Common Mistakes in Escape Rooms

By Leslie Kell

One of the first things to remember when playing escape rooms, is that every escape room is designed differently. You will encounter different puzzles, different solving methods and more, depending on the amount of rooms you play. Keeping those differences in mind, there are some ways that you can make any escape room enjoyable, and heighten your chances of winning the game, even when you don’t know what to expect from the next room you encounter. The following is a list of some common mistakes that players make while playing the game, that could mean the difference between winning and losing.

Trying to clean up your clues

While it’s a good idea to keep things organized when you’re playing the game,  sometimes cleaning up after yourself is a hindrance. We encourage our players at Epic Escape Game to basically go through searching for clues anywhere and everywhere; this will make the room messy and this is absolutely okay! The only thing we don’t encourage while you make mess, is the use of force. At any rate, if you start cleaning up after yourself, you may end up wasting too much time moving clues and not spending enough time actually solving them. Before you know it, that 60 minute timer is up, and you’ve lost the game. In addition, by ‘over organizing, be aware that you might just put away a clue that you’re not finished with yet.

Refuse to use phone clues

In our company, we offer three free phone clues for each escape room you play, after that the phone clues will count against your time and add five minutes to the end of your escape time. If you enjoy taking part in a challenge, it’s definitely acceptable to refuse the use of phone clues. On the other hand, the first three phone calls don’t count against you in any way, so there’s no harm in using them to push you along. We want to encourage you that using phone clues doesn’t mean that you are cheating at the game; they’re there to help you. Again, it’s okay to not use clues, but know that it may put you at risk of losing the game.

Forgetting to Write Things Down

In Epic Escape Game’s escape rooms, we offer each team a clipboard with paper and pencil to help them keep track of clues they find, and codes they come up with. This can be a vital tool to any group, and we encourage you to use it as such. With so much activity happening in the escape room, it’s definitely a good idea to keep track of what you find and what it shows you. Often times, groups that forget to write things down spend more time confusing each other and trying to regain strength in communication, rather than solving puzzles and moving through the game. In the long run, an inability to keep track  things while you are playing could potentially lead to losing the game.

Again, these ‘mistakes’ as we’ve called them don’t mean that you will lose the game, but they could create more of a challenge in your experience.  In addition these are things to be aware of to help you have a better gaming experience in the next escape room you find yourself in. If you’re ready for that next experience, book your room today!