User:HUILeanne/sandbox

Freeing Hong Kong
“Freeing Hong Kong”- a pioneer of a real-life room escape game which was launched since November 2012, the game took place in Mong Kok, one of the busiest districts in Hong Kong. The setting of game is that where a group of participants are being trapped in a chamber, then the individuals have to decipher riddles in order to obtain various hints to unlock the door. The challenge is to escape from the room within a given time limit.

The purpose of the game is to provide a platform for people to escape from their stressful and monotonous reality, as Hong Kong people have long working hours with little rest and recreational activities. The experience allows all participants to temporarily free themselves from the fixed daily routine. Within the first few weeks after the official launch of the game in November, there had been more than 1,000 guests who had played the game.

Founders
Freeing Hong Kong is founded by Higgs Boson Ltd with four co-founders: a business student, Sze Wei-hang (Raymond) from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, an author, Wan Sze-tang (Instant), and two post-80s. Raymond and Instant are both big fans of room escape, puzzle cracking and detective-style games. After many new applications of games being introduced such as the Chamber of Secrets, the game became very popular that they decided to bring the game to reality.

Themes
Many different chambers are based on the theme- the battle against evil Dr. Alpha. It includes The Prison Chaos and Dr. Alpha’s Laboratory for players to challenge. The rooms are decorated in a mysterious way such as webs of infrared lasers and the walls are adorned with prison stripes. Participants are being blindfolded and handcuffed in a completely dark and silent room and are expected to find their way out. A special room is also designed for different festivals, for example Christmas Special. Moreover, they have included the themes about the culture of Hong Kong which arouse a collective memory of Hong Kong people. Other than that, Freeing Hong Kong has included the use of 5D techniques adopted from some of the latest games such as Dark Souls and Mission Incredible, which allows participants to use their stimulated vision, hearing, touch, smell to solve the challenges.

Business Operation
Freeing Hong Kong has obtained a profit in the first few months due to the low operational costs. It has shown that Freeing Hong Kong is a profitable business. The company has expanded their business in different districts in Hong Kong. Freeing Hong Kong is going to launch new branches in Causeway Bay on 16th April, 2013 and subsequently in Tsim Sha Tsui. In order to maintain the popularity, the themes are changed every season. In addition, English version is especially designed to attract more viewers from different countries.

Litigations
In December 2012, Higgs Boson Ltd., the local founder of the game, was involved in a lawsuit against the Escape Hong Kong in the District Court. The representative of the Freeing Hong Kong accused them for breaching the consent form and infringing their copyright of the escape game which may potentially threaten the financial benefits of the business. Freeing Hong Kong proposed to claim HKD$800,000 for compensation and banned business operation of Escape Hong Kong.