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Top Tips for First Time Escape (Room) Artists
Here at Arcadia Adventures Escape Room, we get a lot of people who have never experienced an escape room adventure before. We absolutely love these folks! Not only do they give us a chance to create new escape room fans; they also let us vicariously enjoy the thrill of experiencing an escape room adventure for the first time, all over again!
Most of these fresh escape room adventurers are 100% eager to dive right in after hearing from friends, family, coworkers, and/or online reviews how much fun an escape room puzzle can be.
A few ambitious escapers have even done a bit of research before hand, hoping to gain a more competitive edge right off the bat… But they soon learn that finding truly helpful escape room tips & tricks online is tough. It can be like trekking through a dense jungle where each tangled vine offers a webpage with different info – info that sometimes conflicts with other stuff you’ve just read elsewhere!
The Key to Making Your Next Escape a Great Escape:
For escape room adventurers, hunting down clues and deciphering them on the spot is a huge part of the thrill – it’s like being the star of your very own detective story. But we’ve seen times where an escape room adventurer’s first time has been unfairly dampened by bad advice or misleading tips, and it’s a sad thing for us to see.
We always want our escape adventurers to have the very best Calgary escape room experience possible, whether you’re a first time adventurer or seasoned escape room veteran!
It’s with this in mind that we decided to write this blog post, because we want to give you the real low-down on how to truly maximize your escape room fun.
So, without further ado, here’s our Top 7 Tips for having the very best escape room experience Calgary (or anywhere else) can offer!
1. Listen to the Rules.
This is without a doubt one of the biggest tips we can offer! It should be obvious for any escape room adventurer, new or returning, but definitely we see a fair share of folks who either don’t really listen or too easily forget what they just heard.
Know that there are some key rules to take special note of when you first play a puzzle room, most of them having to do with two hugely important things:
- Optimizing your escape strategy
- Not damaging the room (after all, a damaged room is no fun for anyone!)
A prime example of why you should listen closely to the rules is in how the rooms use different locks and mechanisms. When you think about it, this makes sense – using the same locking mechanism for every room would really take away from the overall challenge of a “locked” room experience!
But some new adventurers don’t yet get this and haven’t listened closely enough to the rules. These adventurers then end up confused and overly frustrated when a lock works differently to another lock they just successfully opened. In their frustration, they may accidentally break a “key” piece of the “locked” room (pun fully intended).
Ultimately, it’s crucial to listen closely so that you’ll know how best to work with the unique room from which you’re trying to escape.
2. Read Everything!
This is a pretty straight-forward tip, but you’d be shocked how many players ask about hints for puzzles that are easily solved by just reading something in the room!
In fact, for those questions we usually just tell the player to read a note and they will generally figure out the puzzle after that… And, low and behold, they do.
That said, we totally understand how easy it is to get caught up in the excitement of trying to quickly decipher all the puzzle clues – especially when it’s your first time in an escape room. But this is one of those times where it really does pay off to take a step back and really look closely at all the details of your surroundings.
3. Search Everything!
Make sure you search under, over, around, and inside stuff! After all, how boring would it be if the clues were always in the same spots? (Answer: Pretty darn boring.)
Loads of hints are hidden in seemingly random hiding places – places that are so simple that you’d think there is no way we would hide something there… Or would we? (Hint: We totally would.)
Just remember to search within the rules that the escape room operators outlined to you. Rules like there’s nothing in ceiling tiles, nothing behind bolted down items, etc.
4. Split Up.
Depending on the room, your team will benefit from splitting up and searching/solving the escape room’s individual puzzles. Trust us on this one – separately solving the individual clues works way better than clumping together and collectively solving one thing at a time.
This is usually only a helpful tip if the room is a non-linear room (i.e. rooms that have multiple puzzle paths instead of one defined path), but we’ve seen it often enough that it’s worth mentioning!
5. Talk Out Loud
This is a group event (meaning you are usually with more than 1 player), so talking out loud lets other players know:
- What you’re doing
- How you’re doing it
- Maybe even help you with a puzzle, if you’re having trouble
After all, a team that communicates effectively usually finishes faster. Sometimes other players might also have some information about the puzzle that you may have glossed over. Not to mentionthat talking out loud helps solve puzzles that use clever word play.
6. Choose the Room Difficulty for YOU
Most escape room facilities will be fully upfront about the difficulty of each of their rooms, both on their website and when you go there.
It’s a very wise move to read up on each room so you can choose the most appropriate level for your team.
For beginners, it’s best not to try escaping the hardest room. This may sound like advice from Capt. Obvious, but you’d be amazed how many people think they’re a natural Sherlock Holmes!
It’s almost always better to try out an easier room with a better escape rate first. Harder rooms are usually designed with the assumption that adventurers have played many escape rooms before. Room designers therefore create puzzles which are meant to stump even the most veteran escaper.
If, after you have read up on the rooms and are still unsure of which room you should choose, you can always call the facility. They’ll be able to tell you what room would be best suited for your specific team.
7. Have Fun
We’ve saved the most important tip for last here, but it really is a no-brainer: Escape rooms are meant to be fun!
The #1 most important thing you need to do it to remember to enjoy yourself. Have fun solving the puzzles with family and friends! Don’t get upset if/when you can’t solve a problem or if you don’t succeed in escaping a room. After all, some rooms are truly meant to be hard and a lot of people might not make it out of those rooms… And that is A-OK!
In the end, it is all about the experience itself, as well as the time spent with friends and family, that make escape rooms so much fun!
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.
