Escape Room Owners’ Gathering – Nottingham Edition

Keynote / The Hints and Clues for the most difficult puzzle of all: Running a venue - a lived experience talk.

Lewis Hunt / The Escapement and Canterbury Tales ExperienceEscape rooms may be built on puzzles, but the hardest one to crack is running the venue itself. In this candid, lived experience talk, Lewis Hunt - founder of the TERPECA winning Escapement - shares the realities most owners never say out loud: why pricing, two player teams, and burnout can quietly sink a business, how to make sense of the numbers, and the secret to finding your “Goldilocks Zone” where your venue finally works for you, not the other way around.

Keynote / 8 Profit Fundamentals for Earning More from Your Escape Room

Sam Wai / ImmersifToo many escape room venues, although full of passion, are set up in ways that mean the owners earn little or, in the worst cases, nothing. Sam Wai, founder of Immersif (accounting and mentorship for the immersive industry) and a former escape room owner, introduces eight key levers every owner can pull to unlock more profit without building new rooms. This talk is a quickfire look at the fundamentals that could mean the difference between a business that bleeds you and one that truly rewards you.

Panel Discussion / Originality vs Opportunity: The IP Dilemma

In the golden age of immersive entertainment, intellectual property (IP) has become both a powerful asset and a legal minefield. This panel dives into the heated debate: is it truly worth investing time, money, and effort into acquiring legitimate licenses for well-known brands and franchises? Or is it safe (and more profitable) to creatively “borrow” themes and hope no one sends a cease and desist?

We’ll explore real-world case studies, dissect the risks of flying under the radar, and hear directly from escape room owners, legal experts, and licensing professionals. Expect a no-holds-barred conversation about moral grey areas, the allure of fan-favourite IPs, and the sometimes-invisible line between inspiration and infringement.

Whether you're proudly original or quietly derivative, this panel will challenge your thinking and leave you with a clearer sense of where the real value, and the real danger, lies when it comes to IP in immersive experiences.

HostZoltan Papp / Zolitopia, clueQuest and Game On Conference

Panelists:

Simon Stokes / Escapologic

Mandy Chinea-Rodriguez / nQ Legal

Paul Allen / Stone Sword Games and Strangely Games

Danielle Tanton / Wilbrain CPLG & Themed Entertainment Association Europe & Middle East