[Commentary] Room Escape, Haunted House Adventure, Table Game Werewolf Killing ... With the outbreak of the epidemic, these popular entertainment venues for young people were once closed. As the level of Beijing's response to prevention and control has decreased, recently, some secret rooms and game centers in Beijing have opened for business.
On the afternoon of May 8th, the reporter saw in a board game bar that although it was just open for business, there have been guests coming to the store and registering body temperature. The staff of the board game bar told reporters that the store had been shut down for nearly two months and had lost hundreds of thousands of yuan. However, with the improvement of the epidemic situation, the current passenger traffic has gradually recovered.
[Same period] Xu Anran, owner of a board game bar in Beijing
(Before the epidemic) The daily passenger flow can reach 500 to 600 passengers at the best time. But now because of the epidemic situation, there may be twenty or thirty people a day. Since the prevention and control level of May 1 has been reduced, (passenger traffic) has recovered by more than 90%. In fact, the board game is to provide a social place for everyone through the game. It is the general trend to return to reality from the Internet.
[Concurrent period] Consumer Mr. Zhao
Because this time the epidemic has been staying at home without going out, and then it is really boring, just playing with everyone on the Internet, I am more interested in board games. I knew that when I opened the door, I came directly, and came out to play face-to-face with my friends. I feel better.
[Commentary] In addition, in a secret room escape experience museum in Beijing, the reporter saw the clerk cleaning and disinfecting the secret room and props. Relevant staff said that their secret room chain stores were closed from early February and did not open until May 1. Only ten-three of the ten stores are currently operating normally, and the company has lost more than one million.
[Same period] Li Hanlun, head of a secret room experience store in Beijing
The losses since the suspension of business are estimated to be about one million yuan to two million yuan. If it is more than in previous years, (the store) will lose an operating income of about 400,000, then a business in the store from May 1 to May 5. The amount is around 100,000. Compared with the previous year, May 1st has a 20% reduction, but it is because of the subsidy of the national policy that we have been exempted from this three-month rent for an amount of about 200,000.
[Commentary] Li Hanlun introduced that the offline stores such as room escape and script killing only cost rent, pre-renovation and human resources, so the rent reduction allows his shop to take a breather. During the period of suspension of business, he and the team not only conducted research and development of online table games, but also actively sought cooperation with television stations.
[Same period] Li Hanlun, head of a secret room experience store in Beijing
For example, we have crowdfunded some physical table games online, and the sales status has exceeded our expectations. During the epidemic, we also participated in the bidding of Hunan Satellite TV variety show. We also won the bid. Stream still helps.
【Explanation】 According to the data released by Meituan Research Institute, from 2016 to 2018, the number of Chinese Chamber of Commerce increased from 7331 to 10683, an increase of 45.7% in two years. According to predictions, users in the secret room industry will exceed 2.6 million in 2019. However, the outbreak of the epidemic stopped the industry. Li Hanlun told reporters that during the epidemic, about 40% of the Chamber of Secrets in Beijing closed down. He believes that this is a process of survival of the fittest. If he is not to be eliminated, the Chamber of Commerce should focus on the research and development of content.
[Same period] Li Hanlun, head of a secret room experience store in Beijing
It is still a process of survival of the fittest. In the coming year, it will be more biased towards this kind of large-scale real experience experience space. Then, the game content and scene layout must be made more detailed, and the overall plot should be richer. From the first-level warning to the second-level warning, people's desire to come out and consume is still relatively strong. I believe there will still be many people who will experience our real experience museum.
Liu Xuanting reports from Beijing
Editor in charge: [Li Yuxin]