How To Escape A Secret Room: A Piece Of Advice For Your First Escape Challenge

Solving an escape room isn’t easy. And it’s not meant to be, as the puzzles are difficult on purpose, and there are lots of distractions to waste your precious time on. But we understand that losing can be frustrating, so we’ve gathered a bunch of tips for everyone who wants to try and win their first escape room quest.

Just remember this is all about fun, ok? There are no “winners” or “losers”, and there is no competition. The most precious is the time you get to spend with your peers in an interesting and challenging environment.

The Importance Of Teamwork

1. Make it a rule to play with people you already know well. While most of the studios allow playing with strangers, it’s so much easier if you’re teamed up with your friends and colleagues. They will understand what to expect of you and each other, and the puzzle solving will move faster, without anyone trying to steal the wheel.
2. Don’t take as many people as you can. 3-4 players is usually enough. The more participants you gather, the less space will be left to investigate. The rooms often have several brunches of puzzles to solve, but there won’t be more than 3 of them at a time, anyway.
3. Manage the work wisely. If there’s a puzzle nobody tries to solve, do it. If everyone’s busy trying to figure out the same thing, look for some other clues. If you find something unusual, yell about it loudly so that everyone would know there is something new.

How To Avoid Time Wasting Mistakes

1. Don’t try to use the key twice. It’s usually a waste of time, as it’s the general rule that every key matches only one lock. If you found a really huge pile of keys, do not try to brute force the answer by matching every one of them with locks. There might be some clues that’ll help you to choose the right ones, so look for them instead.
2. Don’t look for suspicious marks in the books, if there are plenty of them. Puzzle makers often use old books; so naturally, there’ll be something scribbled in them. Do not get distracted: if a book is not a safe, and nothing is hidden in it, discard it and check the next one.
3. Do not be ashamed to ask for hints. That is a part of the process, as everyone’s mind works differently and there’s no guarantee that the group will be able to find some clues in a strict time limit. Human brain tends to skip certain everyday objects. Usually, it helps us to progress faster, but in escape rooms it can drag you down. Yell loudly that you need a hint, and the host will help you concentrate with a single word.