What is an Escape Room?
Have you heard your friends and family talking nonstop about going to something called an “Escape Room”? Why are they so excited about escaping a room? Are they getting locked in there against their will?
A Collaborative Puzzle Experience
Escape rooms pit you and a group of others against a selection of puzzles. You’ll be thrown into a scenario and asked to complete an objective. Perhaps you’re trying to get a cursed pirate treasure, or steal a rival movie theater’s popcorn recipe. After learning your objective, there’s a couple of things you’ll want to do first.
First Steps
Take a look at your immediate surroundings. Make an inventory of the locks in the room, and the tools you have at your disposal to solve them. Try not to run to the first lock you see and start guessing the code (it’s tempting, I know). Instead, figure out what’s not locked up and available to you. It could be something as simple as a hidden key that can open your first padlock. After that, it’s a rather linear experience from there. Take what you’ve unlocked and try to open another lock!
Linear VS Non-Linear
Feel free to ask your Game Master whether or not a room is linear or non-linear. A linear game goes from one point to the next, and your whole group will need to collaborate on the same puzzle. However, if a game is non-linear, you can divide and conquer to solve the puzzles. Non-linear games such as Amnesia are great for large parties!