Escape games in Toronto bring a massive gaming trend from Asia to our home turf. The real-world games imprison participants in a room with friends (or strangers); you’re then forced to hunt for clues around the game environment, using logic and teamwork to free yourselves in a race against the clock (games tend to last under an hour).
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Escape Rooms are great.
But Great Escape Rooms are even better.
How to make your own Escape Room that will be really great?
Today I am going to share something which will allow you to build your own Great Escape Room.
101 Best Escape Room puzzle ideas that keep your players excited
Escape Rooms have become one of the fastest-growing entertainment businesses worldwide.
Here is the deal:
Now, there is just one little problem:
Room operators keep the details of their room a secret (obviously). This allows some very low-quality room with nothing more than endless chain of code-lock-code-lock riddles to compete with super fun rooms.
Of course, customers find out about the room only AFTER they have spent their time and money.
I have compiled a list of some Escape Room puzzle ideas to help room owners around the world keeping their players happy.
The key to the success of an Escape Room is keeping the FUN level high. After all, clients come to experience something unexpected.
How many times have you played a room and had to unlock a sequence of padlocks?
Boring!
Below is a list of 101 Escape Room puzzle ideas that you can easily implement at your Escape Rooms.
Whether you want to improve your current Escape Room, or build a new one – these ideas might help you to win your clients’ hearts and minds.
One more thing:
It makes no sense to just copy them.
You want your Escape Room to be unique, right?
Use the idea as a general guide, a source of inspiration. Use your imagination and creativity.
If that’s not enough – you may also be interested in 13 Secrets from Escape Room Design Guru.
Read more at: blog.nowescape.com
When Clockwork Dog appeared on the scene, I can’t say I took much notice. Yes, they were an escape room and yes, they were based in London, but they were creating a pop-up escape room that would be around for three weeks. There were two ways I could see it going: Either it was a ruse to get people to book early and they would extend the run or they would be putting together a cheap and simple game. I waited my time to see which one it was.
And then I saw Dean’s review on Escape Review. Suddenly, this room looked a lot more appealing and, when it became clear that they were unlikely to extend their run, I knew I had to organise a last-minute trip to see for myself. In the end, more people were available to play than the game could accommodate, so we ended up booking back-to-back three-player games.
The hosts greeted us in character and really set the scene for the game well. 
Arthur Langstroth recently died and, in his will, he specified that all the items in his antique shop should be bequeathed or sold. All, that is, except one: an object of incredible power. That item is available to whichever person or people can follow the clues and find its hiding place.
I’ll admit that I was dubious about setting up a pop-up escape room in a shop. When you can customise a space, you have lots of options for integrating the theme into the room, whereas Clockwork Dog were going to have to work with what was there. They’d chosen well, though. This was a shop full of character, with enough nooks and crannies to make it interesting but not so many that searching became a chore. That balance had been retained in their set dressing; there were sufficient props to give the feel of an antique dealer with a particular interest in Egypt but they hadn’t gone overboard with red herrings.
Yes: if you like searching, this is definitely a room for you. The finds were sometimes challenging but never left me feeling they were unfair. Both teams came close to needing a hint for a missing item but, on both occasions, some re-searching of the room resulted in the relevant prop being found so we could happily continue along with the game. There’s nothing quite like that sweet satisfaction of the second search paying off. (At least for the person who finds it, and embarrassment for those of us who missed it the first time round!)
Read more at thelogicescapesme.com.
Team-building events are a fun way to increase communication, boost morale and strengthen bonds between team members or employees, but they have to be executed with careful planning and forethought if you want to maximize their effectiveness.
If you’re new to the process of planning a team-building event, there are many details to consider, and it can be tempting to feel overwhelmed during the planning phase. Below are six handy tips that will give you what you need to know to put on a successful event.
Whether it’s to foster community, work on communication or problem solving skills or just introduce new members or employees, the most important first step you can take is to pinpoint the areas of struggle within your team (e.g., interpersonal conflicts, poor communication, lack of productivity, low morale, etc.), and then research various team-building activities that would best address those struggles.
There are a wide variety of team-building activities available to remedy or improve practically every aspect of team dynamics, so you shouldn’t have any difficulty finding one that will address the specific challenges of your team. That being said, there are some important points to consider before making your final decision:
There are plenty of venues available for team-building. For best results, conduct your team-building event off-site, as this will help people unplug from their normal environment and gain a fresh perspective. Here are some good suggestions:
Read more at houdinisroomescape.com.
During Esc Room Addict’s trip to London, ON we were given the chance to review some of the rooms at Exodus Escapes. Unfortunately one of our review team members was unexpectedly delayed last minute leaving us with only three people to tackle the Nursery and prove once and for all escape rooms are merely child’s play. Ba dum dum. (Ok, ok, we admit humour isn’t our strong point, let’s forget this joke ever happened and get on with the review).
Exodus Escapes is easily found in downtown London and just minutes away from the University of Western Ontario. The staff were incredibly friendly, helpful, and attentive. One thing particularly impressive was the amount of staff ready and waiting for anything that might be needed (which came in handy as our room needed some quick cleaning and repairs after a group of young ladies who obviously had some liquid courage in their systems tried out The Nursery for a bachelorette party). Although the staff and owners were incredible, there’s room for it to get to the next level by adding a bit more to the pre-room experience.
Room quality is where this room has its greatest strength. All you needed for the realism to be complete was a few toddlers, a couple teachers, and you would’ve had an actual daycare centre! Not only was the set design professional, but we also felt the props and furnishings were appropriate. The room did lack any of the big budget bells & whistles that are becoming more commonplace in big budget companies, but in comparison to most rooms out there you won’t find too many that beat The Nursery for room quality.
The Nursery’s immersive qualities were decent but left us wanting more. Because of the puzzle difficulty and complexity in this room, it was easy for us to feel disengaged with the overall story and lose motivation to discover what happens next. Instead of being engaged in the moment with what was happening, we found ourselves more focused on trying to solve puzzles and ignoring the overall atmosphere around us (which is a shame considering the impressive room quality). This of course leads us to the puzzles…
You can find this game at ROOMESCAPE.COM.
Read more at: escroomaddict.com
1. Set big goals for yourself.
Think big. Just like you have to think big to be successful in any of our escape rooms, you have to think big to be successful in everyday life too. If you don’t set big goals for yourself and try your best to reach for the stars, how can you expect to go far in life? You must push yourself and push the limits of what you think you can accomplish. You never know – you might surprise yourself with what you’re truly capable of.
Did some of your friends bail on you at the last minute? Is everyone in your friend group diagnosed with claustrophobia? Are you out on the town by yourself?
There are many reasons why you might play The Escape Game Orlando with strangers. Of course, if you want to play with just your friends and no one else, you can reserve a room and fill all the available spots. However, in the event that you don’t have enough players, there’s a chance you might have to play with some newly made friends.
This is actually a good thing, especially if you happen to play with a retired CIA agent or police officer! The more diverse your group, the more perspectives you have to solve the challenges before you. Here’s how to successfully win The Escape Game Orlando when you play with people you’ve never met before:
Win the Name Game
Before the game begins and everyone is waiting in the lobby, start with a handshake. Introduce yourself to any strangers in your group – and remember to win the name game. In other words, really focus on remembering everyone’s name. You’ll be surprised how much this will come in handy during the game, as you won’t be the guy who points and shouts “Hey you!” to get someone’s attention. This is the most effective way to quickly break the ice and make sure everyone settles comfortably into the game.
Read more at orlandoescapegame.com
Back in the North of England and what more would I want to do with a few days off than visit a local escape room? Apparently, visit a not-very-local escape room. The Escape chain of rooms had just opened a franchise in Blackpool and, with them now spreading throughout the land, I thought we’d give them a go and see why they’re so successful.
In common with many escape rooms, the website doesn’t allow you to book on the day. That’s pretty annoying because it also means you can’t see which games are available. At least two companies lost my business that weekend because I couldn’t get through to them for a last-minute booking. OK, I’m a little unusual, but I do wonder how often that happens. More frustratingly, I had to phone up, find when the room was available, go to the website, book a time slot on a *different* day, then go back and get them to reschedule to the slot I’d asked for. Note to self: Sort your life out earlier next time!
We got there, though, and parked up in a car park between the promenade and the venue. To be honest, it’s a pretty dull part of town – halfway between the North and South piers – but that doesn’t stop parking being tricky. If you’re lucky, you might find free parking on the street, but it’s mainly residents’ parking, so be prepared to pay. Inside, you’re initially greeted in a small reception area, but very quickly taken through a maze of twisty passages to the room.
A virus is threatening to destroy the world. While working on an antidote, you and your fellow scientists accidentally caught the illness and now have 60 minutes to find the cure before you succumb. Find the antidote and then escape the room before the authorities raze it to the ground to prevent the spread of the disease…
Read more at: The Logic Escapes Me
This review of Sacrifice is based on a visit from February 2016.
We’d learned of this room back in August when playing The Teleporter, but didn’t have chance to go and play it until much later. I was particularly interested and intrigued for two reasons: 1) The room design was at least partly inspired by my suggested theme, 2) I knew there wasn’t a lot of space left in Clue HQ Warrington so wanted to see how they’d implement Sacrifice:
What may not be immediately obvious from the intro (but will be if you read my suggestion) is that this is designed as a race room. And not just two copies of the same room to see who gets the fastest time; one where you can interact and affect what happens to the other team. Brilliant! So the first thing to do was decide who would be teamed with who. You wouldn’t believe the length at which it was debated, and the systems that were suggested, until eventually we had to very literally draw straws. Finally we were set: James and Richard1 vs. Richard2, me and Paul.
After watching the general health and safety video (which we know nearly off by heart now) we were led through to our room for the specific briefing. There wasn’t much to add to the description above apart from the sting in the tail; when one team escapes the others are instantly ‘sacrificed’ meaning the room ends for them and they don’t get the chance to finish it. In hindsight I’m not sure I’m a massive fan of the idea, as it seems like people should at least have the hour to try and get out, but it certainly upped the stakes.
Picking up my earlier point, possibly the first thing you’ll note about the room is how small it is. In fact the website warns that the game might not be suitable for people with claustrophobia (the first time I’ve actually seen a site mention that it might be an issue, rather than saying it definitely won’t be). And this isn’t just the entrance hall; this room is it for the two or three of you until you get out. Definitely the next thing you’ll notice is how you’re going to interact with the other team, who aren’t very far away. It’s so bizarre, making your environment feel both bigger and smaller at the same time. Then the timer starts, and you’re off.
Read more at Reallyfun.uk.
This is one of those rare themed room, surrounding the story of us boarding a plane from Kuala Lumpur and crash landed after 3-4 hours of flight to some remote island. We’re not sure what caused the crashed but hey, according to the trailer above, we survived~ so who cares what happened?! So our objective is to get out of our plane since we’re locked in (wonder how safe it is on design of emergency doors, huh?), then locate the black box to find our coordinates, and find a way to reach for help, all within 60 minutes.. before Lost (the drama) happens.
This is our first experience with Break The Code and it is a refreshing twist to the usual: see puzzle, solve puzzle, open lock mechanism. There are the usual locks, but where Break The Code shines is the use of electrically connected devices and once we entered the code, a magnetic locked box will spring open for the next puzzle/clue.. by which is fun, and makes the whole room more thematic as opposed to turning locks.
We starts out inside a mock up military airplane, made of steel all around.. there’s a cockpit section and the seating section as well, and on the outside, we could see grassland with some fuel tins and crates, all is quite nicely done aesthetically, although not as polished as it’s easy to noticed some flaws that takes us out of the immersed world.
We start out having one of us getting locked inside the cockpit (if this were the case in our world, Germanwings would have another light of day). The puzzles are generally ok and not too hard, although I would very much prefer they stop using those puzzles where there’s no leading clue, just like below and expect players to be not confused that there are more clues needed to solve these. Other puzzles involves pattern matching, some logic puzzles, use of funnels and pipes (which is neat), a real black box (it’s orange colour in case you didn’t know), and a morse code machine~!! (which is very cool)
Read more at: escmanleague.com
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