Escape games are tough and your first time is even tougher. No matter how smart you know you are, your first escape experience will likely be overwhelming. Once you get into a game, it’s difficult to sort out where to start, where to look for information, and even how to go about solving the puzzles. The skills you need to set records in an escape room come with time; the more rooms you play, the better you are. Lucky for you, the team at Escape Games Canada are not only escape experts but also really awesome people and we’ve compiled some key tips to help you be successful in every escape room you encounter.
Keep Your Cool
All escape rooms are timed, and sometimes they are played for a score, of course, this makes them feel very competitive. If you’ve never played before, the most important thing to remember is to Keep Calm and Solve On! No one breaks records on their first time out, so you don’t need to worry about falling behind the curve, if you can solve the game then that’s already a huge success. We get accused of being too nice or buttering our customers up, but we mean it; if you escaped you succeeded and you should celebrate! Like so many other things, escaping takes practice so keep your head, don’t overthink and focus on the puzzles in front of you. You can always aim to beat records next time.
Keep It Simple
It’s an old adage, that sometimes the simplest solution is the right one, that is definitely the case at Escape Games Canada. Our build team believes that each game should have a logical progression and that the puzzles should be solvable with the information provided. That means that if you’re looking at a puzzle and it seems like you’re missing information, you probably are. Don’t waste time on something that is incomplete; if it doesn’t make sense, there’s probably more information that you haven’t found yet. How will you know, you ask? Simple, when you have all the information you need to solve the puzzle you will know because the puzzle will suddenly make sense! Trust us.
Use Your Team
It helps to have a team of friends you trust since you’ll all be working together for an hour. Your first order of business in any mission is to find your objective; which lock do you need to open? What information do you need to open it? Once you know what you need, you and your team can look around the room to find the information you need. Remember to listen to your team, even if you think they’re wrong. The worst ideas can sometimes lead to the best ideas once you talk them out. Teammates are also helpful for things like memorization, or to divide up physical tasks. Don’t be shy about asking friends to keep track of a specific piece of information, or you can send two members of your party on a mission to look for information in the room. It is also important to limit how many members of your group participate in some puzzles, sometimes less is more to ensure clear communication. Above everything, communication is key when you’re trying to escape so make sure you’re listening and give your friends feedback too.
