Serious Games in Mechanics: GAMEchanics—The First Mechanics‐Themed Escape Room

ABSTRACT Serious games are fully developed games designed with purposes beyond entertainment, such as education or training. They combine narrative structures, rule‐based systems, and problem‐based learning within an interactive environment, enabling experiential learning through player interaction. In contrast, gamification refers to the integration of individual game design elements, such as points, badges, or leaderboards, into non‐game contexts to enhance motivation and engagement. Educational escape rooms often incorporate elements of both approaches by providing immersive, time‐bound puzzle‐solving experiences that promote collaboration, critical thinking, and problem‐solving. Because learning content is embedded directly into the gameplay, such escape rooms can be considered serious games rather than solely gamified activities. This paper presents GAMEchanics , the first escape room tailored to engineering mechanics fundamentals. Designed for outreach and mobile deployment, GAMEchanics includes six thematically linked puzzle stations (e.g., strength of materials, beam bending), realized both physically in a pop‐up tent and digitally as a virtual game. The narrative, set in a university library, engages players through historical and fictionalized appearances of prominent scientists, blending mechanical tasks with science history. The escape room is accessible, reproducible via 3D‐printed components, and open‐access via Github and open‐source under a CC BY‐NC 4.0 license. Evaluation at public and academic events consistently revealed positive feedback across diverse audiences, regardless of prior technical knowledge. Results show that GAMEchanics successfully sparks interest in mechanics and demonstrates the potential of serious games in STEM outreach and encourages replication by other institutions. Additionally, an outlook reveals further ideas for adaptation at university‐level teaching.