How to Progress in an Escape Room Without Wasting Lots of Time
Escaping a locked room is not a trivial task, as the whole thing is designed to keep you busy with solving puzzles for 40-60 minutes. However, there’s a difference between failing an escape room because it’s too complicated (yes, there are lots of hard nuts to crack) and being continually incapable of getting out in time because of poor strategic decisions. For most of the real escape rooms, there is always an observer somewhere near. Sometimes it’s the host who’s also responsible for role-playing and story delivering. But more often the observers don’t show themselves, as they need to watch team progress, give hints if asked and check on how the players feel. These people have seen hundreds of escapee teams, so it’s easy for them to point out the most common mistakes constantly failing players tend to repeat.
The Biggest Mistakes Escape Room Players Make
- Refusing to ask for clues. Pride is considered to be a deadly sin for a good reason. Many players think it’s not fair to ask for help; however, the whole concept is a part of the escape room quest system. People are not robots, so it’s impossible to create a puzzle set that will be entertaining, challenging and accessible for everyone. More often than not, getting stuck is not about skill, but about an absolute misunderstanding. Do not hesitate to ask for clues if there’s no progress: it’s much better than losing just because someone took a puzzle key and forgot about it.
- Arguing and quarreling in the escape room. Yeah, it may sound surprising, as escape room quests are all about fun, but the problem is real. People argue in locked rooms. A lot. Of course, it may be difficult to think straight when you’re in strict conditions, and there’s a timer ticking on the background. But it’s always more effective to show respect and compassion towards your teammates than to waste your time trying to find who’s guilty of slow progression.
- Little to no communication. There are so many puzzles in escape rooms that it’s easy to get a bit lost in your thoughts and stop telling your comrades what you’re doing. And then, all out of a sudden, you’re stuck. Nobody understands what to do, and that’s all because nobody has a clear picture of what’s going on. The easiest way to avoid this is to tell people about your progress every time you find something new, even if your discovery looks like nothing more than a small part of the puzzle segment you’re working on.