Sweeping across the nation within the last few years is the group-building fun that is Escape the Room games. These games are built with various puzzles and riddles in mind, that usually lead to the group physically finding a way out of the room or set of rooms. Nintendo must have loved the idea, seeing plenty of families and companies locking themselves in to solve puzzles, and decided to team up with the Winner of USA Today’s “Best Escape Room in the US”, SCRAP. Together the two companies are building a real-life Zelda experience in a big way.
They’re calling the experience Defenders of the Triforce, working outside of the limitations of an Escape the Room game and building upon it in the best ways to make it feel like an authentic Zelda event. Teams of six will be tackling a mystery in a huge area, all within an allotted time. Players will even be able to find iconic Zelda items that have to be used in order to solve certain puzzles, just like the main games. Also available will be interactive characters, such as the Goron, Zora, and Kokiri tribes found in many of the games. Presumably, these characters will be played by actors so we can expect someone dressed as Link, Zelda, Gannondorf, and the rest of the legendary cast of characters. This is basically a way to connect people to the Zelda franchise in a way that’s never been done before, both to entice new comers to the series, as well as celebrate with fans.
Doc Preuss, Real Escape Game Producer for SCRAP, claims “Fans of The Legend of Zelda series will adore the tour and won’t want to miss it.”
Those who get the chance to enjoy the Defenders of the Triforce will also be given access to a special lounge area after playing. Here, folks will be able to buy exclusive goodies based on the Zelda series. I can only imagine what sort of wondrous items await! Details on how to participate in the event, from the press release, are below.
The Defenders of the Triforce Puzzle Tour will be hitting eight cities all around the country beginning in January. Tickets for the first wave of locations are available today and can be reserved by visiting http://scrapzelda.com/. The full schedule is as follows:
- San Francisco – Jan. 31-Feb. 5
- Los Angeles – Feb. 10-12
- San Diego – Feb. 24-25
- Seattle – TBA
- Phoenix – TBA
- Houston – TBA
- Chicago – TBA
- New York – TBA
Personally, I find this to be a great move by Nintendo. It’s a way to extend the level of interaction gamers receive with the franchise in a tangible fashion. This is also a great marketing opportunity for the company, as their next game, Breath of the Wild, is coming out early next year. At least, we all hope its coming out early next year. Unfortunately, I can see this Real-Life Zelda event selling out immediately, just at the NES Mini continues to do.
