x
If you've never played in an escape room, then you're missing out on a lot of fun. It's 60 minutes of riddles, puzzles and clues. You're locked in a room and have to solve all the clues to escape. These games are certainly high-energy and fast-paced as they're played against a clock. They're a great way to have a whole ton of fun with your family, friends or work colleagues. If you want a night out like no other, than you definitely should get yourself off to the nearest escape room. Every time you solve a puzzle it builds onto the next one and normally becomes increasingly more difficult as time goes on. There will be all sorts of twists and turns and you'll need to be wearing your logical hat. But at the end of the day, you'll find that teamwork is probably the most important factor in escaping within the time limit.
When it comes to the actual puzzles themselves, there's a huge variety to choose from. And while there appear to be an almost infinite amount of combinations and riddles to solve, the more you play escape room games, then the easier it'll become to recognize that most puzzles fall into definite categories. Most escape rooms use many of the dame ideas, but just present them differently. Below are some of the common themes you'll find in the puzzles. Obviously we're not going to give away any clues here. But it'll help you see the trees in the woods when it comes to being face to face with so many different puzzle options.
At first glance, any escape room appears chock full of different puzzles. But if you take a step backwards to see the whole picture, then you'd realize that many follow a similar pattern. It's just the scenarios which are changing. Sometimes it'll take a while to recognize the pattern from the clues. But if you look at each one with a keen eye, then these similarities will start to stand out.
The more escape room played, then the easier it'll be to match up puzzles with clues. But recognizing a puzzle is one thing. The trick of playing the game within the allotted time, is to know how to find the correct solution that works in that particular circumstance. And that that's a whole new set of skills, from logical thinking to leadership.
This is one of the most common types of puzzle you'll find in all escape rooms. A pattern or code normally hiding in plain sight. There are a thousand and one different ways of hiding numbers and letters, that you'll need to put on your visual at and learn to look at things from a different way. Because so many of the locks themselves function with numbers and letters, be they combination locks or padlocks, breaking the code of hidden digits is of paramount importance. A good example would be coming across a set of pictures hanging on a wall. One of them is probably going to be different. Your job is to figure out what is different from the rest.
By far the quickest route to cracking this type of puzzle, is to start counting. What ever you can see either a group of or a pattern that repeats, then start to count the individual elements. many clues are hidden within a couple of objects that have some numerical differences within them. Once you recognize a repeating pattern, then you'll need to input those numbers into either a lock or another clue to proceed.
Part of the fun of the escape room experience, is that it's full of codes, ciphers and hidden messages. Whether it's decrypting messages or searching for symbols, there's always so much going on, that the sheer concentration and effort needed to string everything together in a coherent form takes all of your combined energies. Though there can be any number of codes and symbols at play, a common puzzle is that which is hidden within a Morse Code. This might be relayed with a flashing light and/or sounds. To that end, you'll be needing a keen ear to both recognize and decypher the pattern of light or sound.
You'll more than probably come across a piece of text or a page of writing that'll need to be decyphered. And, if you look carefully, there is more than probably the tool for the decyphering in the actual room itself. Sometimes this can be in the form of a sheet with holes punched in it. All you have to do is lay it over the text and see where the holes line up. Sometimes, this sheet will have some squiggles of high-lighter, and once again you'll need to over-lay it onto the text or numbers. More often than not, you'll need to squint and a pattern will start to emerge. Another method is to use a back-light to show hidden numbers or digits written in "invisible ink".
Often you'll come across a piece of paper or a written passage that looks normal. As you well know, an object is placed in an escape room for a purpose. So that ordinary piece of paper is there as a clue. To that end, see if there are glow-sticks or any other form of lighting in the room. You may find a black light or a back light. Maybe there's a message in invisible ink or letters that are high-lighted under black light. Look around.
On the whole, a decent escape room game shouldn't have you spend all your time searching for clues. The general idea is to put the clues in front of you, but hidden within puzzles and cyphers. But having said that, there will be some objects that are hidden from the naked eye. Maybe, there's another puzzle that needs solving to give away the location of said object. Equally so, it might be hidden to make the life difficult for you. But where ever it's hiding, you don't have to break anything to find it. It will always be hiding somewhere easily accessible.
Whilst playing in the escape room, you find many objects and cues, but will have no idea how they are meant to contribute to the overall game. The "Eureka" moment will pass pretty fast if the clue you've found is meaningless. But remember that you're playing the long game. Any puzzles and clues discovered at the start need to be saved as, you can be sure, they'll be of use later on in the game. So don't cast aside those solutions. Rather guard and remember them. Because you have no idea what's lurking behind the next corner.
