Hot Take: Difficulty Levels in Escape Rooms Don't Matter (But We'll Tell You What Does!)

Posted on January 23, 2026
by Monica Croxton

A successful escape room experience is always within reach for any group that chooses to play. What matters most in an escape room can look differently for everyone. You can choose an exciting theme that reels you in, a high level of difficulty, or attempt to complete the game with no clues or hints. The choice is yours!

Ultimately, a successful game relies on its players and their dedication to making fun the top priority. Making fun the priority of your game allows for you to put experience and memory making at the forefront of your mind. By shifting the focus from “we must escape” to “we must have fun”, we can create a true lasting memory.

Whether it’s your first time or 10th time playing with us at Breakout, we strive to set all players up for success by making sure fun is at the top of the list. The joy of escape rooms comes with the thrill of connection, and we want to make it as easy as possible for you to dive in, explore, and experience the thrill of a lifetime. Here are the best practices that we have found to be key in that pursuit.

We Don’t Rate Our Rooms Based on Difficulty

Every single day we hear the same exact questions from guests: How hard is this room? Which one is the easiest? What is your escape rate? And the answer is always the same - we don’t have one. People are naturally curious to know what challenges lie ahead of them in situations like this, but we’ve found that assigning a certain difficulty to a room is practically impossible - and often it’s counterproductive to the fun.

Why? It’s because difficulty ratings are totally subjective. There are entirely too many variables to create one accurate number or rating.

Experience Levels Differ: An escape room “veteran” might be able to recognize how certain puzzles work and be able to solve it with ease. On the flip side, a newcomer might approach that same puzzle and not understand what they’re looking at right away.
Group Size and Composition: Families, experienced players, coworkers - they all come from different backgrounds, but they can all have a completely different way of working together and communicating.
Individual Skills Vary: Sometimes your group has a star player: Your coworker can easily solve a riddle, your teenage cousin is great at logic puzzles, your little brother saw something down low that you all missed. We offer a variety of different puzzles throughout our games with the intention of creating something for everyone to solve.

Even with all of these factors taken into consideration, some puzzles are genuinely just difficult for even the most diverse groups to solve. Instead of a particular rating of “Easy” or “Hard”, we allow our groups to choose their own desired difficulty by giving them unlimited access to clues - without penalty. If you want to be challenged, ask for little to no hints! If you’d prefer to go with the flow, ask for help when you’re stuck or unsure.

Our Game Masters agree - ratings are tricky to nail down. We’d much rather tell you the qualities that a room has, or what to expect, such as “this room has more math” or “this room has more hands-on puzzles." This helps us set expectations ahead of time instead of providing you with a misleading difficulty level.

Being Competitive is a Double-Edged Sword

What goes hand-in-hand with people who like a challenge? People who are competitive. Now, that’s not necessarily a bad thing! A little competition can be healthy, but obsessing over winning can actually hinder your experience in the long run.

Why do groups get so competitive? Well, it usually comes down to a few things:

Everyone wants to have the fastest escape time.
They want to finish the room without needing any help or hints.
Let's be honest - people just love to win!

However, if the focus is solely on those things, you can actually set your group back without realizing. If you’re putting too much pressure on your group to fit that “perfect” mold, you might stress out your fellow teammates, miss fun details within the room, or even prevent your escape overall.

Why It’s Important to Focus on Fun

So, why do we keep repeating the same point over and over again? It’s because when you shift your focus to having fun, the entire experience transforms. Allow yourself to get fully immersed both in the room's environment and with the people around you. Embrace the collaboration and teamwork you’re participating in - it might be one of the only times you get to see these people all together!

It’s not likely that you’ll remember your exact escape time, but it is likely that you’ll remember how your coworker misspelled the word that you needed to open a lock (and the laughs that ensued). Focusing on the fun also creates much less frustration, so even if you don’t end up escaping, it won’t impact you as harshly.

Your Game Master Prioritizes Fun

Behind the scenes, your Game Master is also making sure you have the best experience possible. Even if you don’t ask for a hint the entire game, they’re working hard to ensure the experience is the best you can get.

Our Game Masters keep the focus on fun by:

Create a Positive Atmosphere: Your Game Master builds rapport before the game, keeps their tone lighthearted and encouraging, and understands how to read the room so they can match your group’s expectations and energy level while playing.
Encouragement & Guidance: They know the game inside and out. If your group seems stuck, they might check in to see if you want a little guidance. However, they also will respect if you wish to have less interaction!
Maintains Immersion: They will not interrupt gameplay unless absolutely necessary. All clues that they give also stay on theme and are easy to understand.

Conclusion

In summary, the best escape room experience comes from ignoring those preconceived notions about escape rooms and just falling into the experience overall. So the next time you want to book an escape room, try to keep a few things in mind: pick something your group will enjoy. And if you want advice on picking something great? Call and ask for the store’s personal recommendation! You might get some insight on which room might fit your group perfectly. And last but not least, have fun!