Thanks to the worldwide Covid-19 pandemic, many escape room businesses have either closed or been forced to diversify into the online/virtual escape room gaming experiences. And though Covid is no longer hogging the headlines in most media outlets, it certainly hasn't gone away. With many governments now allowing businesses where people are in close proximity once again. This is great news for the escape rooms niche in that those that have survived will soon be accepting players once again. With this in mind, let’s have a quick refresh on what you’ll need to keep in mind when you restart your escape room experience once again. This brings us to our first point…

Only Play With People Familiar To You

Though Covid-19 might have disappeared from the news cycle, it’s still very much alive and kicking. To that end, we suggest that you look for escape room games which you can reserve solely for your own party. You’ll find some companies are running games open to the general public. But we don't really recommend that you play with strangers. This is just a basic safety precaution. After all, you're all going to be confined in a relatively intimate space for around an hour. As with all things in life, health must always come first.

Have The Right Sized Team

If you go online to one of the many escape room companies and search for their max player limit, then you'll see that many of them are very over generous. We have to consider that from a business point of view, the owners have an incentive to cram as many people into each game as possible. Unfortunately, for practical reasons, this can suck a lot of the fun out of the game play. If you want to know the real capacity of each room, then simply take 50% of the owners estimation for max group size.

Listen To Each Other

You’ll find that all escape rooms function at their optimum if the players are willing to try their hand at everything. No matter what crazy ideas anyone might come up with, everyone should listen to them. Because you simply never know what's going to function and what's not. So having to put up with many bad ideas shouldn't be a problem. Consider taking every idea under consideration. Providing what needs to be done can be reversed, then it might lead you to complete one part of the game. Remember that a lot of the gameplay is about thinking outside of the box. So encourage everyone in your team to be confident about expressing ideas. Even if they appear to have no initial possibility at that particular time.

Shout Out Your Findings

As we’ve mentioned “confidence,” has a very important part to play, as communicating clearly with each other is of paramount importance. Because the team is playing against the clock, then things can get pretty chaotic. Remember that a lot of the clues don’t consist of a single object or device, but rather require a number of different items to be matched together from different locations. For example, you may find a key, but you can guarantee the lock will be somewhere else. That's why it's important that as soon as any team member finds anything of interest, they holla out let the others know by simply shouting out what they've discovered.

Let Others Have A Go

It’s said that some people are spatially-minded and others more mathematically so. So you may well find yourself flummoxed by a particular puzzle. We suggest that you set yourself a time limit as to how long you're willing to try to solve it. If you are failing, then it's time to pass it onto someone else who may simply look at it differently, or think about a possible solution from another angle. One good point to keep in mind is that if several people are enabled to solve a particular vexing problem or unable to see a particular clue, then it means that you’re all missing another piece of important information to complete a clearer picture.

Don’t All Work On The Same Thing

Because time is of the essence, it's super important that you're not all crowding around the same puzzle. A much more effective way of using everyone's time would be to split up. This would allow some people to go ahead. By doing so, they may have already solved puzzles so that when team members catch up with them, they will be able to combine the new results, thus also saving time.

Do More Than Just Be A Spectator

In many of these blog post we've discussed how escape rooms have become popular with corporations and businesses. Particularly as it means helping identify leadership qualities in their employees. To a certain degree, it's quite common to see that there’s going to be someone within the team who is just more confident than everyone else. Unfortunately, this confidence can put off those who have less. Often we can see them standing around not really taking part in what's going on. We would suggest that people who are slightly shyer than others should simply move ahead and start solving things themselves in their own time by creating their own space within the game.

Store Items Correctly

You might be surprised as to how many games are lost due to “bad housekeeping” practices. Simply put, once an object has been discovered, whether it is being used to solve a puzzle or find a clue, will determineIt's later placement. We suggest that there is an “unused” and a “used” pile. This will allow all players to clearly see which objects have been examined and and had their purpose determined, Along with which objects still need to be deciphered. This will save a lot of time, as nothing's more fatal to a game’s outcome than players trying to solve something that has already been solved.

Pay Attention To The Games Master

Before the game begins in earnest, your game master will  explain the story behind the gameplay. It's imperative that you give him 100% of your attention at this point. Because the players are excited before they actually enter the escape room game, many of them are not properly paying attention to everything the game master is telling them. It's at this point that there will often be some subtle hints which, if you remember them, will help you later on in the game. 

Don’t Be Afraid To Ask For Hints

Contrary to popular belief, you haven't lost the game just because you need to ask the game master for a hint. This is a foolish way of thinking. We suggest that you look for the system they have in place allowing you to contact the game master directly, whether via a video camera, walkie-talkie or phone. If one of the games starts to drag because you're stumped by any of the puzzles, then don’t be afraid to reach out to the game master. Remember that he wants you to be successful. And part and parcel of that is that he wants you to have a good time. Be aware though, the game's master is not going to simply tell you the correct answer. He's been trying to gently nudge you in the right direction. If he simply told you the answer, then he would be robbing you of the satisfaction of finally discovering it for yourself.

Utilise Occam’s Razor

A surprising number of players have a tendency to overlook the most obvious answers by overthinking the puzzles in use. You have to keep in mind that escape room games make their money, and more importantly, stay in business, from players having a good time. If it's your first time playing then everything is going to seem rather complicated. But in reality most of the solutions to the problems you're faced with in the escape room game, simply require a new way of looking. In truth there’s no going to be any real complex problem solving. It’s better if you can always start with the simplest solution. Just keep going in that direction and you'll eventually come to that “aha!” moment.

Don’t Be Afraid To Lose

With an escape room being a public business, then we're going to get all different types of people coming to play these games. Everyone will have one eye on the clock with the intention of beating it. Yet the truth is that the vast majority of players will lose their games. As the end of the game will be signalled before they have completed finding all the clues. But that doesn't mean to say that a lack of victory should lead to any feelings other than immense satisfaction. Of course, these games can be difficult, and they are designed to be so. But win or lose, you'll have passed an hour of exciting and satisfying gameplay. As well as tons of fun. So, if victory escapes you, it’s immaterial. As with life, it is simply how much fun you had on the journey.