Many escape rooms advertise that they have a particularly large amount of space. This is also true for Alien Contact by Top Secret Herten, the largest escape room in Germany, where a group is alone on the playing field. Even larger is Exploria by Eloria in Bottrop, Admittedly, you do encounter other playgroups on the same playing area here, but that is by no means a drawback.

But are there also small escape rooms that can still unleash their full potential?

At just under 14 square metres, it is Frankenstein at Classified Matter in Wuppertal It's already quite a small escape room, and it can get a bit cramped with more than five people. But it can be even smaller:

At Story House Plettenberg is there an adventure titled The forgotten lift. This is even comfortably large for a lift of 6 square metres. Similar in size is the Escape pod 14c of classified Castrop-Rauxel. A spaceship escape pod has been placed in the middle of a room here, offering variety, excitement, and even four seating options in such a small space of around 6 square metres.

Also other providers of escape rooms such as Miraculous in Berlin offer experiences in fictional lifts, at yet other providers like Team exit in Viersen whereas a lift is just a small gimmick of a much larger escape room.

But arguably the smallest escape room is currently being built in Bottrop near Büxaus opens: The last hour takes place in two coffins, meaning a space of 1.33 square metres per person.

Can escape rooms be exciting in such a small space?

Certainly, small escape rooms can be just as exciting and challenging as their larger counterparts. The size alone doesn't dictate how well the immersion, the plunge into the story, works, how appealing the setting is designed, or how varied and fitting the puzzles are integrated. Especially in a small space, the escape room designers have to put in extra effort, as every square centimetre will truly be scoured. And for providers who have already almost fully utilised their spaces, this offers exciting expansion opportunities.

Team X in Cologne even explicitly advertises itself as the smallest escape room in Cologne with the title The Mad Laboratory to offer.

For people suffering from claustrophobia, however, an adventure in a coffin is probably less suitable. For all those who dare to try it, small escape rooms in particular offer a new adventure and are in no way inferior to larger variants with more rooms in terms of fun!