Escape rooms are a great way to teach teamwork and have fun while doing so. If you’ve thought about competing with others in an escape room, you’ve likely stopped and wondered: how do escape rooms work?
Well, if you’re still waiting for an answer, you can stop. Below is a comprehensive guide that details everything you need to conquer an escape room.
And we’ll even go one step further and give you some escape room tips that will help helo you beat the room before you run out of time.
What Are Escape Rooms?
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In simple terms, an escape room is a room you and your team members get locked in. Once locked in, you’ll search the room and solve different clues until either the time runs out or you’ve made it out of the room.
To beat the room, you’ve got to work together and look beyond what you see to find the clues that are hidden in plain sight. Escape rooms can have multiple areas or rooms within a space that must be solved before the mission is over.
There are several types of escape rooms that you can choose from, with the most common being an in-person room. The in-person rooms are spaces that you can wander through while picking up different items in hopes of solving the mystery.
Another type of room is a virtual escape room, which has become more popular since the start of the pandemic. It’s like jumping into a video game with everyone you’d have on your team during an in-person escape room.
Keep in mind when you’re visiting an escape room, the puzzles within the room come in several different ways, including:
- Sensory
- Written
- Hidden clues
- Physical
This means everyone will have to open their minds to finding clues in the unlikeliest of places.
How Do They Work?
Now that you know what an escape room is, here’s how they work. Before you enter the escape room, you’ll pick which room you want to play in as most places like Great Escape Room Grand Rapids offer players a variety of rooms to choose from.
Once you’ve chosen your room, the facilitator of the escape room will let you know the rules and the amount of time your group will be given to get out. Depending on where you’re playing, you might be able to access more time on the clock to get out of the room.
There’s no need to worry that you’ll be locked in forever because if you don’t solve the room within the allotted time, the facilitator will let you out and let you know which clues you missed.
After the room has been locked, you’ll be given your mission and can begin hunting for clues within the room. Most rooms will provide a backstory so that players understand what they should be looking for, like:
- Why you’re locked in the room
- Your character personality
We recommend you listen to this backstory carefully because sometimes it can be precisely what you need to hear to find all the clues in the room. Before you move on to another clue, you’ve got to solve the one before that.
Escape Room Tips
When it comes to escape rooms for beginners, there are some tips we have to offer that will help you get out of the room successfully. Our first tip is to look everywhere in the room for answers to the clues.
The things in the room that you think are there for aesthetic just might be the key you need to get out. When the room is over, you’re going to be kicking yourself if there’s something the facilitator of the room points out that you misunderstood as just another prop.
Another helpful tip we have is to work with everyone on your team. While it might be easy to ignore someone’s opinions, it never helps to spend time arguing with one another about whether they’re right or not.
It also helps if, while you’re working together, you remain positive throughout the experience. If you have negative attitudes finding your way out of the escape room will be more challenging than you thought it would be.
Don’t be scared to ask for hints; after all, they can help push you through the room. Even if you use a tip, remember the escape room isn’t going to offer you unlimited hints to get out of the room.
You will have a specific number of hints that can be used, but we recommend using them wisely. The last thing you want to do is use all the hints you’ve been given in the first few minutes after the rooms have been locked.
How Do Escape Rooms Work?
If you’re still trying to figure out the answer to the question of how do escape rooms work, we’ve given you the answers above. There are several types of rooms you can choose to compete in, but at the end of the day, the point of an escape room is to have fun with the people you’re locked in with.
If you’re not having fun, what was the point of going to the escape room in the first place? We know you’re ready to start searching for clues, but before you head over to the escape room, don’t forget to scroll through some of our other blog posts.
Who knows, you might be able to find even more tips that will help you beat the escape room clock.
