Are horror rooms too scary
A common worry, answered: what happens in our horror rooms, and how we keep players in control.
How we build a new room
Eight months from first idea to opening night: inside the workshop behind the walls.
Each new room takes us about eight months, and most of that time is not spent building. It is spent writing and testing.
It starts with a story and a place. The Well began when Kabir visited a stepwell in Rajasthan and heard a guide say that it never ran dry. From there, the team writes a flow chart of puzzles: what players find first, what each discovery unlocks, and how the story is told through objects rather than long notes.
Next, we prototype every puzzle on cardboard and plywood in the workshop. Volunteers from our WhatsApp list come in on weekday evenings and play rough versions. We watch how long each puzzle takes, where people get stuck and which clues are misread. About a third of the first ideas are thrown away.
Only then do we build the real set. Walls are framed in timber, aged with paint and plaster, and furniture comes from scrap dealers in Mayapuri. Every lock and sensor is wired to a control desk so the game host can see what has been solved.
Finally, over a hundred test teams play the finished room before it opens. We adjust timings and clue wording until roughly a third of experienced teams escape. Then the room opens to everyone.
