Buzz
Escape rooms are gaining popularity as a means to spend quality time with friends. The concept involves gathering clues or puzzle pieces leading to a key or code for room escape. You can create a DIY escape room in your home or classroom with minimal special equipment. Begin with an engaging theme and narrative to motivate participants. Then, devise a series of puzzles for the escape room. Lastly, craft challenging (yet achievable!) clues to steer participants toward the puzzles.
Procedures
Developing a Narrative
Consider your audience when crafting your storyline. Are you designing an escape room for students? Opt for a story relevant to the lesson. If it's for friends, select a theme aligned with their interests.
- For instance, for a math class escape room, create a detective narrative where students must thwart a villain using math-based clues, ensuring engagement.
- For friends fond of sci-fi, an outer space theme could be captivating.
- If creating everything from scratch seems daunting, explore escape room kits or templates for assistance.
Craft a storyline suitable for your space. If you're limited to a classroom or small apartment, creating a multi-room escape or life-size maze may not be feasible. Focus on brain-teasing clues and clever hiding spots for a DIY escape room.
- Utilize available physical resources; for instance, lockers or cubbies in a classroom can hide clues or puzzle pieces.
- In a home with built-in closets or shelves, strategize on how to utilize them effectively.
- Ensure your setup aligns with the puzzles, evoking emotions to immerse players in the experience.
- Every puzzle should have a purpose and fit within the storyline to maintain immersion.
Plan for your escape room to last 30-60 minutes. Professional escape rooms typically run for 45-60 minutes. For beginners, aiming for a shorter duration of around 30 minutes can be more manageable.
- For classroom escape rooms, ensure completion within one class period. Short icebreaker rooms of 10 minutes are also possible.
- Younger participants may prefer a 30-minute duration.
- Extend the experience into a full-day event to fully engage friends in a puzzle-filled world.
- Consider reset time for professional rooms to plan multiple sessions per day.
Provide participants with a quest. Participants become the heroes of the story once they solve it. Assigning a mission to the story gives participants motivation to crack the clues.
- For example, in a detective theme, participants solve a murder mystery, or for younger groups, they search for a missing treasure.
- In a social studies setting, participants may uncover an ancient tomb to learn about Ancient Egypt.
Use your theme to outline the story's main events. Like any good story, escape rooms need a clear beginning, middle, and end. Plot the major points participants will encounter as a guide for writing clues.
- For archaeologist players, the story begins with a threatened ancient temple and progresses as they discover hidden doors, traps, or keys within. Success saves the temple.
- In a detective story, participants track down a stolen item, like a diamond ring, through clues, leading to its recovery or loss.
Generate object ideas for your storyline. Objects can conceal puzzle pieces, offer clues, or provide information for decoding. Depending on budget, improvisation may be necessary, encouraging participants to use their imagination.
- Common hiding places include books with secret chambers, drawers, high surfaces, or coat pockets.
- More elaborate hiding spots could involve floorboards, false walls, or behind furniture.
Theme the room's decor accordingly. Depending on the desired level of intricacy, decorate your escape room as lavishly or simply as desired. Immersion is key; there's no such thing as overdoing it. For one-time use rooms like classrooms or party setups, a few themed decorations suffice.
- For instance, for an archaeology-themed room, consider textured walls resembling stone, statuettes, and lockboxes painted to resemble treasure chests.
- Engage all senses. Is the room's temperature relevant to the story? Can participants use texture to uncover clues, such as braille messages or secret doors disguised as different materials?
Select props in line with the theme. Props breathe life into your escape room narrative. Not all props need to serve as clues; some can simply add ambiance or mislead participants. Including a mix adds depth to the experience.
- For a detective theme, scatter items like hats, coats, badges, and magnifying glasses throughout the room.
- In an Ancient Egypt setup, adorn the space with images of ancient art and, if possible, small statues or fake bones.
Concealing Puzzle Pieces
Commence with standard lock boxes and diverse locks. Utilize lock boxes to conceal clues or puzzles effortlessly. No need for elaborate DIY decor unless aiming for an extraordinary experience.
- Particularly useful for friend or student escape rooms. For professional setups, consider customized hiding solutions.
- Clues can lead sequentially or form part of a larger puzzle, ultimately unlocking the door when pieced together.
Position objects just out of grasp. Prompt participants to search for tools to retrieve puzzle pieces or keys, such as magnets, sticks, or grabbers, enhancing the challenge and engagement.
- For example, in a prison-themed room, leave keys tantalizingly out of reach behind bars. A steel key ring easily attracts to a magnet.
Utilize everyday objects as concealment spots. You can opt for the obvious, like hiding keys in a flower pot or concealing money and clues within a book. Alternatively, you can get more creative by hiding clues within walls, false bricks, or gutted electronics.
- Your imagination is the only limit when it comes to concealing clues. Consider your theme and brainstorm potential related objects, then contemplate how to transform them into hiding spots.
- For instance, in a detective-themed room, hide a clue in the detective's coat pocket, representing the last lead on the case.
- Similarly, for an archaeology-themed room, hide a decoding document inside a book.
Experiment with hiding clues in plain sight. Participants in escape rooms often overlook clues right in front of them while searching for hidden items. This could involve incorporating a clue into a piece of artwork or using an object to access a clue or key.
- For instance, artwork on the wall could double as a cipher to decode a clue.
- For a more high-tech approach, have players trigger a hidden door by stepping on footprints.
- In traditional setups, clearly mark puzzle pieces so players actively search for corresponding patterns to solve the puzzle.
Utilize a blacklight to reveal hidden clues. Write clues on surfaces or objects using a blacklight marker. Then, hide a blacklight somewhere in the room. Upon discovery, participants can use it to reveal hidden codes or clues.
- Alternatively, install a blacklight fixture that activates automatically based on specific actions.
Incorporate a maze into your escape room design. Mazes can vary in complexity and size. An easy way to include one is with a handheld, horizontal puzzle maze with a hollow interior and a hole. Participants must navigate the maze to retrieve a piece.
- A room-sized maze offers an immersive experience if feasible.
- Ensure participants exit through a different door than the one they entered, and using a maze facilitates this transition.
Creating Clues
Compose escape room clues after setting up the room. Once the room's story and setup are in place, craft clues linking various hiding spots. It's crucial to have the room set up beforehand, in case the setup differs from the original plan.
- Clues don't necessarily have to be physically placed in the room; they can also be conveyed to participants via a speaker.
Determine if clues should be revealed sequentially. Clues in escape rooms can be revealed either in a random order for players to piece together or sequentially, one leading to the next. The latter is more challenging but can offer greater satisfaction for players.
- If revealing clues sequentially, ensure players can't accidentally stumble upon them out of order.
Reveal combination lock codes through clues. A common format for escape room clues is revealing a code for a combination lock. Use a combination lock to unveil a series of numbers, leading to a key or the next clue.
- The level of detail in each clue depends on the audience. For students, revealing the entire combination through arithmetic problems keeps the game moving. For adults, hunting down each number individually adds complexity.
Utilize ciphers to encode clues. Ciphers are coded pieces of writing. Conceal a decoding key in the room; once found, players can decipher clues, potentially leading to a key or puzzle piece.
- Common ciphers include Morse code, braille, or letter/number substitutions.
- In an Ancient Egypt-themed room, hieroglyphics can be used. Match symbols to letters to spell out clues.
Transform ordinary object groups into encoded clues. Arrange related objects to form a clue. Players must gather and arrange the objects correctly to reveal the message.
- For example, write a clue across a series of cards' backs, requiring players to arrange them in order.
- Alternatively, write a clue on a puzzle and scatter its pieces; players must find and assemble them to uncover the final clue.
Utilize a PowerPoint presentation with clues for a classroom escape room. PowerPoint enables the inclusion of more educational content and visual aids. You can also progress to the next clue if students take too long to solve them.
- Since you'll be present in the room with your students as they solve clues, consider having a set of written hints you can provide if they encounter difficulties.
Avoid using trivia or pop culture-based clues. Such clues rely on participants having specific information memorized, which may lead to frustration if they can't recall it. Exceptions include themed escape rooms like Harry Potter, where trivia-based clues are suitable, or classroom escape rooms based on class content.
Helpful Hints
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If feasible, have a few friends test your escape room first to gather feedback and make necessary adjustments before opening it to the intended audience.
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Players are typically seeking a 'wow' factor, whether from the storyline, special effects, or set design.
Cautionary Notes
- Avoid concealing clues in imitation electrical outlets or ceilings due to safety concerns.
