Figuring Out Ratings in Escape Rooms

One of the most important things you need to know about the escape room you’re planning to visit is its age rating. This information is even more critical if there are minors in your escapee team. Escape room age rating doesn’t make the quest automatically forbidden for children and youth under the required age: in most cases, it just sets limitations for children entering without accompanying adults. If a group of children is joining the challenge with a grown-up who’s responsible for them, it’s considered appropriate, even if not universally recommended. The most common situation would be a mixed team of escapees entering: 2-4 minors and 4-6 adults, for example.

How Is Escape Room Age Rating Determined

Sometimes it may seem that parental advisory for escape rooms make no sense: there are 14+ escape quests with blood and violence, and some escape adventures with no explicit content mentioned in the description can be labeled 16+. But there’s nothing random in determining the ratings: the necessary procedure includes testing every aspect of the escape quest. Independent commission is responsible for the final verdict, so there’s just no place for biased judgment.

Here are several factors that are considered essential when figuring out the rating:

• Difficulty. This is where the difference between 12+ and 14+ escape rooms begins to look much more reasonable. The quests are built based on how an average player would act. Challenges must be passable in sixty minutes; if the players are stuck because of teamwork failures or small mistakes, it’s okay. But if most of the teams lose just because they can’t figure out the puzzles fast enough, then the design is flawed, or the age rating is off.
• Violence and horror elements. If there are frightening scenes and violent parts in escape quest storyline, then its rating cannot be lower than 14+. There are special requirements for every age rating that guarantee a pass. If the quest cannot fit in any requirement box, it is recommended to label it as 18+, though such a high rating is considered somewhat rare for escape room quests.
• Explicit content. Sometimes you just can’t cut a word out of the song. The quest doesn’t have to have any mature scenes in it: mentioning specific mature themes is enough for age ratings to go up. The same goes for strong language and offensive speech: while it may be a part of the story, it doesn’t mean minors should be exposed to it.

If you want to visit an escape room that is great for any age, visit us in Shoreline! We’re always happy to make new friends, so bring along all your crew for the best escape adventure ever!