Over the course of 2022, five museums within Bath & North East Somerset took part in the creation of a brand-new, free and interactive Digital Escape Room, designed and facilitated by Echo Games (CIC).
We are delighted to announce the game, entitled “Unlock Bath: Built from Beneath” is now available to play online! To launch the game, please follow this link to play (please note, all players will need a reasonably large screen to access the game): https://echogames.co.uk/unlock-bath/
Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution, Somerset Coalfield Life at Radstock Museum, the Museum of Bath at Work, Bath Medical Museum and the Museum of Bath Stone collaborated to explore the ways in which their organisations could be connected to develop a cohesive narrative, fusing artefacts and stories from each museum collection to create a new story about the local area’s rich heritage.
This project has been thoroughly enjoyable and provided each of us with a rare and unique opportunity to spend time together discussing our collections and exploring the connections and links between them. It has been a privilege to work with the exceptional people behind these much-loved museums.
The Museum of Bath Stone owes its greatest thanks to Echo Games for sharing their expertise with us and creating this high-quality online game, with a historically informative narrative.
For those who wish to find out more, this behind-the-scenes video features the participating museums: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBeSKrh44DI
In the video, Dr Daniela De Angeli (Co-Director of Echo Games), Dr Lee Scott (Co-Director of Echo Games) and Karolina Łatka (freelance Creative Writer) provide insight into their vision behind this collaboration and, the value of fun and games in today’s world. Viewers will also hear from the participating museums and, meet some of paid and voluntary professionals behind these organisations, including Matt Williams (Collections Manager of BRLSI), Miranda Litchfield (Chief Executive of the Museum of Bath Stone), Stuart Burroughs (Director of the Museum of Bath at Work), Jos Binns (Treasurer of Somerset Coalfield Life at Radstock Museum) and Imogen Smith from the Museum of Bath Stone.
In the video, Imogen Smith, Collections Manager at the Museum of Bath Stone, shares her thoughts on why projects like this can help smaller museums to expand their audiences: “The more digital content we create, and the more of our digital collection we put online, and the more we collaborate interpreting the story, in different, more accessible, digital ways, the more people can access it. So having a game is an even more attractive way of those people getting back in touch with the story that they’ve just had an inkling of, when they come here, in person.”
Miranda Litchfield, Chief Executive adds:
“…Echo Games have been brilliant, because they’ve really listened to the details of our collection, what makes us unique, and they’re really helping us to celebrate that, and find those connections with other museums, which is so important, to…. make heritage a landscape, not…. individual institutions, but it becomes part of our daily lives.”
“Echo Games CIC develops ‘seriously fun’ games and interactive experiences for universities, museums, cultural institutions, and not-for-profit organisations.’ You can find out more about their organisation on the Echo Games website: https://www.echogames.co.uk/