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Preparing for your escape room begins before you even get to Escape Reality. We suggest dressing comfortably for your escape game. Although there are no intense physical challenges, there are lots of different props around the rooms and it might be easier for you to get involved if you are not concerned about your clothing. It is possible for you to dress up for your game if you want to, but it is not required.
A sharp mind is much more likely to be able to solve our escape room puzzles, so we recommend not drinking alcohol (or at least not a lot of it!) before your game.
Make sure you get to Escape Reality around 15-20 minutes before your game begins. This way you are ready to go in on time and get the full 60 minutes to play your escape room game. If you are late to play, you may lose time inside the room which would reduce your chance of escaping.
Your team will be made up of between 2 to 6 players.
Choose a member of your team to act as a time keeper. They can give updates on how much time is left and help to keep everyone moving through the game. You may think 60 minutes sounds like a long time, but trust us – it goes very, very quickly! We often here players say they can’t believe how quickly it went. Make sure to utilise all of your time in the room and take action as soon as the timer starts to countdown.
Choose a member of your team to act as the team leader. As a team leader, they can help to delegate tasks, keep track of what has already been used in the game and make sure everybody is communicating effectively.
Pay attention during your Game Master’s introduction to your escape room. They might be nice and drop a few hints into their brief. At the very least, they’ll give you clear instructions on how to progress through the game and how to ask for hints and help if you need it.
If you ask for a hint during the game, make sure to listen to your Game Master. Your Game Master will never throw in a red herring when you’re stuck, and will always point you in the right direction with a strategic hint designed to get you back on track. Make sure you act on the hint that you have been given. Always trust your Game Master, they want you to escape from the room!
When you’re playing the escape game, make sure to communicate with each other. You must work together effectively and efficiently to get through the room in time. Make the entire team aware of anything that you find that could be a clue or puzzle, and be sure to listen to everybody’s ideas as you never know what could work!
It’s highly unlikely you’ll need prior knowledge to solve a puzzle. Our escape games are designed to be fun for everyone and so we don’t assume previous experience or knowledge. Usually, everything you need to know to solve puzzles will be accessible inside escape room. For example, if a puzzle is in morse code, we don’t assume that you will know morse code and there will be something in the room to help you solve it.
There is a lot to discover in the escape room so use your team efficiently and spread out around the room. Search everywhere as Game Masters can be a bit sneaky with hiding the hints – just remember that you don’t need to climb or break anything to find clues. If it seems dangerous, then it’s not the way to go.
Escape rooms are not a spectator sport, so be sure that everyone in the group is searching and solving puzzles to give you the best chance of escaping. Don’t all hover around one puzzle, as if you’re not actively solving it your time will be better spent moving on to another puzzle or searching for the next clue.
If you use a key to open a lock, keep the key inside the lock and the padlock on the latch. This will help you to keep track of what you have solved, and avoid wasting time on things that are no longer relevant to your progress through the game. Most clues and keys are single-use and won’t be useful once they have been used to solve a puzzle.
If you get stuck on a puzzle for more than 5 minutes, hand it to someone else in your team who can look at it with a fresh pair of eyes. If you feel like you are missing a piece of the puzzle, ask your team members what they have that hasn’t been solved. It’s possible that you both have the missing pieces of the solution for each other’s puzzles.
There is no need to be a group of martyrs – most teams that play will use at least one or two hints throughout the hour.
Don’t let your pride or ego get in the way as it’s better to escape using a few hints than having your time run out and staying stuck on one puzzle, and ultimately not escaping! Some people think of hints as cheating or getting the answers easily, but our hint system only guides you to the answer. If you’ve been stuck on one puzzle for a while or you’re all stood around at a loss for how to proceed, then ask for a clue!
We’re not saying you should use the hint system for every single puzzle you come across, and we actually have lock out timers in place to stop this from being done!
We asked our Game Masters would they use hints if they were to play an escape room – and it was a resounding yes! Hint systems are in place to be used, and our Game Masters love to give you a little push in the right direction.
Escape rooms are designed to be played over and over again by different teams. There is never a need to break anything or to use brute force on any of the props. Imagine how much it would cost to replace items in the rooms for every single team that plays. It’s not feasible! All puzzles and clues will be easily accessible throughout the game once they have been unlocked correctly.
And don’t try to trick the system! There are thousands of possible combinations and passcodes, so it’s incredibly unlikely that you’ll be able to guess the codes.
Don’t bring along someone who knows how to pick a lock or two – it removes the fun from the game, the sense of achievement, and it’s also a waste of your money! It kills the fun of the games and removes you from the immersive atmosphere we’ve created.
If you don’t manage to escape within the hour, don’t fret – you’re among the masses! Our escape rooms are designed at a variety of difficulty levels to test all levels of escape room experience. Even our ‘easiest’ rooms are a minimum of 3 out of 5 stars for difficulty.Escape Reality rooms tend to have an escape rate of anywhere between 50% to just 10%, so don’t be too hard on yourself if you end up being locked in escape rooms (not literally, of course!). After all, it’s all about creating memories and having a thrilling experience, regardless of the outcome.
Finally, and probably most importantly – HAVE FUN!
