It’s TERPECA time, my friends!

Thanks to the annual voting and nominations, we will soon find out which rooms will be awarded the title of best in the world. It's a special season of the year for escape room fans - rankings, awards and, above all, escape rooms.... All these associations come together in one term - our dear escape community, TERPECA 2022 is approaching fast!

Some of you are waiting for Halloween and are already buying pumpkins in September, others are instead getting ready for the most prestigious escape room awards - of course, we are talking about TERPECA. We are pleased to announce that this season awaited by all fans and owners has begun!

What is TERPECA?

Terpeca, actually the Top Escape Rooms Project Enthusiasts' Choice Award, is an event that has been taking place since 2018, which is, in a way, an attempt to find the best escape rooms around the world. To do so, it uses the experience of gamers to award prizes to the best rooms in the industry. TERPECA itself consists of two phases: a nomination phase and a voting phase. The nomination phase begins in October, while voting begins in November.

To participate in the TERPECA poll, both rooms and voters must meet several requirements. A scenario eligible for voting must be open to players for at least 30 days, counting between November 1, 2021, and October 31, 2022. This means that any newly opened rooms must be open commercially no later than October 1, 2022. In addition, the room must be playable in English for the entire potential English-speaking team. Such information must be visibly marked on the room's website, although other sources where such information is found are also accepted (e.g., if the room is listed in the Lockme database and has information about the English version being available).

Applicants for Nominator status must have a minimum of 200 rooms on their account. Voters, on the other hand, must have 50 (if they register by October 1) or 100 (after October 1, when the TERPECA rule changes take effect).

The voting phase consists of marking all the finalist rooms that one has visited and ranking them according to one's opinion.

TERPECA's creators have prepared a series of step-by-step videos that explain the processes of nominating, applying or ranking themselves. The first of these, titled "How to apply," is now available on YouTube. Regional ambassadors are working on the wide availability of subtitle languages - we, for our part, can confirm that there is already Polish!

Attention: changes!

There are some significant changes ahead compared to previous years. Here are the highlights for all parties:

• Until now, to cast a vote, you had to have a minimum of 50 rooms on your account. As of October 1, the minimum number of rooms increases to 100. This means that if a player has between 50 and 100 rooms, he or she must hurry to create an account. Or to catch up quickly :) For players who already have an established account, this provision is not obligatory (it applies only to new voters).
• This year there will be no category for live cam (online) rooms. This is due to the decrease in the amount of content in this category.
• Last year's voters who have reached the number of 200 rooms visited are eligible to become Nominators.
• Further informational data will be added to all voting rooms: a tag with the horror category and available languages. One of the available languages must be English. This metadata is only an informational factor and will not affect the ranking.
• Rooms that won the Top Room Award in 2021 cannot be nominated - they are automatically moved to the TERPECA 2022 finalists.
• The maximum number of nominations has been reduced from 20 to 15 rooms.

Don't delay in applying to be a contributor! Apply here if you have at least 50 games to your credit (or 100 games if you apply after October 1, 2022). Tell your friends about the vote and together become part of this great project!

Ambassadors wanted

To streamline the nomination process and expand its activities, TERPECA is constantly looking for ambassadors from different countries. Currently, ambassadors come from 17 countries: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, France, Germany, Greece, Israel, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Switzerland, the US, and the UK. Potential ambassador candidates must be enthusiastic and not affiliated with any company doing business in the escape room industry. They must also have been involved in the project for a minimum of one year. interested parties are asked to email their applications to [email protected].

More information about the project and this year's event can be found on TERPECA's official website and fan page. And we can't wait to announce the candidates for the title of best rooms in the world!