HomepageNewsUpgrade Your Next Game Night

Upgrade Your Next Game Night

Christine Iannicelli talks virtual escape rooms, trivia and game design tips.

Are you looking to change up your game night routine? Instructional Technology Librarian Christine Iannicelli shares her tips and tricks for hosting an action-packed virtual game night.

Prior to the pandemic, friends and families across the country participated in pop-culture themed escape rooms racing to complete the puzzles in the allotted time. Iannicelli has designed and hosted escape rooms for the Ursinus community with themes including Jurassic Park, Star Wars and Marvel vs. DC. “This year I had around 200 participants play physical escape rooms,” she says.

Iannicelli notes that the library website offers digital escape rooms as well as instructions and tips for building an escape room at home. If you choose to play a digital escape room, she says, “the group can use video conferencing software and have one person share their screen and go through the game while the others watch and help solve puzzles.” She explains that virtual escape room designers should plan their puzzles in a linear fashion and suggests using platforms like Qualtrics or Google forms.

In addition to escape rooms, Iannicelli has also designed and hosted games both professionally and personally. She says, “It’s amazing what you can build in PowerPoint. I’ve hosted everything from Wheel of Fortune to Family Feud to Scattergories just by using PowerPoint.” Iannicelli says that participants can connect through any video conferencing platform of their choice to host a game.

Once you connect through whatever video conferencing software you have access to, the game host can ask the group some trivia that they’ve gathered online or through physical trivia games they have at home. They can also leverage online games like the ones listed below. Finally, they can be creative and create their own! I have instructions on how to create games on this website,” she says. By Mary Lobo ’15 & Jordan Scharaga ’17

Christine Iannicelli Recommends: Escape Room Puzzle Games & Tools

News Home