Escape Room Tips
So you’re looking for Escape room tips?
Are you new to escape rooms and looking for some hacks? Perhaps you’ve seen your friends post a time and you really badly want to finish quicker! Read our Escape Room Tips to gain the ultimate advantage
1 – Arrive Relaxed
Getting plenty of rest ahead of your visit is certainly recommended! Arriving with comfortable time to spare will ensure that you and your team approach everything in a relaxed manner. The last thing you want is any tension amongst your team following you into the room that may affect your experience.
- Be rested before you arrive
- Arrive in good time
- No tension before entry
2 – Listen Carefully
The pre-brief and story introductions can feature lots of handy information. Don’t be afraid to ask questions if there’s anything at all you’re unsure about. There’s no such thing as a silly question especially if you’re new to escape rooms. It’s also worth encouraging your team mates to ask as you want everyone to be as effective as possible. Ask about whether the room has single use locks and linear gameflow if not mentioned. Your games master will be keen to provide you the best experience without compromising the adventure.
- Listen to the pre brief and story introduction
- Ask any question that’s on your mind
- Encourage teammates to ask questions
- Does the room use single use locks and is it linear?
3 – Make the most of your time
60 minutes may seem like a long time but that time will quickly pass you by. We’ve found that the first puzzle is often the one that takes the longest to complete so the sooner you get started the better.
- Don’t underestimate the room time
- First puzzle often takes the longest
4 – Share your findings
Teams work best when they work together. Communicate your findings with the rest of your team. Make sure everyone knows what’s unusual. What may be a clue or an input for a puzzle. Collect useful tools or objects that you may encounter. Lay out anything that might be useful so you can easily find it if needed later.
- Work together
- Communicate effectively
- Collect items
- Arrange clearly
5 – Don’t fall down the rabbit hole
Often there will be lots of things in a room that don’t have anything to do with puzzles. Try to avoid reading too much into any books you may find or labels printed on various items. A quick investigation to see if anything is hidden on items is helpful but most of the time they can be disregarded. With a book a quick flick through to see if anything is inside or inside the cover should suffice.
- Not everything is a puzzle
- Try to avoid focusing on random props
- Disregard the content of books or labels in majority of situations
- Quick checks can be handy to rule objects out
- Books should be limited to a quick flick through or inspection inside the cover.
6 – Share the challenges
When you have a team it’s best to take turns to try different people against different challenges. Some may be talented with skill puzzles whereas others may thrive with a logic enigma. Don’t overlook the skills and talents available within your team. It is often helpful for someone to project manage with an overview of the items and their potential applications.
- Try differnet people on different puzzles
- Don’t overlook skills
- Project managers can be handy
7 – Communicate your ideas & logic
If you have an idea then do your best to explain it. Your viewpoint or idea may cause a lightbulb moment for someone else even if your original idea was not right the first time.
- Communicate your idea & supporting logic
- Your thought process may help others
8 – Support one another
Encourage one another without overwhelming the situation. Give space to the person who’s trying to complete the puzzle. Allow each other time to try out different things fully before trying something else. You’d be amazed how often the correct line of thought is interupted by someone midway through application
- Encourage one another
- Provide enough space
- Try out ideas fully before attempting another
9 – Ask for hints when needed
If you hit a dead-end or don’t know where to turn there’s no shame in taking a hint. There’s nothing worse than frustrations building to the point where nobody is having fun. Remember that a hint will not always be the complete answer so ensure that all your team gets to hear the advice as accurately as possible. Very often if one person received the hint they will summarise it and skip key details.
- Take a hint when needed
- Hints may not be complete answer
- Discuss hints fully with teammates
10 – Don’t force anything
All puzzles should be designed in a way that provides an accessible experience for all. No puzzle should be able to completed by being forced and you may find you are delayed if a puzzle you need ends up broken.
- Puzzles should be accessible
- No puzzles should be forced
- Broken puzzles may delay your game
11 – Feed your curiosity
Maybe there was a puzzle that wasn’t clear? Possibly a clue or story point you were unsure of? Feel free to ask your gamemaster at the end. We’d all rather you left without a question weighing on your mind later! Good escape rooms will also be excited to answer questions about how their rooms work for those hoping to understand the engineering behind the mystery.
- Ask gamesmaster when things don’t make sense
- Good rooms are happy to discuss the mechanisms
12 – Nobody likes spoilers
You will encounter some amazing things when you visit escape rooms. As challenging as it may be you’ll need to keep the cool stuff under wraps until someone has experienced it for themselves. Simply recommend that people try out the experiences first hand. There are a lot of independent escape rooms that really value your support.
- Avoid giving spoilers
- Encourage people to try experiences for themselves
Good Luck!
We hope that you’ve found this collection of escape room tips useful. Perhaps now you’re ready to take on one of our rooms?
If you have any other tips that you would include, please drop us an email at info@prodigyescapes.co.uk or reach out to us on one of our social media channels.
You can read more about Prodigy Escapes on our About us page and on our Blog.
