What Is an Escape Room? Your Questions Answered

What Is an Escape Room? Your Questions Answered

An escape room, or sometimes referred as an escape game, is a live-action and team-based game where players work together to discover clues, solve puzzles, finish tasks, and more, all with a goal to “escape” the room. There one or more rooms in every escape room game.

In the 2010s, escape rooms became popular in North America, Europe, and East Asia. Nowadays, there are more than 8,000 escape rooms worldwide.

Inspired by the escape the room style video games, an escape room is a 60-minute real-life adventure game. Players assemble in a themed room and have 60 minutes or one hour to complete the mission. The main mission is to escape the room, with many puzzles, clues, and tasks before finishing the main mission. Players look everywhere in the room, behind picture frames, underneath the rug, through books and shelves, all with a goal to find the puzzles and solve them.

Escape rooms usually have a theme too which makes them even more fun. Most escape rooms are designed for adults, but you can also get escape rooms for families, kids, and teens like this Los Angeles escape room for teens for example.

How do you play an escape game?

Participants in an escape room play as a cooperative team. The number of team members can vary depending on the room, and goes between 2 and 10. However, generally speaking, the ideal group size for an escape room is 2-6 players.

Games can be set in a variety of fictional locations, including space stations, dungeons, prison cells, and more.

At the beginning of the game, players get a brief introduction to the rules and an information guidebook of the room itself. Some escape rooms deliver the introduction and information via video, audio, or the game master himself.

The clock then starts, and players have 45 to 60 minutes to complete the game. During the game, players explore the room, find clues, solve puzzles, finish tasks, and more, just so they can progress further in the game.

Challenges in the game are more mental than physical, and you do not have to be physically fit to complete an escape room.

If the team gets stuck, players can also ask for hints from the game master. The game master delivers hints via video, audio, paper, or sometimes, the game master himself present in the room.

Whether you finish the room for 60 minutes or not, the moment the clock runs down, the room opens, and you can leave the room.

How to beat an escape room?

Beating an escape room is not an easy task. It requires teamwork, creativity, patience, out of the box thinking, speed, and more. Designed for having fun with your friends, escape rooms also make a great activity for family vacations, team building, and more.

To beat an escape room, players must search thoroughly, and make sure to not leave any clues behind. In order to find the common puzzles in an escape room, you have to be alert and constantly trying different things until you solve the puzzle. It is a good idea to have a team member try the same puzzle, as different perspective can make a difference.

If you want to know more about how to beat an escape room, search for some tips and tricks for winning.

Why are escape games so popular?

What makes an escape game so popular? And what makes an escape room the best? In the past several years, escape rooms have roamed in popularity. The answer is simple. They present a whole new way of storytelling and narrating. Combining social activity, interactive adventures, puzzles, and a good story, players can enter a whole new world, and experience a known story in a different way.

Playing an escape room can feel like acting in a Hollywood blockbuster. And that is why they are so addicting.

Elements of an escape room

Every escape room is different and unique in its own way. However, there are some common elements you will find in every escape game.

• Team-based, every game requires a minimum of two people, and as high as 10 people. Some rooms can be done with just two people, but no game can be done with just a single person. Teamwork is absolutely necessary and essential for winning.
• There is a clear objective, which is usually to escape the room, or finishing the mission. You can read about the mission at the start of the game, in the game information manual. Unlocking the final door is the clear objective.
• The story, as mentioned previously, plays a huge part in the addiction to escape rooms. Most escape rooms are themed with a certain story. Inspiration for the story can be found in anything, including movies, television shows, books, or anything else.
• Puzzles are an essential part of an escape room. They can be different, and sometimes require you to find hidden objects, fill out a small crossword, visual and spatial reasoning, pattern matching, recognition, putting together related objects, and more.
• Objects in the escape room include locked doors, locks, keys, objects, hidden doors and more.

What different types of escape rooms are there?

As mentioned previously, there are different escape rooms. But there are six common styles and types you will find as you enter the world of escape rooms.

• Linear escape room. In linear escape games, your goal is to solve the puzzles in a particular progression. As you solve one puzzle, you move onto the next one. You cannot solve puzzles randomly. Linear escape rooms are the simplest escape games and are best-suited for beginners and first-time players. They give you an understanding and idea of how escape rooms work.
• Non-linear escape games. These are more complex, as they allow you to solve several different puzzles at the same time. Specifically, they require a little bit more teamwork, as every team member has to focus on a certain task so the team can finish the mission. And because they require solving different puzzles at the same time, they can be more time-consuming. Non-linear escape games are perfect for more players and larger groups, as they are more complex and require a collective effort.
• Combined, linear and non-linear. You will often find combined escape rooms. Usually, you get a combination of big puzzles in a row and then smaller puzzles along with them. Some of the puzzles need to be solved at a certain order, while some can also be solved simultaneously.

More types of Escape Rooms

• Printable Escape Room. Print-at-home escape room games are ready to play kits that you can play anywhere you want. Usually, the concept of these games is that you print them like regular illustrations and be play the game like any table top game.
• Scavenger hunt. Many people say that the scavenger hunt games are what inspired modern escape rooms. Nowadays, there are still some escape rooms that have a scavenger hunt mission. In these rooms, you will find searching for an object more important than solving puzzles.

Collaboration.