Escape Game

The Case: The setting is a music festival, organized bilingually with bands and volunteers from two different countries. Suddenly, the festival’s headliner collapses. What happened? Can the festival go on as planned, or must it be canceled for safety reasons? There are plenty of clues, but they are written in different languages. Now, teamwork is essential: who can solve which puzzles, and how can participants support each other linguistically to find the solution together? The festival can only continue if the group manages to master the escape game within one hour.

The Concept: The idea for this bilingual escape game emerged from our work with language animation. Consequently, the game pursues the same objectives: sparking curiosity, creating opportunities for communication, enabling playful contact with the partner language, and fostering group dynamics. It clearly demonstrates to participants how vital communication and mutual support are to achieving a common goal.

Implementation: The escape game is easy to prepare and highly portable. Most materials can simply be printed in color; only a few additional items, such as a small box with a combination lock, need to be sourced. These materials transform any meeting room into an escape room. You can, of course, enhance the setting with your own props—such as clothing or items from a performer's dressing room—to create the right atmosphere. The PDF provides the printable materials as well as step-by-step instructions for setting up the room and tips for the "gamemaster" on how to support participants if they need a hint.

Partners & Development: The escape game "Festival in Danger" was developed as a cooperative project by IJAB (International Youth Service of the Federal Republic of Germany), Tandem (Coordination Centre for German-Czech Youth Exchange), and the Foundation for German-Russian Youth Exchange, with support from theFranco-German Youth Office (FGYO) and the German-Polish Youth Office (GPYO).

IJAB supports the development of further language versions, which will also be published here.

Workshops: We are happy to present the escape game as part of a workshop at your specialist conference. For inquiries, please contact Bettina Wissing: wissing(at)ijab.de.