HIDDEN is an outdoor escape room game that allows players to explore Singapore’s landscapes and history
Singapore has no shortage of escape rooms, which are often built in and feature puzzles for participants to solve to beat the game and “escape” the room.
However, there is one business that takes the concept of the escape room outside, and that’s it HIDDEN.
We spoke to the founders of HIDDEN, Lim Yee Hung, 40 and Loh Jun Wei, 40, to find out how they attract “thousands of people” every week with their game that combines the physical and virtual worlds.
Homecoming inspired HIDDEN
Having lived in the United Kingdom for 14 years, Yee Hung had spent his time there as a property analyst in London at Deloitte and as an architect, mainly in park projects.
One of his projects was Castle Black from Game of Thrones, where he signed a license with HBO to turn it into a theme park.
When COVID-19 hit, Yee Hung sold his projects in Britain and returned to Singapore, where he taught himself to code and built HIDDEN with his co-founder and former JC classmate, Jun Wei. The duo launched in May 2022, a time that Yee Hung called “perfect” for the circuit breaker.
“People wanted to get them out of their homes, happy to learn about their yards, while still complying with social distancing rules,” she said.
Although he has spent nearly two decades away from Singapore, Yee Hung said he has never lost touch with home. Instead, coming back made him realize how much the world had changed in his absence.
“When I left Singapore in 2007, Marina Bay Sands, Gardens by the Bay, and Jewel did not exist. The population was less than five million. Returning, it was a very different Singapore: more than six million people, a new sky, and a new energy in the city,” Yee Hung recalled.
At that time, many places from his childhood had disappeared, from the neighborhood shops he used to go to, to the apartment he grew up in and the fields where he played football.
That sense of loss ended up being the inspiration behind HIDDEN Singapore. For Yee Hung, the game was a way to preserve both the Singapore that is gone and the Singapore of today that may one day disappear as well.
It was my way of preserving the Singapore that is gone and the Singapore now that we will no doubt miss 10 years from today, because Singapore is changing so much, so fast.
Digging into the archives of Singapore to create HIDDEN
Drawing on his experience working with global brands such as HBO, Yee Hung wanted HIDDEN to go beyond high-quality storytelling and create an experience that immerses people in Singapore’s history and culture.
“When you’re working at that level, it’s not enough to just capture the vibe. You’re expected to do research, really understand the source, the characters, the story and the world. And most importantly, your work has to add to it, not just referring to it,” he shared.
While working on the Castle Black theme park project, Yee Hung became deeply familiar with the Game of Thrones universe, even in the place where important scenes involving Jon Snow took place. That experience taught him the importance of treating the source material seriously, with care and respect.
It was the philosophy he carried when creating HIDDEN.
Instead of creating standard scenery modes, Yee Hung and Jun Wei spent about six months developing and coding the game. This involved researching Singapore’s archives, bringing together historical materials and identifying the core narratives behind each site.
Rather than developing a standalone app, they deliberately chose to integrate the chatbot into WhatsApp as a platform to make the experience more accessible, especially for older users, while making the interaction feel more immersive by allowing players to “chat” directly with in-game characters.
How the game works
All this being said, you might be curious about how the game actually works. HIDDEN transforms the buildings and locations of Singapore into an immersive reality game.
Guided by Void Deck Cat, the game’s in-house mascot and WhatsApp chatbot, players find clues that guide them to quests throughout Singapore. By analyzing buildings and their location, they solve puzzles while uncovering historical images and stories.
As players explore different areas, they can send their answers to a chatbot or ask for advice if they get stuck.
Players start at a designated area, where they scan a QR code to begin. Each adventure has its own theme and starting point. For example, the MONOPOLY: Katong-Joo Chiat experience starts at the Singapore Visitor Centre.
All community adventures are self-guided and take 60 minutes to two hours to complete. Each experience is priced from S$29.90 and comes with merchandise and freebies from local vendors exclusive to the adventure.
Although the game can be played alone, Yee Hung recommends playing in groups of two to five so that everyone can participate in solving the clues. There are currently seven public spaces and seven business spaces available across Singapore.
As players travel through the surrounding areas, they interact with Void Deck Cat via WhatsApp, finding clues that prompt them to look around.
Along the way, players can also unlock perks that direct them to local private businesses like Kele’s Pineapple Bakery for amazing breaks and rewards. In MONOPOLY-themed games, players even earn MONOPOLY currency to spend at participating merchants.
At the end of the game, players submit their final answers and receive a summary page showing their completion time, missed clues, and photos taken during their journey.
Strong acceptance at home and abroad
Building on its strong early action since launch, HIDDEN went on to win the TripAdvisor Travelers’ Choice Award in its first year and continues to do so every year.
Yee Hung also shared that the experience has attracted more than 100,000 players so far, including both locals and tourists, many of whom come back to try different adventures.
In addition, HIDDEN has secured major partnerships with brands such as Hasbro and the National Gallery Singapore, with its MONOPOLY and FRAMED tours respectively.
However, Yee Hung noted that the early days came with significant business challenges. This included convincing people to try a completely new concept, designing experiences that would truly delight players, and persuading local businesses to participate in an untested format with no established track record.
With limited marketing budgets in the beginning, the group relied heavily on organic growth. “Word of mouth is free and powerful,” he said.
On the operational side, Yee Hung also highlighted the technical demands of running HIDDEN at scale. The team had to ensure that their systems could handle thousands of chatbot conversations simultaneously without crashing, which led them to develop proprietary technology that could handle the “heavy lifting” seamlessly.
And they had to pace game sessions carefully to avoid overwhelming their independent F&B partners with a sudden influx of players.
In November 2024, HIDDEN expanded beyond Singapore into its first overseas market.
Yee Hung shared that the company became the first Singapore company to sign a partnership agreement with the Māori tribe, Ngāti Kahungunu ki Tāmaki-nui-a-Rua in New Zealand, to develop outdoor adventure games based on Māori cultural issues. One such project is Hidden Aotearoa.
He noted that although the technical framework remains the same, the way the story is told changes completely depending on the context. “The backend tech stays the same, but the cultural lens changes completely,” he said.
Reflecting on creating Hidden Aotearoa for the New Zealand context, he added: “We learned from our Māori colleagues that we shouldn’t try to tell them other people’s stories.”
In the future, Yee Hung sees continued global expansion on the cards. “I want HIDDEN to join Lego and IKEA, so that I can become a global brand that brings joy to people in cities around the world,” he said.
- Read more about HIDDEN here.
- Read other articles we’ve written about Singapore businesses here.
Featured Image Credit: HIDDEN
