The Ultimate Guide To Beating An Escape Room

 

Escape rooms are a great way to challenge yourself and your friends. How do you perform under pressure? How does your boyfriend or girlfriend handle stress? How does your team handle an escape room challenge? (This is one of the best team building activities around!) An escape game is a great way to find out how people function when they’re faced with a challenge.

At Keystone Escape Rooms, we’ve been facilitating escape games for years. now. We’ve seen the good, the bad, and a whole lot of ugly in the players. That’s why we feel the need to give you a fighting chance. That’s why we developed a comprehensive list of escape room tips. Check out our list of tips and tricks below.

41 Tips & Tricks On How To Escape An Escape Room

When you’re young, (say, under 100 years old), self-esteem is a big thing. You spend time trying to protect it, improve it, and generally finding a way to feel ok about yourself. That’s, at least in part, why you always want to win.

If you’ve lived in Atlanta for more than 20 minutes now, you’ve seen these places called escape rooms pop up all over town. It’s a simple concept really, where your group is taken into a specially themed room, and you’re given a series of puzzles and clues to solve in order to test your problem-solving abilities and escape the room. You’re usually only given 60 minutes. It’s the fastest hour of your life, and the real challenge is to leave with your self-esteem intact.

But, it’s more than just protecting your self-esteem really. The average rate of escape for any escape game experience around Atlanta hovers around 30%. That’s an amazing little statistic when you think about it. That means that any escape game you play, you’ll be facing some daunting challenges.

That’s why we’ve assembled the largest list of tips and tricks for how to escape an escape room we’ve seen yet. We understand. You’ve worked hard on yourself. We want to help you to continue to feel good about you.

Before we give you our list of secrets, however, we want to provide a brief disclaimer. No matter what escape game you play- whether you pick an escape room in Atlanta or somewhere else, the tips and tricks below are valid. We’re not going to give away any specifics about any escape room in particular, so the escape room strategies and tactics below will be useful no matter where you go to play an escape game.

Also, understand that we feel qualified to compile this list because our founders established one of the oldest escape games in Atlanta. We’ve seen thousands of people play our escape rooms, so we’re sitting on a pile of experience. We’ve seen the worst as well as the best escape room players.

Whether you are interested in playing an escape game to see what it’s all about or for some sort of team-building activity, this is a really great way to bring people closer together in a really fun way.

41 Escape Room Tips & Tricks

These tips are listed in the order they occurred to us so, put them in any priority order you like. Here’s our list of ideas about how to escape the room:

1. Communicate– we always encourage this in everything you do, but during an escape room, communication becomes vital. Talk to your team frequently about what you find. Speak clearly and loudly so everyone can hear.

2. Plan teams that do well in escape rooms have a battle plan going in. While this is smart, it might have been Colin Powell who once said, “No battle plan survives contact with the enemy.” This means, develop your plan but be flexible once the clock starts.

3. Don’t Forget The Clock– you only have 60 minutes in our escape rooms, and that time goes by really quickly. When you think about the difficulty of the clues, you’ll need every minute.

4. Wear a watch some escape rooms have more than one room which means you can’t always see the clock ticking down. Having a watch and checking it periodically helps keep you on track.

5. Dress Comfortably– chances are good that you won’t need to do any burpees in an escape room, but you may have a need to sit on the floor or look high and low. Doing all that in a three-piece suit or a ball gown may not work for you.

6. Alcohol Since escape rooms challenge you mentally, you want to come sharp. Alcohol and escape games are just not a good idea.

7. Gather Clues– over time, we’ve seen groups of players hoard clues which never helps. Part of good communication is letting everyone know about all the clues, so everyone has a chance to put the pieces together.

8. Divide Up– when you first start playing the escape game, there’s a tendency for everyone to want to do everything all at once. It’s a good idea to divide up parts of the rooms into zones to look for clues.

9. Call Out Clues again with the communication stuff! Successful teams call out clues that they find which can help others put pieces together. This may seem awkward and a bit weird, but it really helps people bring whatever they’re working on together.

10. Know When To Give Up– We all have our gifts. Some are better with numbers. Others are better at words. Some are just better left out (just kidding!). If you’re not a numbers person and you find yourself developing beads of sweat while working on a numeric puzzle, tag someone else in when you get stuck. Everybody has permission to pass.

11. Decide Going In About Accepting Clues– We’ve seen a lot of groups go in where there’s one guy who wants to solve everything without any hints. The problem is the rest of the group wants to escape at any cost. This can lead to time wasted arguing about whether or not you’re going to accept any clues. Tick tock people!

12. Play With Friends or Coworkers– It’s always better if you can play an escape game with people you know. The reason is you don’t have to spend time reading them, getting to know them or anything that might waste time. Plus, when you play with people you know, you have a sense already about their strengths and weaknesses. You can account for those and move forward faster.

13. Work Where They Ain’t poor grammar aside, people tend to cluster. When that happens, spread out and pick up pieces that aren’t being considered. It can move the entire group along faster.

14. Spectators Aren’t Helpers– While there is a temptation to stop and watch the action (because, after all, it IS cool), just remember that if you’re spending time watching, you’re not actually DOING anything to move the group along. Congratulations, you’ve just become a team liability. Get in there!

15. Make Piles– once clues are used and no longer needed, toss them into a discard pile. Keep the clues & puzzles that haven’t been used or solved together because you never know when a piece of one thing helps solve a part of another.

16. Stay Organized– it’s always a good idea to keep similar clues together to help members of your group focused and this always saves time.

17. Never Use Force– keep in mind that you’re not the first person to ever try this escape room. That means all the puzzles have been solved, and there is a solution to everything. If something doesn’t work, forcing it will only break it, so that’s clearly not the answer. Don’t be that guy.

18. Stay Positivenobody wants to work with Doug or Debbie Downer. See your success. Be your success. Ok, we’re starting to sound like Tony Robbins.

19. Be Thorough But Not Goofy Search the room completely but not like a crazy person. You don’t need to start lifting ceiling tiles or use power tools to take things apart. Whatever you’re supposed to find, you will, in fact, be able to find without a jackhammer or rezoning permits.

20. Decide Together When To Ask For Helpat Keystone Escape Rooms, we give up to 3 hints to help the group keep their momentum. Decide as a group when to ask for a clue from the game master. Don’t collectively decide to stay stuck.

21. Ignore Some Stuff- not everything is a clue. Many escape rooms have a red herring or two (something that seems to be a clue, but actually isn’t.) Sometimes a book is, in fact, just a book. It’s easy to waste time on stuff that won’t help you solve anything. Never forget the clock.

22. Work Fast AND Smart when faced with combinations, try logical ideas, but don’t linger over what doesn’t work. When watching games, we’ve seen people act incredulous when their idea doesn’t work while the clock ticks away. We’ve also seen people try the same solutions over and over again. If it didn’t work the first time, it’s not going to suddenly and magically become the right answer. We promise.

23. Solve What You Need with some puzzles, it’s not always necessary to solve the entire puzzle to move forward. We’re not sure we’ve mentioned it, but you only have so much time; so if you have enough of the puzzle to get to the next thing, keep moving!

24. Nurture Your Inner Spock escape games tend to follow a logical course. Ideas like Occam’s Razor (the simplest solution is most often the right one) are super useful.

25. Balanced Thinking Wins– always keep the big picture in mind to balance with the “smaller” picture of the puzzles and tasks at hand. We see a lot of players get lost in the details of the puzzles and clues only to lose sight of why they’re trying to solve all this stuff anyway.

26. Leggo My Ego– everyone wants to contribute, but we’ve seen players try to be the hero by trying to solve everything themselves. This is typically a recipe for failure. Accept help when you hit a rough patch, and don’t take your struggle personally. You’re not the first and you’re definitely not the worst!

27. Think Backwardssometimes, the best way to solve a problem is to consider reverse-engineering the problem. Start with the solution and work backward. It may sound awkward, but it can often lead to thoughts you haven’t had before working on it from the front end.

28. Observe, Observe, Observe– one of the coolest things about an escape room is that there can be things there that everyone just misses. Use your powers of observation, and you’ll be surprised what you find.

29. Pick Your Team Wisely– Holiday dinners should prove that not all friends and family are created equally. Decide going in if you’re going for super competitive, just to have fun or somewhere in between.

30. Pick Your Escape Room Wiselythese days, many escape rooms have an escape rate on their website (well, GOOD escape games do!). Pay attention to those numbers because they’ll tell you something. You can pick a room because of the theme but just go in eyes wide open about the numbers. It can help set appropriate expectations.

31. Lead, Follow AND Get Out Of The Way– when dealing with all the challenges of an escape room, there are times when you need to lead, times when you need to follow and, well, you get it. Pretty straightforward advice actually. Be flexible enough to do all three.

32. Never Be Late if you book an escape room for 6 pm, don’t show up at 6:15 and get mad when they won’t let you in. Once the game begins, it’s disruptive to let new players in. Most escape rooms won’t let late players in- even with really good excuses.

33. Always Avoid Outlets any escape game that includes a clue in an electrical outlet places their players at risk, and that’s just stupid. Thankfully, precious few escape rooms want to pay this kind of insurance payout. Short of plugging normal stuff in, stay away from outlets as a general rule. Consider all outlets clueless (see what we did there?).

34. Believe The Signs if the sign says, “Do Not Touch”, then you can be completely sure that thing isn’t part of the game. Leave it alone.

35. Take The Right Number Of Peopleagain, helpful escape game websites will give you a guideline on how many players work best in each escape room. It’s a good idea to take just under that number. That way, you’re not running over each other, and everybody stays busy.

36. Attend To The Group Dynamics this one’s really on you. If you take your mother in law to play an escape room and you don’t get along outside the game, things aren’t going to get any better. Playing an escape room is like being on an episode of Survivor without the tribal council. Since you can’t vote anyone out, you have to figure out how to work around players who aren’t contributing or worse- getting in the way.

37. Take A Deep Breath. You’ll Be Ok Without Your Cellphonemost escape games don’t permit cell phones inside the escape room (you’re being watched on a closed-circuit TV, so don’t even try it. Seriously, you’ll ruin it for everyone). Even if you had your smartphone, it wouldn’t help. You can’t google the combination, correct numeric sequence or answer to a riddle. Just focus on the challenges and you’ll be amazed what an hour off Instagram or Facebook feels like. You’ll get a glimpse into how your parents once lived back in ancient times.

38. Stay Cool while this is always good advice, it really applies in an escape room. As your time is coming to a close, you have to stay cool. If you panic, your body dumps adrenaline, which puts the serious brakes on your mental ability to effectively solve problems. Sure, an adrenaline rush is great if you solve a puzzle and out pops a grizzly bear, but it’s not so helpful to get that last combination solved. (Grizzlies not included. We promise!)

39. Remember What Your Momma Said About Good Hygiene- You’ll be working closely with your friends and neighbors, so do them a favor. Slap on some deodorant and toss in a breath mint. It makes it so much nicer for your team members.

40. Practice Frustration Tolerance it’s just a fact that not everyone can be a ninja. During the course of playing an escape game, nearly everyone runs into a puzzle or problem they can’t solve. It’s ok. Don’t go gonzo. Just keep at it, and ask for help when you need it.

41. Keep Locks & Keys Together– we could try, but it’d be hard to count the number of times we’ve seen people find the keys to a lock then misplace it. Don’t solve a problem twice. Once you find the key, keep it in the lock. Trust us on this one.

A Secret About Escape Rooms

Here’s a super-secret tip about all escape rooms. (Move closer….closer…a little closer…ok, move back, you’re too close). The room is actually NOT locked.

We know they say you’re supposed to find all the clues and solve all the puzzles to escape the room, but fire marshals everywhere would cough and wheeze at the idea of locking a bunch of people in a room. So, technically, you could walk out any time, but what where’s the challenge in that?

We hope you’ve found this to be the most helpful list of tips and tricks for success in any escape room around Atlanta. We find that once you try an escape room, they’re so much fun that you want to try others. We have players who have gone through all our games and are in the process of trying all the escape rooms in Atlanta. It’s really a family-friendly activity.

 

 

If you liked this post you might also find it helpful to read, ” How to pick the right escape room” for you and your group. 

OUR ATLANTA ESCAPE ROOMS

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MYSTERY ESCAPE ROOM FINDING

Escape From Gameland

You and your friends have arrived for game night, only to find your team transported to GameLand by Mr. Money Bags. Can you and your friends take the Risk to uncover the Clues, Operate as a team, Connect the dots and beat him at his own games? Sixty minutes is on the clock can you Boggle your minds and escape in Time?

escape rooms near me Alpharetta GA

 Holds           Best For       Difficulty   

   2-8             3+ Players        3/5

    Holds       Best For      Difficulty

     2-8           3+Players         3/5

escape games near me Johns Creek

       Holds          Best For       Difficulty

2-8          3+Players         3/5

 

Holds                  2-8

 

Best For           3+Players

 

Difficulty                  3/5

 

 

MYSTERY ESCAPE ROOM

The President's Project

While touring The Lincoln Library you and your team stumble across an encrypted message left by President Lincoln himself. Known for his inventive mind, it had long been rumored Lincoln had developed designs for a more efficient rail engine that had yet to be submitted for patent. Decipher his message, follow the clues, find the engine design and rewrite history. As President Lincoln said “determine the thing that can and shall be done and then……find the way.”

MYSTERY ESCAPE ROOM

Watson's Revenge

A murder has happened at 221 B Baker Street. Dr. Watson has been arrested by Scotland Yard and is their prime suspect. Sherlock Holmes knows Watson has been framed and is sure that Moriarty is behind it, but has been removed from the case.

Your job: Follow Sherlock's clues and find the real murderer before Scotland Yard knows you are at the murder scene, 221 B Baker Street! Can you and your team find the killer in time and save Watson?

escape games near me Johns Creek

 

 

 

       Holds          Best For       Difficulty

2-8          3+Players         3/5

 

 

 

 

 

 

  Holds           3/5

   

 Best For      3+Players 

 

Difficulty     2-8                

 

 

 

escape games near me Johns Creek

 Holds           Best For       Difficulty   

        2-8             3+ Players        3/5

 

 

 

 

Holds                  2-8

 

Best For           3+Players

 

Difficulty                  3/5

 

 

MYSTERY ESCAPE ROOM

Missing Magic

You and your friends have arrived for a magic show, but just as the show is about to begin, you are informed that Magic is missing. How can you have a magic show without Magic? You and your team must follow the "ticks" to uncover the clues. Follow those clues to find Magic so the show can start or be cancelled forever. 

MYSTERY ESCAPE ROOM

Color Quest

You and your friends have been recruited to discover a forgotten land that lives in only black & white. Just shadows and light without any trace of color. Your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to work together to find and release the color to this hueless world. Do you have what it takes to complete the Color Quest?

escape games near me Johns Creek

       Holds          Best For       Difficulty

2-8          3+Players         3/5

 

 

 

  Holds           3/5

   

 Best For      3+Players 

 

Difficulty     2-8                

 

 

 

escape rooms Cumming

"This was an absolute blast! We had our friends do one of the escape games and I was pretty nervous beforehand, but we got along great. In fact, we got even closer after the experience!"

-Amanda Marshall

best escape games Atlanta

"Normally, I'm not a huge fan of team building activities, but I have to say that I was impressed with how our team came together to escape the room. I am officially a huge fan of escape games now!"

-Andrea Eberhart

"Normally, I'm not a huge fan of team building activities, but I have to say that I was impressed with how our team came together to escape the room. I am officially a huge fan of escape games now!"

-Andrea Eberhart

Escape Rooms Are The #1 Team Building Activity In Atlanta

It doesn’t matter what type of team you have- sports team, scout troop, sales team, C-suite, church groups, etc, escape games challenge you in a way that few other team building activities do. They force you to work together in a fun, safe way. In fact, all of the characteristics that you need to be successful at work are necessary to escape the room. Here’s a quick list: 

  • Leadership skills
  • Communication
  • Situational awareness
  • Deductive reasoning
  • Problem-solving
  • Positive attitude
  • Ability to work under pressure
  • Logical thinking
  • Abstract thinking
  • Ability to follow as well as lead

At Keystone Escape Rooms, we have a conference room where your team can come, have lunch and talk about the experience you had in the escape room to solidify the “coachable moments” for your team. The skills are directly transferable to the workplace and frankly, escape games are the type of team building activities that HR Directors love. No one goes to the ER. No one calls in sick the next day. It’s a safe and effective way to bring your team together. In fact, many of the teams that come play our escape rooms tell us that we have the best team building activities in Atlanta

If you’re up for a challenge and a fantastic way to spend time with people you like, then you’re ready for our escape rooms. Come try ours first, so you have something to measure the other escape games by. People tell us they talk about the experience for weeks afterward.

Keystone Escape Rooms has Atlanta’s Favorite Escape Rooms. We have 2 escape rooms currently with plans to have up to five escape games. Book your next escape room adventure today!

KEYSTONE ESCAPE ROOMS

  • Right off exit 14 on GA 400
  • 1 mile from Cumming Town Square
  • Located in Cumming 400 Shopping Center
  • Located in between Autozone and LL Flooring

Mon - Tues: Appointment only

Wed - Thurs: 11 am - 8 pm - Online                              bookings

Fri - Sat: 11 am - 10 pm, Walkins                            welcome

Sun: 12 pm - 6 pm, Walkins welcome