The #1 Escape Room Strategy

How do you beat an escape room? Do you have to be really book-smart or good at puzzles? Do you have to assemble the perfect team beforehand? Or is it all based on luck?

Here’s the truth: while puzzle ability and teamwork do help you solve escape rooms, your chance of breaking out ultimately comes down to STRATEGY. There is a consistent set of strategies that players who win escape rooms use to break out. In this post, we’ll break down that strategy so you can use it to win your next escape room.

Before we talk about what to do during the game, we need to talk about what to do before the game. (Yes, you should be preparing before you ever walk into an escape room!) We have 3 tips that will set you up for success during the game.

An escape room is an experience that you do not want to be late for. We recommend arriving 15 minutes early so you have plenty of time to check in, sign your waivers, and go to the bathroom before everything starts.

If you arrive late, unfortunately, time may be taken away from your game. Or you may have to completely reschedule. So be early!

It’s helpful to talk to the people you’re playing with before you start your game and determine what each of you is good at. 

Maybe some people are great with numbers, or some people are really good at word puzzles. Knowing this ahead of time can help you better delegate tasks during the game.

It’s also really helpful to assign one person as the “note taker.” This person will take notes for the group throughout the game.

The bottom line is that knowing your strengths ahead of time will help you throughout your experience.

Before you play, you may receive written instructions, video instructions, or verbal instructions from your game master— or a combination of the three. 

Now is NOT the time to tune out! Even if you consider yourself to be an experienced escape room player, you still need to pay close attention to any instructions you’re given. 

Now that you’re well prepared, let’s get into what you should do during your game for the best chance of escaping.

The first thing you want to do in an escape room is look for any visible locks you may have. Note what type of locks you see (numbers, letters, traditional lock and key, etc.). And note how many digits they have, if applicable.

This can give you an idea of what you’re looking for throughout the room. If you have a 4 digit number lock, for example, you know you’re looking for a four-digit number code.

It may be possible that you are in a room without physical locks. That’s okay, just go ahead and start applying our next tip.

Now it’s time to search the room for clues. We recommend dividing and conquering to search throughout the room. Pro tip: don’t just stick to things that are eye-level! You don’t need to climb up to the ceiling, but searching high and low in escape rooms is important. 

Pay particular attention to any patterns or similarities you see throughout the room. Are there recurring numbers, letters, or symbols? Are things arranged in a particular way? Spotting a pattern early in the game just might come in clutch later in the game.

When you find something useful, shout it out to your group. If you don’t communicate what you’re doing, you risk wasting time by having people work on something that has already been completed. So make sure each member of your group knows what’s going on.

As you gather more clues and open more locks, the room can quickly devolve into chaos. When the room becomes disorganized, it can be hard to find things when you need them.

We recommend designating one area of the room to keep clues you find. And make two piles: clues you’ve used and clues you haven’t used.

Finally, we recommend keeping each key in its lock and each lock in its latch. It’s super stressful to have to navigate around a bunch of discarded locks on the floor when you’re trying to solve the room, so keeping everything in place will help make things a lot easier. (And your game masters will love you!)

How do you know if you’re “close” to solving an escape room? Especially since escape rooms are full of surprises?

This is where taking stock of your locks also helps. You can gauge your progress by how many locks you have left. We recommend giving yourself at least 5 minutes per lock that you see.

But we also recommend assuming there is a secret room (or at least some puzzles that aren’t visible to you yet!) We can’t tell you how many times groups have thought they were at the end of an escape room, but then a secret door opens. There might not always be a secret room in escape rooms, but it’s good to operate from that assumption. 

Comparing how much time you have to how much more of the room you have to solve can help you pace yourselves for the best experience.

That wraps up our #1 escape room strategy! Prepare before your game, and stay organized during it so you sustain a path to victory. We hope this post has been helpful. If you’re ready to apply this strategy to your next escape room, check out our bookings page.