Did you know that Beijing, China has hundreds of escape rooms to try, making them the city with the most escape rooms around the world? If you’re trying to figure out how to beat an escape room, you are in the right place. We have put together this short guide to share our top tips for beating an escape room.
Read on to learn more.
1. Play With People You Know Well
Instead of playing with random people or strangers, go with a group of people that you know well. This will make it easier to communicate and solve the clues together. Sometimes when you go to an escape room and play a public game with strangers, it makes it more difficult to communicate openly.
Also, you don’t want to take too many people because sometimes having too many can take away from the experience and can make it more difficult to win. A good rule of thumb is to create a team of 50% of the maximum capacity recommended for the room.
2. Yell Loudly
When you find something worthy, do not whisper it or keep it to yourself. What you find something, you want to yell loudly and let others know. This helps because most games are won based on how quickly two teammates match together related items that they find.
For example, if someone finds a key and someone finds a lock you want to put those together ASAP.
3. Contribute vs Spectate
Whenever there is progress being made on a puzzle, it can be easier to become a spectator because you are entertained. But, it’s best for everyone in the room to contribute in some sort of way and not just sit around and watch someone solve something.
Keep in mind that if someone is focusing on a task intently you want to resist the urge to chime in and allow them to focus, so you don’t break their concentration unless they ask for help.
4. Make a Discard Pile
The neater you are, the higher your chances will be for winning. We recommend making a discard pile where you put objects in the game into a used and unused pile. This will keep others from wasting time by examining the same object over and over again.
Keep in mind that sometimes used items might be used more than one time.
5. Organize Objects
Keeping the room tidy will make it easier to find things that you need. It will also help you keep related items together, making it faster to find them when you need them later on.
If the room is dimly-lit then place the unused objects in the brightest spot in the room. You can also find a table in the room and place any loose objects in that space.
Make sure you keep all related items in the same section and stack any related papers together. If there are too many papers, then it is a good idea to stack them with a slight offset so that you can see each paper.
6. Divide and Conquer
Although you want to play as a team you want to make the most of the limited time you have. In the beginning of the game, split the room into sections and assign different people to go through each section. Each assigned person should look for important objects that might help solve the puzzle.
When you divide and conquer you ensure that the entire room is being inspected thoroughly. It will also prevent accidentally missing clues because a certain area was overlooked.
7. Search Thoroughly
Sometimes clues will be in the least expected places so every nook and cranny needs to be searched. If there is a book, skim through for clues. If there is a coat, look through every pocket.
Look at shelves, walls, and floors with caution because there might be a secret compartment.
8. Hints Can Help
Do not ever be too proud to ask for a hint if you’re really stuck. Most escape rooms have a hint system in place where they allow a certain number of hints. Make sure that you are aware of the system to ask for hints so that you don’t miss out.
Some escape rooms will give you walkie-talkies, and others will have you wave into a camera if you need a hint. A game master will help push you in the right direction so that you can start solving puzzles and start having fun again.
9. Things to Ignore
Although experience is best when it comes to learning what to ignore there are some common things that are usually never important to winning. For example, if there is antique furniture with numbers stamped on it, typically this doesn’t mean anything they are just a serial number from the manufacturer.
If there are electrical components, don’t mess with these because it’s a safety issue. No need to mess with power outlets or power cords.
Also, inspecting the ceiling is typically a waste of time unless it has objects glued to the ceiling that normally wouldn’t be there. If the ceiling is made up of tiles that move, don’t waste time moving these looking for clues because this can also be a safety issue.
Now You Know How to Beat an Escape Room
Now that you’ve learned our top tips on how to beat an escape room, you can apply them at your next escape room outing and impress your fellow escape room teammates.
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