If you’re trying something new in 2020 but aren’t too sure about how this whole escape room thing works, LockHouse Escape Games has got you covered! Here’s our advice on how to prepare for your first escape room.
Before you go
Pick your team
Whether you’re choosing your team strategically based on what you think they’ll be good at, or just badgering/bribing your mates into agreeing to be shut in a room with you for an hour, the people you go with will set the mood for your experience. Whilst it can be handy to have a supergenius along, if you know one, it’s not the most important criteria. Instead of ranking all your friends based on how smart you think they are, we recommend making sure to go with people you like. You’ll solve more things (and have a better time!) if you’re communicating with the people you’re playing with.
Our rooms can fit up to 6 or 7 players, with a minimum of 2. If you’re aiming for the ‘ideal’ number of players, we recommend a group of 4 (as many players as a very unfortunate football team). With too few players it can be hard to solve things; with too many, it can get crowded and chaotic.
Choose your room
There’s a huge range of escape rooms out there to try! Here at LockHouse we’ve got three different games. Egyptian Tomb, our easiest room, is the perfect atmospheric first escape room for people who’ve never tried one; Armageddon, our mid-difficulty room, is full of space-station tension as you attempt to avert an asteroid strike. We could tell you more about our Secret Agent room, but then we’d have to kill you.
Dress comfy
There’s not usually a dress code for escape rooms — you can look as fabulous as you want. That said, we recommend wearing something comfortable that won’t be distracting. Escape rooms can involve steps, low ceilings, or even crawling through tunnels, so while they aren’t the most physical of experiences, you’re probably going to need to be moving around. At the least, you’re going to want to wear something that won’t take up brain space. You’ll do better at solving puzzles if you’re not constantly worrying about tripping up in high heels.
In the room
Get going straight away
Remember — time is ticking! Use the opening moments of the game to have a good look around, get an idea of what needs solving, and find any hidden things there are to discover. You won’t need to start panicking instantly (unless you really really want to), but if you make the most of the time you have at the beginning, it can save you precious minutes later on.
Try it even if you’re not sure!
Escape rooms run on logic and puzzle-solving, and they’re designed to be tricky, but not impossible. A lot of the time, the solution might not be as complicated as you think. If you’ve got an idea, even if you think it’s silly, it’s worth giving it a go — you might be right after all! A lot of teams get stuck overthinking things or waste time being afraid to try. Make the most of your first escape room, try things out, and you’ll be amazed at what you manage to solve!
For some of that escape room flavour without the stress of leaving the house, you can stretch your puzzle-solving muscles (“brain”, we think it might be called) with an escape room board game.
Want more tips? We’ve got a whole bunch of articles to help you be the best at escape rooms! You can also check out our FAQ, for the answers to all the questions you didn’t know you wanted to ask.