(Estimated reading time: ~3 minutes)
In our last blog post, we offered some great tips & tricks to help new escape room adventurers (and those who might be a bit rusty) make their next experience a great escape.
In this post, we’re offering some helpful hints for the more “seasoned” escape room artists – those who have enjoyed solving a locked room puzzle or two, but who yearn to delve deeper into the mystery and get the most out of their puzzle room journey.
To these inquisitive and adventurous souls, it is for you that we write this post!
With great (escape room) knowledge comes great power.
In this case, the great power we’re referring to is the power to influence and responsibly guide your fellow escape adventurers on their own paths to puzzle room prowess. We like to call these locked room veterans “enlightened escapers”.
If you’re a seasoned escape room artist who is using the following tips & tricks to improve your own experience then we strongly urge you to remember that your fellow escape adventurers may not be at your level.
As such, if you don’t respect their own escape room journeys then you risk 2 terrible things:
1. Ruining it for them by being “that guy”… As in, being “that guy” who knew more about escape room puzzles than anyone else there and got impatient when it took his fellow escapists a while to figure stuff out. That guy sucks. Don’t be that guy.
2. Ruining it for yourself.
However, if you consciously make a point of using your knowledge for good – ie. to enhance your own enjoyment of the escape room experience while respectfully helping others with theirs – then we know that what follows will help you take your escape room journey to the next level!
1. Swap Puzzles
Trust us – we fully understand how frustrating getting stuck on a puzzle can be. Sometimes you just can’t seem to wrap your head around how the puzzle works. As a result, you end up being more frustrated with it than anything else.
We totally get it, but we hate to see it.
Instead of wasting precious time on a puzzle that makes no sense to you, it’s in everyone’s best interest to swap the puzzle with someone else. This way, you can get a fresh set of eyes on it.
A new perspective on a puzzle can easily bring a new approach to solving it, so let it go and leave that ego at the door! Doing so will most certainly help ensure you have a way better frame of mind and more fun time.
2. Work Together
Teamwork makes the dream work, and this is a dream team game!
Work with your team to solve the puzzles. Seriously. The most counter-productive thing you can do it to take a puzzle and quietly sit in a corner trying to solve it alone – this will lead to a way less fun experience for absolutely everyone involved.
If you don’t book a private room for a group of familiar people then random players may join you. So if you happen to be playing with random players then try your very best to include them in your processes and thought strategy.
(Life Pro Tip: Almost all escape rooms allow for private bookings, but if you happen to be in an escape room with random players then just remind yourself that everyone’s there for the same reason – to have fun!)
T3. Leave Pride at the Door and Ask for Hints
Even enlightened escapers really, truly should not be worried about asking for hints! After all, nobody can expect you to be an escape room savant or psychic.
We mention this here because, in our years of experience hosting escape room games, we’ve noticed that the people who don’t like asking for hints are frequently veteran escape room players. But that’s usually just because they aim for the top of leader boards!
A good rule of thumb is that if you’re stuck on a puzzle for 10 minutes without any new ideas or theories for solving it, it’s best to just hit the hint button for help.
4. Think Outside the (Puzzle) Box
Not all puzzles are cut and dry (nor should they be!) Sometimes you will need to go outside of the puzzle’s constraints to solve it – mentally and physically.
In fact, we’ll go so far as to say that this should generally be your “go-to” way of thinking if the puzzle makes no sense on its own. If you cannot solve a puzzle with the given items in a box then it likely means that there is more to the puzzle than meets the eye.
And, like many other things in life, it can be truly difficult to remove yourself to the point of objectivity when you get too involved in a conundrum!
Escape rooms offer puzzle solvers a unique opportunity to uncover the secrets within both the room and themselves (deep, we know – but also true). So just remember: A good escape room holds everything you need to solve the puzzle, so be sure to think outside the box while keeping it inside the room.
Ready to jump into your next escape room adventure? Then contact us or just go ahead and book one of our awesome escape rooms online!
Arcadia Adventures Escape Room is Calgary’s premier escape room experience. Our real-life Calgary escape rooms are an excellent way to have fun, solve puzzles, and improve your team-building skills. Our rooms can host parties, small groups, families, couples, and is great as a team-building activity for Calgary businesses. Book your spot at our one of our Calgary escape rooms by contacting us on 587-356-0440.
