We as humans love being scared. There is something about triggering the primal emotion of terror that gives us an addicting rush of adrenaline that we keep coming back to. While many of us have gone to haunted houses, and other places that promise a fight filled fun time. Have you ever heard of an escape room?
What is an Escape Room?
The best room escape games can take many forms including:
- Finding a cure for a deadly virus
- Conducting a bank heist
- Time Travel
- Escaping an military attack
- Zombie survival
Among, many, many others. Some scenarios aren’t inherently terrifying, but the stress they can create is just as equal. In an escape room, no matter what scenario you choose to enter into, you and your group will be challenged to solve multiple puzzles in order to escape various rooms. The role-playing element comes as you are immersed into the situation. Throughout the course you will unravel more and more of the backstory, all while a timer ticks down reminding you that you need to act fast.
The Basic Setup
When you sign up to go through an escape room, you will be paired with a group. Before the challenge begins you all will receive a briefing that will explain the bare basics of the situation you will be entering into. Once your group has entered you all will be locked in with a varying amount of time to find your way out.
As the clock ticks down, you and your team will have to scour your first location for clues as to how you leave. Depending on the situation you’ve selected, there will be a lot of locked items, all requiring pass codes to open, within each area you manage to get to. Opening these cases, desks, etcetera, can help reveal backstory, or they could be your key to getting out. All of this you will have to take into consideration as you try to find keys and pass codes as fast as you can. Additionally, some pass codes can even be encrypted, requiring a separate cipher to decrypt. Many escape room games are not designed to be easy to best, and as the timer ticks lower, panic can easily set in as you all scramble to find a way out.
Tips for Getting Out
- The first rule of escape rooms if wear something comfortable. Clues and codes can be anywhere, and you will undoubtedly be crawling on the ground at some point.
- Communication is key to success. You and your team must be in sync at all times in order to work together to solve the puzzles. If someone needs a code, and you’ve found one two minutes ago, it’s prudent to let them know. Everything needs to be communicated as it happens in order for you to have any chance of escape. (Escape room games are great team building activities for sure!)
- Another helpful strategy is to consolidate everything you believe is a clue, in one location, that way they can all be examined and pieced together. This can help the process go faster, and raise your chances of beating the game.
- Lastly, check everything. And, I mean everything. Clues and codes can be hidden everywhere, the stranger the better. Leave no stone unturned when you’re in an escape room.
Escape room games prey on our sense of urgency, and can instill terror in us as we try to escape while the clock is ticking. There are many differing scenarios to choose, from horror to sci-fi, from criminal to fantasy. As this escape rooms continue to grow in popularity across America, only more and more scenarios will be created. There really is no end to the unique situations you could enter into. So, if you are looking for a fun and thrilling activity, consider putting your problem solving skills to the ultimate test at an escape room near you.