"♫ ...and I won't back down... ♫"

200 ROOMS!

Well, more like 200 escape games, I guess. There's no consensus as to whether or not remote games should really count as Escape Rooms, and while I do count them myself, others would disagree.
But hey, that's fine! It's still a fair achievement, right? Let's celebrate! We're my "escake"?

Oh, okay. So it's not really a cake, it's a pie. Still, it's French Chocolate Silk, one of my favorites! It comes from Perkins, a place I haven't been in months. You know, because, well, I haven't been in any restaurants in months...
Sigh. ☹️
Well, on the other hand you could say that this is very fitting - a chocolate silk pie might not be "quite exactly" an escake, but it's a pretty darn nice alternative. It does reflect my feelings towards remote gaming - as much as I yearn for the real thing, I've still been enjoying myself, all in all.

So, any more semi-phisophical musings on your past games?

Oh, some of those will be coming, for sure. You know I can be hard to shut up. 🤐 But I decided I would spread those over the coming few weeks instead, rather than dump a whole bunch of ramblings at once. Instead, I decided I'd dig out some statistics out of my past games. Who doesn't love statistics, right? 😃 And to keep with the above theme, I've used pie charts! 😁 (Thank you, I'll be here all week - don't forget to tip your waiter.)

Success Rates

 

Well, no surprise here, I seemingly have gotten better. I'm not the only one, of course - most of the people I played with also started as newbies, becoming increasingly better along the way. There's also that nagging feeling that rooms are easier than they used to be, but it's hard to properly assess without getting hard data from the companies themselves.

 

Likewise, my whole family seems to be doing better - much better. It makes me think that my old criteria for what counts as a "family game" should probably change. Right now, as long as 3 of us 6 are in a game, it counts. Maybe I shouldn't count games with outside contributors? We'll see.

Type of Games

 

There isn't a final agreement among enthusiasts as to what constitutes a "real" escape room. Clearly, I'm on the "lenient" side of things. This means that my "200 rooms" are really 149 definite, unarguable rooms.
Of course, the COVID-19 pandemic and the sudden offering of remotely playable rooms have significantly changed my stats. To be honest, I do hope that some of those remote experiences remain available in coming years... but I also hope they won't take such a big chunk of the pie...
For those curious about which is which, here are examples of a mobile game, an outdoor game, a temporary pop-up, a special location, a lobby game, a virtual reality room, a remote escape room, and a remote escape-style game.

Game Locations

 

Unsurprisingly, more than half of my first hundred games were played near where I live. By now, though, I'm nearing the point where I'll have played them all, so once my local group starts going out again, that stream will trickle down quickly.
In comparison, the amount of rooms I've played in Quebec hasn't changed that much. The big change is obviously those dozen of international rooms that resulted from last year's family trip to the UK, and (again) from those online rooms.

Game Durations

 

Here in Ottawa, 45-min games were the norm, much to my chagrin. Fortunately, that tendency has slowly been reversing. I do tend to prefer longer games, but those are always scarce.

Who am I playing with?

 

For those wondering, the "Roomies" are just the very-loose gang of people with which I've been playing games monthly - first in the area, and now from home. The only reason why they're more proeminent in the first 100 games is because we play monthly, and it took me more months to reach that count.
The major change in recent years is that I started "hanging out" with other bloggers, and began attending special events such as the "Triathlon des Accros" and "Énigmorama". And with remote rooms, the number of times I answered positively to "hey we're playing this tonight anyone want in?" clearly shows. You can also see I've stopped asking begging shamelessly nagging my "regular" friends. (But don't think you're out of the wood - I'll get you, my pretties! 😈)

Room Longevity

 

Guess it's not too surprising to see that less than half of the first 100 rooms I played can still be enjoyed today. More surprising, though, is the fact that more than a fifth of the most recent 100 are already gone. 😢
Some of the COVID-related closures weren't really surprising, while others were downright gut-wrenching. While I've personally been reluctant to playing in-person, I'm actually very appreciative of those who do. Let's hope the worst is behind us.

Bored yet?

Nope! 😊 While I've lost the "thrill" of anxiously waiting to see if I'd manage to succeed the next room I play, I do enjoy myself just as much playing them. Guess it's harder to surprise me, of course, but I still get a little kick when I figure out what's going on, how to things connect together, that sort of stuff. So - here's to the next hundred rooms! May they be just as fun! 👍