Top Escape Room Tips You Should Know
As escape rooms continue to gain popularity across Australia, more and more people are getting curious, looking to get a taste of the thrilling and brain-scratching adventures! And after seeing how exciting these games can be, you’re all set to dive even deeper and take on the challenge of even more escape rooms. However, you will need a few winning tips and tricks for escape rooms if you want to complete the challenges successfully and hit that leaderboard, which we’ve listed in this blog.
7 Best strategies to beat the room
We’ve compiled the seven escape room tips that we’ve used to achieve a high escape rate on hundreds of rooms in various difficulties that we’ve played. So, let’s get into it and ensure you’ll beat the clock!
1. Pick the right team
The ideal number of players may vary depending on the escape room, but 4 to 5 people is perfect. Find people who are good at thinking quickly and creatively. If you have a super clumsy friend, they may not be suited to hold that mirror steady for a couple of minutes. However, the same person may have a good eye and quickly spot easily missed details.
Besides that, many rooms require problems that must be solved simultaneously. Therefore, it’s better to split up; you’ll need the right skills to tackle those challenges.
2. Remember the story and listen to the narrator & the game’s rules
The room’s setup isn’t just a backstory; it usually gives you a sense of what you must accomplish and may even provide necessary clues that will be useful later on. Some of the best escape rooms actually require players to look through the puzzle from a different perspective of the characters to solve the puzzle, like the need to “cheat” on the answer when you’re playing the role of a thief. Get into the game and immerse yourself!
3. Work efficiently and use your time wisely
Escape rooms aren’t a spectator event. If you can’t contribute to solving a specific puzzle, move on to the next one to save time! Solve the easier puzzles first and tackle the hard ones that everyone else gave up on later on. Rotate through the room and return to every unsolved puzzle later, as sometimes all it takes is a fresh pair of eyes. One of the biggest casualties usually comes from failing to notice one thing everyone else has already checked.
4. Search everywhere – look for the details
Be sure to do a thorough search for puzzles and objects in the entire room. Seek out the tricky and hidden spots where designers may have worked so hard to hide them. Pro tip: There’s usually something under the rug! Avoid wasting time in a place where the rules would stop you. If the gamemaster tells you that nothing is hidden above your head and you don’t need to force anything to solve a puzzle physically, then take it seriously.
Oftentimes, during the excitement and all the rush, players can end up wasting valuable time looking for things they aren’t supposed to as they ignore the game’s instructions. When you see a “Do not touch” sticker on objects, move on and look for clues somewhere else.
5. Communication is key – you’re not alone
Dr. Scott Nicholson (Professor of Game Design and escape room expert) states that communication is important during an escape room as lack of it usually leads to failure.
When you’re looking for something, working on solving a puzzle, or having an idea of what to do next, tell your fellow teammates about it. Do it loudly so all your team members can hear it! Escape rooms are made for team effort, so don’t keep any information to yourself.
6. Get organized
An unwritten tip for escape rooms is that you’ll never use the same object twice. Therefore, remember to pick a spot for placing already used objects so no one will get confused about their function and another place for unused objects so players know where to look for help when they need it. This will help teams avoid any error of carrying important clues that another player may need while searching for others in the room.
Remember that escape rooms are designed by experts and not lunatics (although there is usually a bit of craziness here and there). This means the puzzles will always require a logical solution, usually following an ordered sequence. Indeed, some elements are designed to confuse you, but when you follow the patterns, you can spot what is relevant and what is not by simply “reading the room.”
7. Ask for hints when necessary
Indeed, it’s satisfying to solve all the puzzles by you and your team. However, players are sometimes reluctant to ask for help from the outside when they need it most. The real secret is to ask for hints strategically. In many games, to get to the leaderboard, there is a limit to the number of hints, and you are supposed to use them!
However, even if there aren’t any limits, we recommend avoiding using hints in the first five minutes of the game or more than five times throughout the entire game. Where’s the challenge in that? Ask for hints when you’re stuck on a clue and every team member has tried to solve the puzzles without success or when there isn’t any time left to spare.
Bonus tip – have fun!
Remember that the goal is always to have fun and enjoy yourself! Embrace the challenge and avoid arguing with your teammates, as it will suck all the fun away.
What not to do in an escape room?
Our biggest tip for escape room games in what NOT is simply try not to guess the clues. The number of codes and combinations will always be within the room, and guessing may kill the fun and thrill of the game.
If you see a digit lock, there are over 1000 possible combinations, and guessing them may take an hour, which completely destroys the experience and your chance of beating the game. However, if you get to only one digit and feel the need to guess, you can do so, and hopefully, the operators will see this as a possible design flaw and will work on fixing it.
Begin your escape room journey today!
And there you have it. Now that you know all the best practices, from choosing your team to getting some tips for beating any escape room, it’s time to select your preferred location and book a game with your buddies or coworkers tonight!
