Top 29 Tips & Tricks to Win Escape Room Games (2022) | Escape Room Tips (2023)

We’ve compiled our top 29 escape room tips and tricks that we’ve used to achieve a 95% escape rate on the over 350 rooms that we’ve played. We’ve updated our guide for 2022 in order to reflect our latest advice as escape rooms have adapted to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The tips are broken up into 10 categories: assemble your team, communicate, spread out your efforts, keep things organized, search thoroughly, work with your host, solve puzzles efficiently, don’t break things, save time and money, and closing tips.

Assemble Your Team

Tip #1. Play with people you know

Fortunately, due to COVID-19, many escape rooms have switched to the “private” game model, where every game is reserved for your party only. However, some companies still do “public” games, which we don’t recommend for players since strangers are a wildcard and you may lose the common context for communication and shared norms. A group of college friends might be put in the same game as a family bringing their teenagers, for example. For public games, upgrading to a private-experience is usually offered for a premium. You could try your luck by booking last-minute, on weekdays, or on the first or last slot of the day.

Tip #2. Make your team the right size

The optimal team size for a game isnever the maximum team size – just because a game says that its good for up to 12 people, doesn’t mean that you should bring 12 people to fill up the whole game. Owners have understandable incentives to accommodate larger groups than appropriate.

Beyond introducing physical crowdedness, over-packing your game also means each player gets to experience fewer puzzles and “aha!” moments. There will also be additional overhead in getting players up to speed. As a general rule-of-thumb, the ideal capacity of a room for a non-beginner team is around 50% of the listed maximum capacity. If your group is too large for a certain game, consider splitting up the group to play different rooms in the same facility, or rotating playing different games in the building.

Communicate

Tip #3. Listen to your teammates

Escape room teams function best when they try everything. So if your teammate has a crazy but somewhat reasonable idea, listen to them and try it with them! If you think it’s a bad idea, still encourage them to try it nevertheless.As long as the crazy idea is reversible, it might just move you closer to the final solution. At the very least, it will be fun!

Tip #4. Yell out loudly what you find

This tends to be fairly chaotic but veryeffective. Escape room games are won and lost based on how quickly two team members who found related items can match them together. This includes things like a code and a key, a key and a lock, or a pattern that appears the same way in two different places.

Tip #5. Pass the baton

If you’ve been staring at a puzzle for too long and can’t figure out the solution, enlist a fellow team member to help or take over on the puzzle. This helps make sure that puzzles don’t get forgotten, and that there are enough eyes on each unsolved puzzle. This can continue until a few people can’t figure it out – that’s usually a sign that you don’t have all of the information yet (or that you need a hint!).

Spread Out Your Efforts

Tip #6. Work on what other people aren’t working on

This helps spread apart your team and have each team member be maximally effective. There’s a tendency to dismissor skip over some puzzles that are “too hard” to do at first glance. Thisleaves some puzzles forgotten and undone until someone realizes that they’re needed.

Tip #7. Be a contributor, not a spectator

It’s too easy to be a spectator when interesting progress is being made on a puzzle, but people are more effective when they’re spread out and working on what needs to be done! If there’s only one puzzle open however, by all means let the whole team brainstorm.

On the contrary point – if someone is intently focusing on accomplishing a single task (e.g. entering a combo into a school-style combination lock), resist the urge to chime in and let them focus. Don’t break their concentration!

Keep Things Organized

Tip #8. Keep a used key in its lock, a used lock on its latch

A key is almost never used more than once. Leave it in the lock for your sanity. This will help prevent the key from being used again, prevent someone else from trying out another key on the lock, and prevent you from accidentally locking the object again. Similarly, keep used locks in their box (or hooked onto the thing it formerly latched). This also helps keep your workspace organized, and your game masters will love you when they come back to reset.

Relatedly, once you discover a key, the key canalmost always immediately be used to unlock something in another part of a room. It is very rare to find a key which you can not immediately use, unless the item that you are unlocking requires multiple keys.

Tip #9. Make a “discard pile”

Separate objects in the game into a “used” pile and an “unused” pile. This helps prevent team members from examining the same object again and again. This also helps you connect certain “unused” items by placing them in physical proximity! Note that in some escape rooms, objects may be “used” more than once.

If you’ve placed items on a platform or in a slot and that unlocked something, leave the items in the slot. They belong there now, and this reduces the chance that someone comes and inspects an already-used clue.

Tip #10. Organize objects neatly

This helps keep the room tidy, so you can find what you need. This also lets you keep together related objects, so you can find all of them right when you need them. Some examples:

• Make a clear space on the table in the room, and place loose objects in that space
• In a dimly-lit room, keep unused objects under the brightest spot in the room
• Stack related papers together, with a slight offset so you can see each paper
• Keep related items together (e.g. wooden blocks with symbols).
• Spread apart an important piece of cloth

Search Thoroughly

Tip #11. Divide and conquer to search

At the very beginning of each game, split the room into sections and assign different people to comb through each section, looking for objects of importance. This helps make sure that the room is thoroughly inspected, and helps prevent the case where certain areas are overlooked and certain other areas are repetitively combed over.

Tip #12. Search the room thoroughly

Be extremely thorough when looking and touching everywhere, as if you were paintingthe room rather than as if you were just looking for where you put your phone. Sometimes key objects can be in the most exotic (or non-exotic) of places, like:

• tucked in a coat pocket
• nestled into part of the set
• clamped within a book
• within a book safe
• in a secret compartment of the floor, wall, or shelf unit
• magnetically attached to a column

Work with your Host

Tip #13. Listen to yourhost

Listen to the intro and rules by your game master – your game master might slip some helpful hints at the beginning that will save you a lot of time.This applies to the hints that they give in-game too, especially if they are live action actors. All of the staff in-game will try to nudge you in the right direction.

Tip #14. Ask for hints

There’s almost always a hint system in the game. You may have to wave into a camera, use a walkie-talkie, or pay attention to the in-game actor. Regardless of how hints are distributed, we recommend asking for hints whenever you feel overly stuck or have stopped having fun. Game masters are trained to push you in the right direction so you can start solving puzzles again.

Tip #15. Code doesn’t work? Confirm with your host.

If you think you’ve entered in the right code but nothing unlocks, confirm your code with your game master. This helps you know immediately whether you should figure out a new code (maybe you got the wrong 5-6 letter word for a cryptex), or if the lock is just fiddly. This is especially useful for locks that require instructions (school-locker-style combination locks or directional locks) or touchpad locks with a “clear” functionality, where there is no visual representation of what has been entered.

Solve Puzzles Efficiently

Tip #16. Know what to ignore

This is best gathered through experience, but here are some common things that new escape room players discoverthat arealmost neverimportant to the escape room.

• Numbers stamped on antique furniture – These are left over from the furniture manufacturer as a model identifier or a serial number.
• Electrical components – This is a safety issue, don’t mess around with power cords or power outlets.
• Don’t touch the ceiling – Never try to look behind a drop ceiling tile or touch the ceiling. It’s a waste of time and also a safety issue. There can however be items that you canon the ceiling, but these never involve touching the ceiling.

Tip #17. Attempt combo solutions frequently

Unless the lock is some sort of “lockout” safe, attempting combination solutionswhenever you have a plausible correct solution gives you quick feedback on if you’re doing the right thing. If you’re lucky, your first guess might even be right! This tip is combined well with the the next tip – if you have 3 out of 4 of the numbers on a combination lock, immediately input in the 3 digits and cycle through the last one.

Tip #18. Skip the last few digits or letters

Some examples where you can skip some minor steps include:

• Don’t finish that substitution cipher –Decoding substitution ciphers are usually quite tedious. With some strategic choices of what letters to decode, you can usually figure out what the words are saying without decoding every single one.
• Figuring out the last digit in a lock – If you know the first 3 digits in a 4-digit combination lock, you can just cycle through the last options for the 4th one.
• Figuring out the last few letters in a wordlock – This is like solving a crossword. If you have a5-letter word that starts with M and ends in C, try MAGIC!

We only recommend skipping the last few digits or letters when you know that actually solving them will be tedious. We do not recommend skipping entire puzzles.

Don’t Break Things

Tip #19. Don’t use excessive force

Breaking things is both bad for the escape games and the players – for everything including game functionality, player safety, and important game sequences. Avoid forcing open any doors or detaching anything from the walls that don’t easily come off. Avoid climbing on furniture, or touching the ceiling. The game masters will usually brief you beforehand on what things you shouldn’t do.

Tip #20. Don’t play drunk

Escape rooms are a lot more fun when played sober. Come in with a sober mind ready for some puzzle-solving, quick decision-making, and effective communication! Celebrate afterwards instead of before!

Save Time and Money

Tip #21. Check the company’s social media for promotions

Escape room promotions are usually announced on their social media (mostly Facebook and Instagram). They may also have a mailing list that you might be able to join from their website. Their website should also have full details on pricing (some companies charge less on weekdays). During the holiday season, many escape rooms offer discounted gift cards or vouchers.

Tip #22. Book now, add additional players later

For private games, escape rooms will let you add (and pay for) additional players when you arrive, as long as you do not exceed the maximum room capacity. If you’re not sure how large your group will be, you can book whatever you need to reserve your game (consider it your deposit), and pay for the rest when you arrive. Be warned that this may not work for public games.

Tip #23. Fill out the waiver before you arrive

Due to COVID-19, many escape room companies have moved away from paper (or shared iPad) waivers, and moved to a QR-code based waiver system. Some popular escape room administration software includes this. Check out your booking email to see if it’s possible to fill out the waivers online before you arrive, this will save time, especially if there are minors in your group.

Tip #24. Bring a watch and reading glasses

There are very few personal items that you are allowed to bring into a game and use – two of the items that you ARE allowed to bring into a game and use are 1) a wristwatch or 2) reading glasses. A watch will let you keep track of how much time is left, which is helpful when the game does not provide an easily-accessible clock or timer. A watch with a glow function will also come in handy to shine on a dimly-lit lock. Reading glasses will save you time if you need them.

Tip #25. Survey the room before your timer starts

When you first enter the room, usually there is some sort of introduction (either from your host or an intro video) before your timer officially starts. While you shouldn’t touch anything yet or go searching, this is a great time to do a very quick visual survey of the room to take mental inventory of what you might want to look at first. Still, please do pay attention to the any instructions or story given to you by your host or the intro video!

Closing Tips

Tip #26. Don’t go for the leaderboard

You paid $30+ per person for a 60-minute experience, do you want to rush through and finish the whole thing in 25 minutes? While being on the leaderboard is a nice ego boost, the value of an escape game is in the experience itself, and we always recommend savoring it, enjoying the story and your surroundings. Besides, if you’re setting records, you probably brought a team that was too big (See Tip #2).

Tip #27. Look at the broader picture

Avoid getting too stuck on any one individual puzzle; you may not have enough clues to solve it yet. Have at least one member of your team keep track of the larger picture, which involves figuring out what smaller puzzles need to be done, what final objects need to be collected, or what final objective needs to be done. This sometimes allows you to just skip over the smaller steps.

Tip #28. Apply Occam’s Razor

Don’t overthink any of the puzzles. Escape games are meant to be fun for a larger audience, which means that they generally don’t require prior knowledge, prior experience, or a complicated explanation for anything.Go for the simpler solution. Usually escape room puzzles have a clear “aha!” when you discover the right approach.

Tip #29. Don’t be afraid to lose

Some of our most satisfying escape rooms were ones where we didn’t escape. The game is a lot more fun when you solve puzzles genuinely and don’t panic about not finishing. These games can be hard, but are also simultaneously fun and immensely satisfying. Enjoy yourselves, embrace the journey with your friends and not the outcome, and you will have lots of fun!

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