The escape room phenomenon continues to grow with no end in sight. EscapeWorks Denver provides the opportunity to test your problems solving skills by giving you one hour to escape from one of their three themed escape rooms. While winning isn’t necessary to have fun, it certainly feels good to solve the puzzles and make it out in time. Here are some strategies for making the most of your first Escape Room experience.
Have a quick team meeting before entering the room to devise your plan for success. This is a great time for everyone to establish communication, as well as possible leadership roles. You may also want to talk about some rules for handling clues so that nothing gets lost or forgotten.
The “two pile” system for organizing clues is simple and efficient. This involves gathering the easier, most obvious clues into one pile and, as you solve the puzzles, moving the clues into a used or solved pile. If you become stuck, look back at the solved pile and make sure you haven’t missed something or attributed it to the wrong puzzle.
While it’s very natural for everyone to crowd around one puzzle, experienced escape room players know it is actually better to spread out. You team may also find it more effective to have all the puzzles being worked on at once.
Before anyone starts moving objects around, spend two or three minutes looking at the puzzle room as a whole. Assign each member a section of the room to examine. Run your hands and eyes over every surface in your section: books, walls, and floors. Carefully examine furniture and upholstery to look for hidden pockets.
Keep an eye out for red herrings! Some puzzles may have nothing to do with getting out of the room or contain pointless clues. Work diligently on each puzzle, but be ready to move on to something else if you can’t solve it. You can always come back to it later with fresh eyes. You may also need a clue that won’t be revealed until you have solved a different puzzle.
Remember that the room is designed to be challenging but it should not require serious physical force to solve puzzles. If something simply won’t move or open, you probably need to keep looking for the key to opening it.
Escaping a room requires team effort and good communication. You need to crowd-source each puzzle, but don’t let anyone dominate the conversation or discount any idea. If someone suggests a solution that seems even slightly plausible, give it a try. Solved a puzzle? Yell it out. Yes, the room can become loud, but it’s an effective way to convey information to the whole team at once.
As the clock counts down to its final minutes, your team’s efforts will reach a frenzied pitch. Whether you escape or not, your first EscapeWorks Denver experience will feel hectic and thrilling. With three rooms to choose from, you may make plans to try out a different room before you leave.
Getting hooked is easy. Getting out is much harder!
