Of course, as an escape room business, we know a thing or two about helping customers reach the 90% escape rate we advertise. This is determined by the popularity of specific rooms among ExitTheRoom.com users. To help you and your team work together to solve all the puzzles and find all the clues as quickly as possible and to win the game before time runs out, we’ve organised these hints into a series of categories based on how you can best apply them. Escape rooms are designed so that you can find out how well you and your group work together.
An inventory of escape room hints and strategies
To complete an escape room in under an hour, you should keep in mind the following advice, which ranges from keeping track of the clock to organising your clues.
Please keep an eye on the time.
When a group becomes engrossed in an escape room’s puzzles, time flies by. Without paying attention, you could spend twenty minutes on a single puzzle before the tutor yells out a warning. Because of the time constraints inherent with escape rooms, accurate timekeeping is essential. One person in the group can be responsible for keeping track of time, or you can set alerts at predetermined intervals.
Take the Field with a Smaller Than Ideal Team Size
There is usually a limit to the number of players that can participate in an escape room game at once and still have a good time. Keep in mind that if you go above this amount, there will be actual crowds to contend with. It’s possible that this won’t be enough time for everyone to collaborate. People might miss out on the wow factors of the escape rooms if the number of participants are too high as it will take a lot of time to get everyone caught up. We recommend limiting your game to between 50 and 75% of the maximum number of participants allowed. And since this is such an exciting time, we recommend that you reserve a private room so that you won’t have to share it with strangers.
It’s important to make a list of your strengths before you start playing.
When play begins, the environment often becomes frenetic. As the group yells at one another in a frenzy and races against the clock, it becomes increasingly difficult to divide up tasks. Consequently, a pre-game huddle in which each player’s strengths and areas of specialisation are discussed can be quite beneficial. Take a moment before you enter the room or the clock begins to talk about your strengths. These might be anything from wordplay to a second language to mental arithmetic to lockpicking. This talk can reduce the amount of last-minute arguing and confusion about who on the team is responsible for what during the game.
Pay Attention To Your Group
Consistently, teams’ inability to finish the game in the allotted time is traced back to their unwillingness to exhaust all possible solutions to a given puzzle or hint. You never know when a seemingly stupid or useless concept will turn out to be the key to success. Without the possibility of undoing the effects, all ideas should be welcomed and investigated. In an escape room, you never know which line of reasoning will lead you closer to the right answer. Increasing the chances of a successful escape can be achieved by allowing everyone to express their thoughts, no matter how outlandish. It’s a lot of fun to try out wild and wacky concepts, too. On a side note, if you’re into VR, you can try out the escape room Entermission Sydney for a unique experience.
Organize your evidence.
One of the best strategies for escaping a room is to keep track of all the clues you find. Unless the team has a simple structure in place, it is easy for a hint to be lost as members of the team explore and experiment within the room. Spending time and energy looking for clues you’ve already found is a waste of time and may cause you to worry or get angry for no reason.
Pick a spot to store your clues at the outset of the game. Then, add to the pile whenever a team member unearths a message or something that raises suspicion. Sometimes a solution will come to you once you see the items arranged in a new way. As a bonus, if you know where to get your materials, the game will go much more smoothly.
It’s also a good idea to devise a mechanism for keeping track of what has been searched for and what has been tested by different team members, such as using stickers or post-it notes to indicate progress. Keys should be left in the lock after being used to prevent team members from becoming confused and trying the same keys multiple times.
Conclusion
If you go into the room prepared with a strategy and a plan, you’ll have a much better time and feel more accomplished when you escape. The ability to stay cool under pressure, think creatively in the face of adversity, and collaborate effectively are all transferable talents that can be honed through strategic play in escape rooms.