Creating a competition students could play from their couches

House Battle: A Digital Escape Room

In the middle of one of the pandemic lockdowns, our Energy Transition team partnered up with UniPartners Wageningen to give students at Wageningen University in the Netherlands a fun evening and, at the same time, introduce them to the energy transition. How? With a ‘House Battle’ in which we challenged students to escape from our digital escape room, Unlock the Volt.

The competition was between student houses, and each team and called in from their living room. The story behind the digital escape room paints a picture of our world in 2050: rising sea levels and record-breaking temperatures during all seasons. Students were encouraged and made aware of how seemingly small changes in behavior today can add up to significant positive impact overt time. The challenge brought together almost 100 people, who, after a short explanation, had an hour to escape. The fastest team wins, which was all the encouragement the teams needed. The students puzzled fanatically to beat all the challenges in Unlock the Volt, and the fastest team escaped in 31 minutes—a record time!

While the record is a fantastic result for the winning team, all participants left the escape room with a renewed interest in the energy transition. The major takeaway? That everyone has a role to play in reducing energy consumption.