The Ultimate Escape Room Experience

Part 4: The Game Experience

Now that we have chatted about common puzzles seen in escape rooms, let’s dive right into part 4 of our 5 part series about The Ultimate Escape Room Experience!

We’ve talked about the puzzles, but what about the experience? 

I often find that in an escape room there is definitely pressure (less so right at the beginning), and adrenaline can get high as the game progresses. How you handle that adrenaline can make or break the experience for you. Many people get a rush out of trying to beat record times and others just from escaping with time left on the clock. It’s important though to keep a decent track of time (something I often fail at quite a bit), and spread your clues out as needed during the experience (however don’t hoard your clues, if you are stuck USE THEM. It is better to complete the game with all three clues used, then get halfway through and not have used a single clue after all). One hour may not seem like a lot of time, but just remember that these rooms are designed to be beatable within an hour, so just keep your group moving. If you find the group as a whole has nothing to do and isn’t making progress, it’s generally a good time to use one of your clues. Another option that doesn’t hurt is to assign a member of your team to coordinate the various groups, keep people engaged, and keep notes. This person can make sure smaller groups are working on something and can often spot connections between puzzle parts that others may miss as they are too engrossed in the specific puzzle they are working on. 

One of the big things to remember though is that win or lose is a game. Sometimes under pressure tempers flare. I’ve seen it in adults interacting with each other, and with adults dismissing kid’s ideas (and often these kids are right on the money as to how a puzzle works… remember logical connections in escape rooms are meant to be simple connections, often adults overthink a puzzle whereas a child takes a more straightforward approach). If during a game you feel the pressure is getting to you, it doesn’t hurt to take a few minutes, take a deep breath, and then continue the game (just remember that your game guide cannot stop the timer during this moment). Additionally switching the puzzle you are working on helps sometimes, as different brains think differently, and sometimes you’ll immediately put together a puzzle someone else can’t put together, and sometimes someone else will be able to put together the puzzle that you’ve been struggling with with for a while. In the end, even if you fail the room, that room can be the building block for future escape rooms. Often if you ask your game guide, they will be happy to guide you through the remaining portion of your room (time permitting) so that way you understand the nature of the remaining puzzles and can use that puzzle knowledge in your next escape attempt.