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 desperately want to finish faster! 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 briefing and story introductions can feature lots of handy information. Don’t be afraid to ask questions if there’s anything 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 teammates to ask questions too as you want everyone to be as effective as possible. Ask whether the room has single use locks and linear gameflow if not mentioned. Your gamemaster 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 pass you by quickly. We find that the first puzzle often 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 that work together work the best. Communicate your findings with the rest of your team. Make sure everyone knows what’s unusual, or what may be a clue or an input for a puzzle. Collect useful tools or objects that you may encounter in a place everyone knows about. Lay out anything that might be useful so you can easily find it if needed later. Place items you’ve already used somewhere out of the way.
- Work together
- Communicate effectively
- Collect items
- Arrange clearly
5 - Don't fall down the rabbit hole
There will often be things in an escape 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 of an item should reveal anything hidden. If it’s not immediately obvious, then most of the time they can be disregarded. With a book, have a quick flick through to see if anything is inside or inside the cover. You won’t need to read a full novel to succeed!
- 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 have nimble fingers which make them perfect for dexterity puzzles, whilst others may have a logical mind which is perfect for riddles and problems. Never overlook the skills and talents available within your team – escape rooms are designed to be taken on as a team, not by one individual! It is often helpful for someone to project manage, and have 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 to your team. 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 if they need it. Allow each other time to try out different things before trying something else. You’d be amazed how often the correct line of thought is interrupted and lost by someone.
- 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 asking for a hint. There’s nothing worse than becoming so frustrated that nobody is having fun. Remember our hints are tailor to you, so that they will not give away the complete answer – so ensure that all your team gets to hear the advice as accurately as possible. Very often if one person receives 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 be 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
Was there a puzzle that wasn’t clear to you? Perhaps, there was a clue or story point you didn’t understand. 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 in the local area that will 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 bookings@escaperoomsdevon.co.uk.
You can read more about Devon Escape on our About us page.
