from the European Commission’s DEAR program. The playroom is housed on the subterranean level of the National Museum of Natural History in Sofia.

We worked on a project related to the gamification of the topics of climate change, biodiversity conservation and climate justice. One of the activities of the project was to create an exposition to communicate these themes, so we proposed the idea of creating an educational escape room," said Petar Vanev from the Bulgarian Biodiversity Foundation and coordinator of the BioXcape project.

What is the escape room all about?

Each escape room keeps its contents a secret so that when players pay a visit, they won't know what awaits them inside and will be surprised to the max by its puzzles and the setting.

The same goes for our room. But the theme of BioXcape is based on real scientific facts, which, together with escape room experts and scientists from the National Museum of Natural History, we managed to translate into a game language, in the form of puzzles that include logic, communication, deciphering and other interesting elements that are not just boring theory from thick textbooks. That’s because people learn faster when they’re having fun", explained Vanev.

He said that the main character in the game is the scientist Dr. Irma Zhelyazkova, who has a major role in the story of the escape room. She is a fictional persona - a collective image of the Bulgarian scientists who have dealt with climate change, biodiversity protection and climate justice.

In 1980, Dr. Zhelyazkova from the National Museum of Natural History at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences decided to do everything possible to collect evidence of climate change. Research becomes her life's mission, but during one of her trips to the Pacific, she goes missing. Visitors to the escape room can complete the research started by Dr. Irma Zhelyazkova and help fight climate change.

Participants' knowledge

Petar Vanev explained that the room is not scary and is suitable for both children and adults. It is not necessary for the audience to have any specific knowledge either, because the puzzles can be solved using basic knowledge. In addition to Bulgarian, the educational escape room also has an English version.

Our youngest visitors are 8 years old, and they must be accompanied by an adult. From age 14 and up, teams can play independently. The maximum number of players that the room can comfortably accommodate is five", added Vanev.

If one of the players gives a wrong answer to any of the riddles, they must try to reason over it again until they find the correct solution.

"In our room, everything is electronic and solving each puzzle unlocks new ones, that is players cannot move forward if they don’t answer correctly and they have 70 minutes at their disposal overall. Whenever a team plays in the escape room, there is also an operator present - a person who gives directions and guides the players if they get distracted. He monitors the smooth flow of the game and safety so that the players can have fun and leave the room feeling exhilarated by the experience," explained Petar Vanev.

The element of education

Phones and photography devices are strictly prohibited, and players must leave them in the lobby with the operator. This helps participants fully immerse themselves in the experience without being distracted. According to Petar Vanev, with the help of the escape room, students can develop their educational skills, communicate with each other, and think logically.

Escape rooms become a tool that helps with learning new knowledge and developing the soft skills that build character to meet the various challenges that they have to deal with in life", said Vanev.

All proceeds from the escape room are used to support the scientific work and activities of the partners.

"This is not only the first educational escape room, but also the first escape room with a cause, because the profits made from the teams that play in the room, after deducting overheads and other expenses, are distributed between the National Natural History Museum at BAS and the Bulgarian Biodiversity Foundation to fund the scientific activities and nature protection activism", concluded Petar Vanev.

You can register for an available time slot at the escape room on the BioXcape website.

Translated by Tzvetozar Vincent Iolov