Foreign games like s and laser tag feel at home in Bengaluru

By: J Vignesh
BENGALURU: Hareesh Mothi, cofounder of Breakout, was a chartered accountant and a risk analyst with Hewlett Packard, when he visited Poland in June last year. There, Hareesh and his team chanced upon escape games, an adventure game in which people are locked up in a room with their team and some clues. They have to use the clues to escape within a set time. Hareesh decided set up one such facility back home. In May, he took the plunge and opened Breakout in the city. Foreign games like escape rooms and laser tag have thus come to Bengaluru. Since these are not conventional games, founders have had to rely on marketing, social media and word-of-mouth measures to reach their target audience.

Kiran Shivappa, director of Escape Room at Koramangala, had to go all out on the marketing front.He installed a jail-like setup in the back of a truck and displayed it on IT campuses. "An actor was put behind bars and the truck went to IT companies. The actor would be screaming for help," he said. That was how the new game announced its arrival. Taking a cue or two from Silicon Valley, whose early games were based on Agatha Christie's works, the real-life escape games are based on themes like mystery, murder, abduction and espionage.

Another new arrival is Laser tag, a team sport where players score points by tagging targets with a gun-like hand-held infrared emitting targeting device. The game, which was used for target practice by the United States army in the 1970s, is a laser version of paintball.The city already boasts of at least three laser tag centres. "In laser tag you need not change your attire, un ike paintball. It does not cause any physical hurt either," said Adnan KQ of Lazer Castle. The location of these setups are planned with maximum visibility and profit in mind."In Jayanagar, within a four kilometre radius, there are 50-60 educational institutions, the corporate offices are pretty close and it is a residential area too," said Jitendar Chandiramani, co-founder of Talk to the Hand laser tag.