Electric chair in horror escape rooms
(time of reading 3 min)
Horror is one of the most popular escape room genres. Players and owners love it as it provides some pure emotions.
Fear is one of our primal instincts and yet it's still quite easy to be caused – just darkness itself might be enough to cause the tremor, while combining it with well-elaborated wow-effects is perfect way to get 100% immersion for escape room players.

On the other hand escape room owners frequently tend to prefer the horrors because they can be much cheaper than well-decorated spaceship or magical-themed ER. And it's a reasonable choice – time and natural conditions might get the job done better than pro decorators if the desired result is something like "Abandoned Mental Hospital" or "Maniac's Basement"
The only thing that gets sometimes forgotten – saving money just for a case of saving will not lead to any impressive results. Best horror escape rooms (from my experience) are those who not just saved some money on decorations, construction and puzzles (which certainly can be less sophisticated if they are going to be solved in much more pressuring conditions), but those who redirected it on creating immersive and mind-blowing horror spots
Certainly, most of the horror-spots are relying on suddenness – even quite common things (especially accompanied with sudden and loud noise) can scare the crap out of players if they already feel enough suspense. My favorite one, however, works different and usually brings another dimension into the escape room experience.

As well-elaborated escape room designs often feature some sort of dramaturgy (or plot development) instead of just solving puzzles after solving puzzles, it's always a good idea to give players some sort of choice (or at least an illusion of choice).
Pro-tip: Forcing a group to separate in a middle of the story (with an inevitable reunion in the final) is one of such methods, while "sacrificing" one of the players is also a good one
Just imagine a situation
Players are just one step short of escaping the maniac's den, once he suddenly arrives and proposes them a scary deal. Players have to choose one to be roasted on an electric chair to let others break free. That would definitely tell you a thing about your friends or colleagues and it's also incredibly interesting from game master's perspective to watch the players making such decision.

Experienced contractor can provide the best possible result within a budget, while DIY-designs can lead to financial issues in the middle of the construction process.
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