Many people assume that the best players in an escape rooms are the ones who are good at puzzles and problem-solving. That’s a useful skill, but it’s worth remembering that an escape room is a team game. The real key to escaping is using strategies that get your team working together as cleverly and efficiently as possible. Doing well in an escape room can be hard if you don’t know the best practices for getting out. This article offers four important pieces of advice to help you and the rest of your team escape successfully.
1. Communicate
It’s very easy to retreat into your own thoughts while working on a puzzle. But remember that this is a team game and you can help each other. Four eyes see more than two, so use as many of them as you can. If you find a clue or a sign, tell the rest of the team. There’s a good chance other pieces of the puzzle connect to what you’ve found. And if you get stuck on a particular clue or puzzle, ask your teammates for help. Sometimes all it takes is another pair of eyes that sees things differently. Don’t hesitate to ask your friends.
2. Keep your eyes open
Anything can turn up in an escape room. Hidden doors, safes and other clues are tucked away in deceptive places. That makes it especially important to examine your surroundings carefully. This is more than just looking around — turn things over, look behind everything, be suspicious of every ordinary-looking object. Do it thoroughly and you’re guaranteed plenty of surprises: secret doors and hidden compartments turn up this way. Just don’t take it too far. If something won’t move, or there’s clearly no trick attached to an object, be careful — you can easily damage the set, or in the worst case make the room unplayable.
3. Divide and conquer
You usually have only 60–75 minutes in an escape room, so using your resources well matters. And what’s your most valuable resource? Your teammates. Make the team more effective by avoiding duplicated work. Spread out across the room and work on different clues and puzzles. If several people spend too long in the same part of the room on the same task, you’ll miss other important clues.
4. Use your clues when you need them
Escaping a room by guessing the padlock codes and puzzle answers would be a remarkable feat, but it’s extremely unlikely. It really matters that you use the clues and objects you find. In almost every escape room there’s a point where the group hits a wall and doesn’t know how to go on. If you need that extra nudge, don’t be afraid to ask the game master for a hint. Don’t let your pride get in the way — getting out with a little help is far better than not getting out at all.
If you’re still waiting for your first successful escape, we hope this post helps you get there. Next time you play an escape room , keep these strategies and tips in mind — they’ll certainly help.
The clock is ticking. Good luck.
