Escape the Room ?

[orangerful]

Has anyone been to one of the "Escape the Room" events where you are locked in a room with a group of people and have to solve clues to find the way out? I'm looking for some ideas on how to create such a thing for a public library setting. I have found hints online but I wanted to know if you all had any personal experiences. :)

Comments

[a-phoenixdragon.livejournal.com]

No, but it sounds fun!

*HUGS*

[luna-shovegood.livejournal.com]

Yes! I've been to three different rooms. What sort of things do you want to know?

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

Hm, what things were your favorite? and what is something cool that you think every room should have? I want to know what you felt worked the best.

[erychan86.livejournal.com]

I want to do it so badly but my husband is not interested and my friends always make up excuses (guess they are scared they're not smart enough)

I wish I could help but all I want to do is come over there and play xD

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

LOL you can come visit me in Maryland once we have it ready to go! ;-)

[rhoda-rants.livejournal.com]

Whoa. Never heard of it, but that sounds amazing!

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

I'm collecting ideas on Pinterest now. Found a couple libraries that have done it already. Hardest part will be finding the materials for free/cheap because we have no money (and I don't really want to spend $200 in case it bombs)

But if you want to steal idea for yourself: https://www.pinterest.com/orangerful/escape-the-room-library-edition/

[snogged.livejournal.com]

Never been.

My dad's been in one though, seen how it works.

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

Yeah, since ours is in the library meeting room it would be pretty low key compared to the official ones, but I'm trying to figure out which aspects are the ones that people really like.

[xfirefly9x.livejournal.com]

Nope, I haven't.
But there was an episode of 2 Broke Girls with an 'escape the room'.

[rogueslayer452.livejournal.com]

I've never done it, but it's something that I've been wanting to do ever since hearing about it! It honestly sounds like so much fun, just the notion of having at least an hour of finding the clues and solving the puzzle to get out and it takes a lot of fast thinking, strategies and teamwork. Just the idea alone is fantastic.

Sorry that I don't have any answers for you, but I think whatever you end up doing will be great nonetheless. :)

[denorios.livejournal.com]

I have! SO much fun. And we're creating one for our library as a marketing, outreach activity for the students (so academic, not public). Not got very far beyond brainstorming at the moment though.

From the ones I've done, I think the key is making it fit as a collective whole. You need to make it so that if they get stuck on one puzzle they can move on to something else and come back, or perhaps they can't solve that puzzle yet until they've done a different one. If you make one puzzle lead into the next and the next, one stuck puzzle could bring the whole thing to a halt. Plus a mix of easy and hard puzzles is good - you want people to feel they're making progress, and if they don't complete it in the time allowed, that they'd have just needed five more minutes, you know?

It might also be worth exploring partnerships with commercial escape rooms in your area. If it's for a good cause like a public library, they may be prepared to work with you - free publicity for them, expertise for you, maybe you could give money-off vouchers for their escape for successful teams in yours?

[denorios.livejournal.com]

I've got my own Pinterest board where I've been saving stuff, if you're interested.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_profiterole_/]

I haven't, but it must be awesome. Someone mentioned a TV episode with one and I'll add that Brooklyn Nine-Nine did one too (episode 3x14).

[c-hrista.livejournal.com]

I've only played the games online lol I WISH I COULD HELP.

[garnigal.livejournal.com]

I've done three of them, and am planning a fourth. The biggest thing I say is make sure the solution is possible to figure out from the clues. The last one we did was completely unsolvable.

Also, it's nice to have a combination of mental and physical challenges. The first room we did was by far the best, and was actually a chain of 4 rooms. It included having to crawl through a tunnel and under a laser grid (though you may want to make it amendable for accessibility reasons - perhaps the first person through can reposition something to make it accessible if needed). If you have any specific questions or ideas, I'd be happy to give my two cents.

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

I am planning to do it in my library in the large meeting room so I will only have one space, but it is a large space. The pro/con of this space is that it is big and empty so I can pretty much do what I want but at the same time, I will need to bring in any props etc. to dress it up and give it a mood.

Do you have any suggestions for a first time planner? Any outline that you followed? I work at a public library so my budget is non-existent for this first go around. (If it is a huge hit, I will ask for additional funds from our Foundation but I don't want to spend a lot this time). I'm working on gathering locks and stuff from staff members. I have 2 iPads I could use, though I figure one of them will be the countdown clock.

Any help would be great appreciated!

[garnigal.livejournal.com]

I didn't post pictures in LJ, but last spring my hubs built our 3 year old a box fort. You could probably do a tonne of decorating, especially with moveable props with boxes.

He got big ones because he works at a telecom, so they are constantly getting large computers shipped in - if you have friends in IT, ask if they have big boxes.

The final game of the first room we did involved putting cardboard boxes in a specific order (it was a museum break in, the boxes were art not on display, but were just small boxes with artists names on them). We had to go back to the first room to get the order (an old computer that we'd had to "hack" by finding clues to the password), then relay it through 4 rooms (including crawling under the damn laser) to the people at the end. There were also clues that were only revealed with black light (the black light itself was in a lockbox where you had to figure out the clues to it as well). You could definitely do something like that fairly cheap.

Another cheap option came from the last game - a binder full of pictures (in our case, planes), that you then match to items in the room. For instance Plane XYZ comes in at the same time as is on the clock, Plane 123 has the same call sign as the password for something, there's a picture of the Plane #$% in both the binder and on the wall. Then those three things give you a flight path or location by using the other statistics about those planes. I'd say 10 pictures, 3 of which are actual clues is probably doable without totally overwhelming the attendees.

I think it's also important to decide on a theme. We've done the museum break in I talked about first, a zombie lab where we had to find the antidote before the zombies get us (and that was one room), and a terrorists in the airport (also one room). Once you know what scenario you want, it'll help guide your puzzles and what you need. Oh! And do sound effects! The zombie one was the easiest, but had the best sound effects. Zombies, sirens, army outside the door, news reports... It was fantastic.