Escape room worker dies after hanging act goes wrong

Escape room worker dies after hanging act goes wrong

2026-05-15

Last Sunday, an escape room actor performing a hanging act was sent to hospital after the trick went wrong and she was left without oxygen for 20 minutes. She had initially appeared to have narrowly escaped death and regained her vital signs later at the hospital. After five days of treatment in a coma, she was unfortunately pronounced dead on Friday morning. The escape room operator, Rostart Games was forced to suspend operations after the incident. Now, a Taipei City Council candidate revealed that he was left with a serious injury as a customer at the same venue, just two weeks before the incident. Speaking to the press with the victim’s surviving family, he called on the Taipei City Government to thoroughly inspect all escape rooms for safety.

Brother
Family member of victim
My sister was not a prop, nor was she a part of the plot. She was also not an employee that can be sacrificed. She was a living and breathing human being.

The victim’s brother chokes back tears when recounting the incident. Last Sunday, his sister had been near-fatally strangulated while performing as a ghost that died by hanging, during an escape room session at Rostart Games’ Xinyi branch in Taipei. At the time, she had regained vital signs after she was sent to the hospital, but being without oxygen for almost 20 minutes, her condition was unstable. Unfortunately, after five days of treatment, she was pronounced dead at 11 a.m. Friday. Her family members are slamming the company for negligence.

Brother
Family member of victim
An employee shouldn’t have to worry about their own safety when giving a high-risk performance such as hanging on a rope. There should be clear guidelines and a change of procedures to prevent any such tragedy from reoccurring.

Cousin
Family member of victim
She’s her mother’s rock, her dearest daughter. How can the company possibly compensate for the loss of a daughter? Human lives should not be written off as operational costs.

A 3D model simulates the indoor conditions at the time. The employee playing a hanged ghost was all alone in the enclosed space. She had a rope around her neck and assumed a squatting position. She’s also not the first to have lost consciousness on this job.

Former employee
Rostart Games
After getting the rope around the neck, a buzzer will go off to alert the performer to squat and collapse. The rope and hands will be behind a mask. At the time, I’d nearly lost consciousness by the time I’d bobbed my upper body for a third time. I only escaped after taking a large inhale. Throughout the session, I was the only one in the room.

A Taipei City Council candidate says the venue isn’t only hazardous to employees, but also to customers. Around two weeks before the incident, Chen Sheng-wen got seriously injured in an escape room session at the same branch. A 9cm-long piece of acrylic punctured through the connective tissue around one kidney.

Chen Sheng-wen
Taipei City Council candidate (DPP)
At the time, I had to rest for many weeks. Rostart Games has operated illegally for 10 years, and was never inspected. Never. It had never been found to be operating unlawfully. Is the Taipei City Government blind or something?

Now that the worst had happened, the employee’s surviving family will also be suing the business owner for causing death by negligence. They also call on the Taipei City Government to thoroughly inspect other escape rooms to prevent another accident.

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