Step inside and leave your expectations at the door. What you thought was a typical escape room
experience is something altogether different.
In The Waiting Room, you'll encounter a series of questions. Seemingly mundane at first, they'll lead you
down a path of mystery, unease, and introspection. As you progress, the world around you will shift, and
so will you.
Is this just a waiting room, or is it the adventure itself? What lies beneath the surface of these
peculiar questions, and what will they reveal about you? Sometimes, the most intriguing puzzles are the
ones that challenge your beliefs and push the boundaries of your comfort.
During the exhibition, this room goes by the title "Le Porte Della Percezione," meaning "The Doors of
Perception." The choice of language is deliberate, for within this room, you'll find doors of perception
opening and boundaries blurring. Welcome to a journey that goes beyond the ordinary, where expectations
are subverted and mysteries await those who dare to enter.
Are you ready to question everything, even yourself? The answers await in The Waiting Room.
The action room is constituted by a series of questions which participants will answer together. They
are asked to rank themselves according to various characteristics, interests and capabilities,
believing that this is necessary information for tailoring an upcoming action room experience.
During this question answering, events are triggered using microcontrollers, which serve to heighten
a sense of strangeness while the question also becomes stranger, more uncomfortable and less
coherent.
In this peculiar escape room, participants find themselves immersed in an atmosphere of anticipation
and intrigue. The room, filled with an array of enigmatic questions, serves as a gateway to an
extraordinary experience. As they delve into the task of ranking themselves based on diverse traits
and interests, an eerie ambiance hangs in the air, intensifying their curiosity.
The questions, seemingly innocuous at first, lead the participants down a labyrinthine path. With
each query, the room responds in unpredictable ways. Microcontrollers hidden throughout the space
come to life, orchestrating a symphony of peculiar events. The lighting flickers, casting eerie
shadows on the walls. Mysterious sounds echo from hidden corners, and subtle vibrations pulse
through the floor, creating an atmosphere that is both surreal and unsettling.
As the participants progress, the questions take a bizarre turn, becoming increasingly uncomfortable
and disjointed. The room seems to have a mind of its own, challenging the participants' perception
of reality. They find themselves questioning not only the answers they provide but also the very
nature of the escape room itself. The boundaries between the game and the real world blur, creating
a sense of unease and excitement in equal measure.
In this environment of escalating strangeness, the participants' collaboration becomes essential.
They must work together, combining their unique perspectives and skills to navigate the perplexing
questions and decode the room's cryptic responses. With every answer they provide, the room
transforms, revealing hidden compartments, secret passages, and unexpected clues that propel them
further into the mystery.
As the participants continue to unravel the enigma, they become more deeply engrossed in the
experience, their initial confusion giving way to a shared sense of exhilaration. In this escape
room, the boundaries of imagination and reality blur, offering an adventure that challenges the mind
and captivates the senses, leaving participants with a memory they will not soon forget.
Some of the events that may occur include, but are not limited to the gradual distortion of music and
various physical occurrences within the room. Two of these events are depicted in the images below,
and both are managed through an Arduino system that responds to triggers within a Unity project. The
last image illustrates the appearance of a screen of our user interface.
A bin full of vibration motors causing it to shake and create noise.
A shelf holding up Aldous Huxley's "The Doors of Perception," which can cause the content
holder to fall.
The start screen of the user interface.