Brighton escape room game to highlight homelessness

A new game to be launched by Pier Pressure Escape Rooms in early December will seek to raise awareness and help combat homelessness in Brighton.
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Originally created by TimeTrap Escape Rooms in Reading, The Divide aims to highlight the unequal distribution of wealth within an escape room environment.

Pier Pressure, BrightonPier Pressure, Brighton
Pier Pressure, Brighton
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Phil Harris, the co-owner of Pier Pressure, said: “There’s a big homelessness issue in Brighton and so having this game that can help raise awareness fits in really well here.”

Mr Harris explained that the escape room would be divided into two halves, contrasting an opulent domestic apartment with one inhabited by a less fortunate family.

The aim of the game is to work between the two halves, with the various puzzles highlighting the disparity between the two settings.

Mr Harris said: “Though it may be tackling quite a bleak theme, the overriding message of the game is massively positive.

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“As well as solving puzzles, it teaches players about the everyday ways they can help to tackle homelessness.”

Further to the social message, The Divide is also helping to raise money for charity, with 10 per cent of every booking fee going straight to Brighton Housing Trust (BHT).

Andy Winter, chief executive of BHT, says there were 178 people sleeping on the streets in Brighton and Hove at the last official count.

“The support of the Escape Rooms is of huge importance to our ability to support those people living on the streets,” he said.

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“Through First Base Day Centre we are able to provide those basic facilities that most of us take for granted, such as toilets, showers, clean and dry clothes, hot drinks and a meal.”

The Divide will run at Pier Pressure for six months.

For more information visit: www.pierpressure.co.uk