Genres & formats
The genres and formats of Taiwan's real-life games — from micro-horror to immersive theater and outdoor city quests.
Taiwan's most-watched genre, split into micro-horror and extreme-horror.
Often ranked as its own category in annual lists, with 'micro' and 'extreme' tiers. Common in Taiwan: haunted/abandoned-hospital/ruins settings, jump scares, light-and-sound effects and live actors chasing players.
Logic and plot heavy — solve the case, find the culprit.
Emphasizes deduction and story: castle or crime-scene settings, piecing clues together, plot twists. Taiwan studios such as BGLOCK and various reasoning-focused titles specialize here.
Light, beginner-friendly romps — treasure, exploration, escape.
A relaxed take aimed at newcomers: treasure/exploration/escape setups with lots of mechanisms, fewer locks, and an emphasis on fun over fear.
Periods and places brought to life through puzzles.
Rooms built around historical settings and cultural motifs; puzzles often tie into period props, scripts and local stories — overlaps with Taiwan's issue-based outdoor games.
Spaceships, labs and heists with high-tech locks.
Future and tech settings lean on electronic gear: keypads, RFID taps, sensor mechanisms and screens. Strong on spectacle and 'control-room' atmosphere.
Move you with a story rather than scare you — an emerging direction.
A growing trend that swaps scares for feeling: family, memory and journey themes (e.g. grandmother / old-home settings from studios like Mr.Myth and EnterSpace).
Gentle difficulty for families and children.
Friendly-difficulty rooms with cartoonish settings, simple puzzles and cooperative challenges. Many studios run a dedicated family line.
Close-up actor interaction; some shows have no puzzles at all.
Experience-driven and dynamic: professional actors, improvisation and theatrical atmosphere. Some productions (e.g. INSANE by Dream Kingdom) run as a 90-minute show with no puzzles at all.
Small groups solve puzzles across real streets and landmarks.
Groups of up to six move through real streets and sites with a physical puzzle kit plus a phone web-app, often tied to local stories or social issues — pioneered in Taiwan by Clubon.
Dozens of players, NPC interaction, team competition.
Task-driven and dynamic for tens to over a hundred players: NPC interaction, multi-stage challenges and inter-team competition — popular for corporate team-building. Overlaps with script-murder (LARP) where each player has a role.