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Digital Escape Room Created By Learners Returns for a Second Successful Year
Following the huge success of last year’s debut challenge, the digital escape room created entirely by our Nexus learners has returned for a second year, welcoming 94 players- up from 60 last year. This learner-led venture transforms technological skills into purposeful, real-world impact, reinforcing that learning at Nexus extends far beyond the classroom walls.
This year, the dedicated Arduino Club members faced a unique, real-world design challenge: ensuring the room offered true replay value for a school community that included many returning players. The team rose to the occasion by developing a host of fresh, Arduino-based puzzles. Learners like Charlie, Year 9, and Divyansh, Year 12, were instrumental, helping to create new challenges such as an Arduino-powered Flappy Bird game and a version of Red Light, Green Light. To keep the story fresh, they also introduced multiversal “variants” of the antagonist, the “Mad Maker”. Their ultimate ambition is to build a collection of around 12 unique Arduino puzzles that can be rotated each year, ensuring no two events feel exactly the same.
Learning Through Creation
For the learners involved, this project is rooted in the pure joy of experimenting with microcontrollers and finding creative ways to solve problems. This personal, hands-on approach defines learning at Nexus. Year 12 learner, Rayed, shared that the process of creating characters, a story, and puzzles tested their creativity and reinforced the importance of working as a team across different year groups. He also shared that Arduino served as a great introduction to hardware, giving him a fundamental understanding of how actual machines and robots are created.
Younger learners also found the experience transformative. Nathan, Year 8, shared that joining the CCA showed him that Arduino is about more than just builds; he learned how to program them and use new components. He describes Arduino as a very fun way to code and a valuable opportunity to learn from mistakes.
The project also provides unique leadership opportunities. Year 9 learner, Charlie, transitioned from a new member last year to one of the leaders this year, creating a new puzzle and designing a timer module to display player results on a year-wide leaderboard. He highly recommends the Arduino club to “learn simple coding skills and concepts but also widen your understanding of technology.”
Fundraising Through Digital Learning
One of the most rewarding aspects for everyone involved in the Arduino CCA is the pride in creating something entirely from scratch that the school community is genuinely willing to pay to experience and which, in turn, raises money for a well-deserved cause.
The escape room is run as a fundraiser for the Proteus Syndrome Foundation, a small non-profit organisation that supports people living with the extremely rare condition known as Proteus Syndrome. The donations are vital for supporting scientific research to better understand the condition, helping families manage associated costs, and—crucially—connecting people facing the same challenges to share advice and emotional support.
The Arduino CCA is purposeful, personal learning in action, connecting learners’ passions with a real-world community impact. As Mr. Ciaran, the club leader, shared, simply seeing groups leave the escape room full of excitement and energy makes all the effort worthwhile. We can’t wait to see the next iteration of the Mad Maker’s Escape Room!
Get a sneak-peek behind the scenes of our Arduino CCA in the video below:
