Virus Tinkerers Escape Room

A bespoke 'escape room' was designed and developed as a collaboration between Exitus Escape Rooms, public engagement professionals at Tenovus Cancer Care and Tenovus-funded researchers.

The room opened in February 2020 to coincide with Cardiff Science Festival. The aim was to create a high-quality escape room experience while simultaneously allowing players the chance to find out more about vital cancer research being conducted at Cardiff University. The room was initially developed as a temporary, free public engagement activity to showcase Tenovus Cancer Care-funded research to the public during Cardiff Science week. Owing to its popularity, it has remained as a permanent escape room, raising funds for Tenovus Cancer Care whilst showcasing world leading research activities ongoing at Cardiff University.

To date over 2000 people have played the room, and total funds raised through room sales and returned to Tenovus Care exceed £1800, with over £3700 in total raised from fundraising activities directly related to the room. Exitus continue to donate a percentage of the sales back to Tenovus Cancer Care.

The escape room allowed us to reach people who may not normally have engaged with cancer research. And it also attracted people who were interested in science but had never played an escape room before. To our knowledge this is the first example of a permanent escape room designed in collaboration with researchers to showcase research. It is an excellent example of what can be achieved with creativity and collaboration.

But don’t just take our word for it, book now to play the room yourself and see if you can escape in time!