How to Beat an Escape Room

How to Beat an Escape Room

Tips & tricks for how to beat that escape room in quick time!

Beating an escape room is all about teamwork, communication, and creative problem-solving!

Start by thoroughly surveying the room for clues and organizing them logically. Assign roles based on your teammates' strengths—some excel at spotting hidden objects, while others are great with codes. Stay calm, pay close attention to details, and think outside the box to avoid overthinking. Regularly update each other on discoveries, double-check your work, and keep track of time without panicking. Use hints wisely if you’re stuck, respect the room’s rules, and embrace the theme to immerse yourself in the story. Celebrate small wins along the way to keep the energy up and the fun alive!

Survey the Room

Eyes On the Prize — Start by thoroughly examining the entire room to identify potential clues, locks, keys, and hidden compartments. Doing this first will make sure you won’t miss something lying in plain sight, and also give you a memory boost when uncovering clues later. 

Pay Attention to Detail

Keep Eyes Peeled — Escape rooms often involve intricate details. Examine objects closely, including textures, patterns, and colours. Is there a line of books on a shelf? They may not lead to a secret basement released only by tugging that 1st edition of The Picture of Dorian Grey, but they’re sure to give you a clue to the order of a number sequence or letter code. Text is another concept that pops up typically in real-life and printable escape rooms. Some text is crucial, whilst other forms are complete red herrings. Try not to focus on reading everything you see, but look for anomalies. Are some letters capitalised in a peculiar way? Are some letters a different colour? A little attention to detail is all it takes to crack the clues.  

 

Think Outside the Box

What Colour is the Box? –– Once you’re in the room, it’s time to think out of the box. Be creative and consider unconventional solutions. Sometimes, the answer is not as straightforward as it seems. Often when cracking a clue, you’ll kick yourself for not realising it sooner. Overthinking can be an escape room enthusiast's worst enemy — don’t get caught out by your own enthusiasm. Sometimes clues are in plain sight, the simple way is the right way, and sometimes it’s exactly what you think. Other times, it’s not. It’s the last thing on Earth you could have imagined, and that’s all part of the fun and helps you develop your logical reasoning and critical thinking skills to survive another escape room day. 

Share Discoveries

Loose Lips Win Escape Rooms — Constantly update your team on your findings. Someone else might connect the dots based on the information you provide. It can be easy to get inside your head and forget to speak out loud, but communication is crucial and may be the difference between winning and being trapped forever with a bunch of people you may now like a little less than when you started. 

Communicate Effectively 

We’re All Friends Here — Keep an open line of communication with your team. Share information and listen to others' ideas. People’s brains work in a multitude of different ways, and someone may have the right idea and not even know it. Effective and clear communication will ensure you work proactively together and keep time-wasting to a minimum. No one ever said it was fun to complete an escape room alone!

Work as a Team

Teamwork Makes the Dreamwork — Divide tasks among team members, focusing on different aspects of the room. Collaboration is key when it comes to this tactic. Larger groups may want to split into smaller teams of two or three to tackle more clues at once. When you’re on the clock, solving two clues at the same time can be the difference between escaping in time and being the last on the leaderboard. 

Utilise Each Team Member's Strengths

Clue Kings and Queens –– Assign roles based on individual strengths. Some may excel at deciphering codes, while others are adept at finding hidden objects. If you know your teammates well, take a moment to divide people by strength. Does Dave from the deli rock at maths? Put him in charge of symbols and runes. Does Rosie from the garden centre know rare plant species? Get her working out that recipe. Everyone has something special that they excel at, if you can recognise where those skills can fit, you’ll be onto a winner quicker than you can say ‘I’m a regular person, get me out of here.’ If you don’t know your teammates well, ask them what their strengths are! You’re all on the same team. 

 

Keep Track of Time

What Time is it, Mr Wolf? –– Regularly check the remaining time. Allocate time wisely, and don't dwell too long on a single puzzle. Alternatively, keep your eye off the clock, as it can lead you on a road to panic. Get your head in the game and ignore the clock if you’re the type of person who needs to focus. Ask for a reminder every five minutes if you’re the type who works best under pressure. 

Organise Clues

Get Your Ducks in a Row — When starting out with a room, collect and organise clues in a central location. You can also group related items together to make connections more evident. One of the biggest things to remember is that once a clue (usually always a key) is used, it’s usually redundant, so keep a pile of ‘used’ and ‘to use’ items as you work your way through. 

 

Prioritise Puzzles

Flight Over Frustration — Some puzzles may unlock additional clues or areas. Prioritise tasks based on their potential impact on progress. Alternatively, if you’re spending too much time on a clue, move on. Frustration can feel like failure, but you may just need to figure something else out first. You can’t write a book without all the letters of the alphabet. 

Look for Patterns

Patterns, Symbols & Colours — Many escape room puzzles involve patterns. Identify recurring symbols or themes that could help in solving puzzles. There are all sorts of ways things can be connected. Letters and colours, shapes and numbers, number of items, pictures and symbols, and even rhyming words. 

 

Stay Calm Under Pressure

Keep Calm and Crack On — Escape rooms can be intense, but staying calm helps maintain focus. Panicking may lead to overlooking important details and wasting time. The main thing to remember is to have fun! Working those brain cells is difficult, but cracking that clue that seemed impossible and escaping the room with twenty seconds to spare gives a true dose of serotonin. 

Use the Hints Wisely

To Ask, or Not to Ask — If allowed, use hints judiciously. Don't hesitate to ask for help if you're stuck, but only when necessary. If you’ve spent a while on a clue, move on to the next available before wasting a hint, you may just need to discover something else first before the answers will align. 

 

Understand the Room's Theme

The Theme is the Dream — Familiarise yourself with the storyline or theme of the escape room. It might provide context for puzzles and clues. Are you immersed in a world of magic and mayhem? Watch out for spells. Are you painfully close to walking the plank and sleeping with the fishes? Re-count those pieces of eight just to be sure. Is the light in that bunker flashing mysteriously? Look for a manuscript detailing morse code. There are so many fun themes and stories that can help players become more immersed in the narrative, and it all adds to the fun whether you’re in a real-life escape room or playing a printable escape room kit at home. 

Double-Check Your Work

Make Like Santa Claus and Check it Twice — Before moving on, double-check that any codes or keys you've found are correctly applied. Mistakes can happen. Even precise people can sometimes forget their left from right and make a mistake with a direction lock. Checking twice will help you stay on-point and save time in the long run. 

 

Use Technology Sparingly

No Phones — While some escape rooms may involve tech, rely on your observational and problem-solving skills first. Usually, mobile phones have to be left at the door and that’s where they should stay. When playing through escape rooms at home, it can be a little more difficult to stay true to yourself, but try not to cave. You’ll never forgive yourself for googling that answer that you thought was so obvious once you saw it. 

Explore Safely

You break it, You Bought It — Don't be afraid to move things around, but always respect the room's rules and guidelines. Safety first. Many real-life escape rooms have photos and items on the wall, feel free to give all these a gentle tug to see if something is hidden behind, but if the game master pleads that you don’t break any of the items, heed their words, they’re not trying to trick you. Brute force is usually the wrong way to uncover a clue.  

 

Have a Plan for Keys and Locks

Keys, Codes & Clues — Develop a systematic approach to dealing with locks. Ensure everyone knows how to use keys and combinations. You don’t want to be caught out by a sudden cryptex or surprising directional lock. 

 

Think Ahead

Unlock Your Mind Palace — Anticipate potential puzzles or clues based on your observations. Sometimes, understanding what might come next helps in preparation. Cast your mind to things you already know, such as morse code, or the number of sides on a hexagon. Are there shapes and lines on the walls that could be hints or clues? Things are often not what they seem in escape rooms, but remember things as usually there to help you, not to hinder you. If something seems out of place, there should be a reason. 

Celebrate Small Wins

Winner Buys Dinner — Acknowledge and celebrate each successful puzzle or unlock. It boosts morale and keeps the team motivated. Celebrating small wins also helps remind people to constantly communicate, keeping the flow of the game going and the prize in sight. 

Think your ready to crack that next room? Good luck!

I'll leave you with one of my favourite escape room puzzle masters! The great Chris Ramsay solving (Newt Scamander's) briefcase.

Back to blog