Escape rooms, a party game where players must solve some difficult problems to find a way out from a room, have gradually become a way to relax for Chinese young people, Shenzhen Evening News reported on Wednesday.
According to Meituan’s report, the country’s escape room market has seen a growth of over 20 percent since 2017. In 2019, the market scale(规模)in the country was over 10 billion yuan, doubling the scale in 2018. Around 83 percent of the orders were made by young people aged between 20 and 25.
Escape rooms were born in the US and the game’s history in China could date back to 2008 when a student from Harbin turned an old room into a mysterious room for people to play escape games. By 2015, non-player characters(NPCs)were introduced to the game to give players a more immersive(沉没式的)experience.
He Yan opened an escape room shop at Dongmen Business Street in Luohu District in 2018. The city didn’t have a lot of these shops when he started the business. “Shenzhen is a young city and young people like new things. Compared with traditional ways to have fun, they prefer immersive experiences,” he said. In his eyes, the immersive experience will become more important in the cultural and tourism industry.
Lin Sheng, an escape room lover, said that the immersive experience was a flavouring agent in real life. “Playing the games with NPCs allows me to forget real worries in life. Sometimes, life is too heavy. I think the immersive experience provides me with a world free of worries,” said Lin.
Yi Xiaoxi, another escape game fan, said that she preferred horror—themed(恐怖主题的)rooms as she no longer needed to hide her feelings and could shout out to let go of her stress(压力)when playing the game.
21. China’s escape room market scale in 2018 was about ________.
A.5 billion yuan | B.10 billion yuan | C.15 billion yuan | D.20 billion yuan |
22. What is the third paragraph mainly about?
A.The inventor of the game. | B.The development of the game. |
C.The introduction of non-player characters. | D.The reason for the popularity of the game. |
23. What is the escape room’s future like in He Yan’s opinion?
A.Bright. | B.Distant. | C.Uncertain. | D.Hopeless. |
24. What does the underlined word “a flavouring agent” probably mean in paragraph 5?
A.a rule to follow | B.a chance to relax | C.a lesson to learn | D.a task to finish |
25. What’s the best title for the passage?
A.Ways to get away from worries in real life. |
B.Many escape rooms are being built across China. |
C.More young people go to escape rooms. |
D.More games pay attention to the immersive experience. |