How to not sabotage yourself in an escape room!
Escape rooms have been sweeping the country these past couple of years with more and more of us pitting our intelligence, logic and deduction skills against fiendish puzzles designed to test the best of us. Being a Games Master (my actual job title) I have seen plenty of people challenge their wits against our rooms and come out victorious, but I have also seen many teams think themselves out of an escape. This has happened more then once and I feel I need to give you some tips to help you not sabotage yourself next time you are in an escape room!
Listen to each other (especially children) Teamwork is key! If you find something, don’t just keep it to yourself or put it aside. Tell the rest of your team and work together to find what it could be used for. You never know – someone else may be working on a puzzle that needs the exact thing you have found. Children too can be extremely perceptive and good at finding thing and connections us grown-ups over look, so don’t underestimate them just because they are small!
Try not to panic
Many people (especially newbies) run into a room and immediately start to panic. They have no idea where to start or what to do, and all they are thinking is ‘We are never going to do this!’ – you can see it in their eyes! If you feel like that, take a breath and have a look around the room; there is normally something interesting that catches your eye and that is normally a good place to start. Don’t let negative thinking get you down, as once you get started it all falls into place.
Have a system
Making a mess in the room is part of the fun. However, there should be a good balance between mess and chaos. If you immediately rip up the room you tend to spend the rest of the game trying to find clues that you buried under things or flung across the room. Having a system means that you don’t lose things that may be important.
Don’t over think
Sure, some puzzles require you to stretch your brain a little, but others require a subtler, more logical approach. Over thinking before you have under thunk (you know what I mean) can be dangerous. You waste time thinking about all these elaborate solutions when sometimes simple is all you need. Start off small and if that doesn’t work, that’s when it’s time to get creative.
Listen to your Games Master!
We are here to help! We just want you to escape. There’s nothing more boring than watching a team standing in the middle of the room looking at each other with blank faces. We want to be entertained as much as you do! Also, if we tell you something isn’t a clue, I promise we are not trying to double bluff you. My favorite quote from a team is: “She said the fan isn’t a clue…but it might be!” It’s not!