Poland Escape 2017 consisted of 3 stages - online qualifications, the regional stage and the final. In the online qualifications, teams competed by solving an online notpron-like game. It was a story about two gloomy friends discovering Wrocław. Despite the game being not a simple one, it got attention and received positive feedback from puzzle enthusiasts. Some teams were solving the game for several days without taking a break.
Regional qualifications were held in several Polish cities: Warsaw, Poznań, Gdańsk, Gliwice, and Wrocław. Teams that qualified for this stage got to compete in brand new escape rooms prepared by selected companies, where no one had the opportunity to play yet. This stage was played over the same two days in all cities. Two fastest teams from each city advanced to the finals.
The final of the competition took place during an escape room celebration event - WroEscape conference, organized by Lockme and Exit19 in autumn of 2017, in Wrocław, Poland. The contestants were put in a room isolated from other conference participants. Each team had to wait for their turn to play in one of the two semi-final escape rooms. One of the semi-final games was arranged in a car provided by our partner, Traficar. The other room, "Curse of Maya Treasure" was created by Exit19. The final was played out in a thriller room "Asylum", also designed by Exit19.
The main partner of the first championship was the City of Wrocław. The successful and interesting format encouraged us to continue our work and organize more championships. The first edition was played by 537 teams, consisting of a total of nearly 1,800 participants.