Quantum-themed LabEscape escape room a hit at the Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo

The Q-NEXT quantum center brings the world’s only science-themed escape room to the Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo, exposing hundreds of entertainment aficionados to the joys of science through puzzlement and play.

In April, scores of superheroes and supervillains alike signed up to experience LabEscape, a super science-themed escape room, at the annual Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo (C2E2).

Every year, C2E2 draws tens of thousands of costumed and cosplaying fans of comics, video games, movies and television. Over three days, pop culture buffs gather to meet their entertainment heroes, hear showbiz bigwigs discuss their projects and meet other enthusiasts to celebrate their shared obsessions.

And sometimes, they get to immerse themselves in a big, brain-teasing puzzle.

LabEscape, the creation of Professor Paul Kwiat of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) and originally developed using funding from the American Physical Society and the National Science Foundation, is the world’s first and only science-based escape room. And it was a hit at C2E2, all but selling out before the expo opened on April 26.

“LabEscape is meant to show people that science can be relevant and accessible to them, that it can be aesthetically beautiful and that it can be fun.” — Paul Kwiat, UIUC

The LabEscape event was supported by Q-NEXT, a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) National Quantum Information Science Research Center led by DOE’s Argonne National Laboratory.

“I’m thrilled that these fans — people who have clear passions for artistic culture — are also signing up to solve science riddles. It speaks to the broad appeal of science and the possibilities for getting more people engaged with science,” said Kwiat, a collaborator within Q-NEXT and UIUC’s John Bardeen Chair in electrical engineering and physics.

LabEscape participants play agents who are given a mission: help world-renowned quantum computing expert Alberta Schrödenberg save the world using the power of quantum information. Because she is hiding from enemies, Schrödenberg has left clues for the agents in her laboratory to complete the mission.

“I loved it, honestly. My dad’s a huge computer nerd, and half my family are scientists, so a lot of this is familiar to me, but I learned more detail than I’d known before,” said Catherine D. from California. ​“Even the parts that were familiar were just really fun — to do it in an escape room.”

Players solve physics puzzles to gain entry to subsequent stages of the escape room, eventually — one hopes — saving the world before time runs out.

“LabEscape is meant to show people that science can be relevant and accessible to them, that it can be aesthetically beautiful and that it can be fun,” Kwiat said. ​“And it gives people into a window of what it’s like to be a scientist. We do experiments, and maybe they fail, but when they succeed, it only leads to more questions. That’s the same thing that happens in any escape room.”

LabEscape is for everyone. No science education or background is required. And sometimes, the less science knowledge you have, the better.

“How the one computer, the classical computer, how it evolved into the one quantum computer — it was a little bit better, but not as much as two quantum computers, which did things pretty quickly,” said Gabriel N., nine years old, from Indiana.

“The person who thinks, ​‘I know what that’s going to be like,’ or who has a preconceived notion of how to escape — they’re almost always a detriment to the group,” Kwiat said. ​“Those who might not know as much science going in — they tend to be more successful.”

An example of science at play, LabEscape demonstrates the collaboration and fun of science, even in reputedly stuffy academia, Kwiat said.

“I think most people think scientists go off alone and scribble pages and pages down. Most of us don’t do that. Things are not done in isolation. Science is very social. We bounce ideas off each other. That’s important in an escape room,” he said.

“It was really clever. The twists are still blowing my mind. I’m glad I was surrounded by the right people for this. I’ve done three escape rooms within the last year, and this one was easily the best one we’ve done,” said Patrick O. from Plainfield, Illinois. ​“Our host was really passionate. He allowed us to ask questions after it, he gave us some other cool details that blew my mind. Totally worth the price of admission. People who love escape rooms: Don’t miss out on this one.”

This work was supported by the DOE’s Office of Science National Quantum Information Science Research Centers as part of the Q-NEXT center.

About Q-NEXT

Q-NEXT is a U.S. Department of Energy National Quantum Information Science Research Center led by Argonne National Laboratory. Q-NEXT brings together world-class researchers from national laboratories, universities and U.S. technology companies with the goal of developing the science and technology to control and distribute quantum information. Q-NEXT collaborators and institutions have established two national foundries for quantum materials and devices, develop networks of sensors and secure communications systems, establish simulation and network test beds, and train the next-generation quantum-ready workforce to ensure continued U.S. scientific and economic leadership in this rapidly advancing field. For more information, visit https://​q​-next​.org/.

Argonne National Laboratory seeks solutions to pressing national problems in science and technology by conducting leading-edge basic and applied research in virtually every scientific discipline. Argonne is managed by UChicago Argonne, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, visit https://​ener​gy​.gov/​s​c​ience.