Dark Escape Games Begins Shipping Clown Around

It seems long ago now, but at IAAPA 2025, a new company appeared at the AVS Companies booth who go by the name Dark Escape Games. They offered an interesting twist on the popular Escape Room idea, by compacting it down to something that is the size of a deluxe arcade machine, while offering pay-per-play use on it (in essence, “arcadifiying” the escape room). DEG have now announced that they have made the first installation of one of their games, Clown Around, meaning that it has begun shipping, so let’s take a look.

Dark Escape Games

The quick summary for who DEG is, and what these games are, think of a miniaturized escape room that only takes five minutes (or less) to play through. They also don’t require an attendant, as all of the objects inside are attached using steel cables.

I got a chance to experience their two introductory titles, Clown Around and Pyramid Scheme, at IAAPA last year, where the games were also rather popular. AVS Companies serves as their exclusive distributor (it’s a little unusual to have arcade distros to have exclusive product deals these days, but not unheard of). It’s also worth noting that they’ve since added a third game to the roster, Idol Time; as of the moment I am waiting to hear back if both that and Pyramid Scheme are officially shipping. I imagine if not, they can be ordered and should begin rolling out soon.

Here’s my time with the games at the show, but in the interest or preventing spoilers, they don’t show anything like the solutions to the puzzle.

Clown Around

For Clown Around itself, it’s a murder mystery where you have to determine who is the killer of the various circus clowns. Inside of the cabinet are various clues with 3D props that you have to investigate; as you go along, there’s a a printed panel with a soft surface that you can press to eliminate suspects (when you press a clown, a red LED lights up). Whomever is last is the killer, but whether or not you’re right, determines the ending you get. It also has integrated redemption features, which I don’t recall being mentioned at IAAPA, so it might have been something added based on feedback from the show.

Clown Around by Dark Escape Games

If you find yourself in Johnson City, TN, then you can go play the first unit on location at an FEC called Tiebreakers. They’ve setup a “living storybook” installation called “Booville®”, and this serves as a part of that.

At IAAPA, I recall hearing that the interest in these games was falling a lot into the high-end FEC/theme park/cruise ship market, due to the price. Perhaps we’ll start seeing these games appear in some of those locations soon. What do you think of Clown Around?