Your First Escape Room: 11 Things Nobody Tells You Before You Play

Photo by Bjorn Pierre on Unsplash

Booking your first escape room can feel strangely intimidating.

You may be wondering whether you need to be good at riddles, whether the door is actually locked, or whether your entire group will spend an hour silently staring at a combination lock while someone’s dad insists he has “almost figured it out.”

The good news is that escape rooms are designed for regular people.

You do not need to be a detective, mathematician, magician or person who completes the Sunday crossword in pen. You simply need to be willing to explore, communicate and occasionally admit that the object you have been carrying for fifteen minutes probably belongs to someone else’s puzzle.

Here are 11 things we wish every new player knew before attempting their first escape room.

1. You Do Not Need to Be a Genius

One of the biggest misconceptions about escape rooms is that they are only for exceptionally smart people.

They are not.

Escape rooms are built around many different kinds of thinking. One person may be good at spotting hidden objects. Someone else may recognize a pattern. Another player may be good at organizing clues, remembering details or trying the slightly ridiculous idea nobody else considered.

The strongest teams are usually not made up of six identical puzzle experts. They are made up of people who notice different things and are willing to listen to each other.

You may not solve every puzzle yourself, but you will probably contribute more than you expect.

2. You Are Not Actually Trapped

Despite the name, reputable escape rooms do not force you to remain inside against your will.

Depending on the room, the entrance may stay unlocked, use an emergency release or have another clearly explained way to exit. Your game host will go over the safety procedures before the game begins.

You can leave if you feel uncomfortable, need to use the restroom or simply decide that the creepy mannequin in the corner has won.

Leaving the room may affect your game experience or your remaining time, but you are never required to stay somewhere you do not feel safe.

3. The Game Host Is on Your Side

Before the game, you will meet a host who explains the rules, introduces the story and monitors your group while you play.

That person is not sitting outside hoping you fail.

A good game host wants you to have fun. They may provide hints, answer safety questions and step in if a prop malfunctions or your group begins attempting something that was absolutely not intended by the room designer.

Listen carefully during the introduction. Hosts often explain important rules such as which objects are not part of the game, what should not be moved and how to request help.

Some players become so excited that they stop listening the moment the door opens. Five minutes later, they are trying to unscrew an electrical outlet that the host specifically told them not to touch.

Do not be those players.

4. Asking for a Hint Is Completely Normal

Hints are not cheating.

They are part of the experience.

Most escape rooms allow teams to request help when they become stuck. Depending on the venue, you may receive hints through a screen, speaker, walkie-talkie, phone or direct communication with the host.

The purpose of a hint is not to solve the entire game for you. A good hint should redirect your attention, clarify what you are missing or help you move past a puzzle that is slowing down the experience.

There is no prize for spending 25 minutes refusing assistance while everyone becomes increasingly irritated with a wooden box.

Use hints strategically. Give the group a fair chance to work through the puzzle, but ask for help before the room stops being fun.

5. Say Everything You Find Out Loud

Communication is one of the most important escape-room skills.

When you find a key, symbol, number, unusual object or written clue, tell the rest of the group. Do not quietly place it in your pocket. Do not assume everyone else saw it. Do not wander away holding the one item another player has been searching for since the game began.

Useful phrases include:

“I found a three-digit lock.”

“This key has a blue tag.”

“There are four symbols on this picture.”

“This object opened something, and I am putting it with the used items.”

Escape rooms often contain several puzzles happening at the same time. Sharing information allows different parts of the room to connect.

That random sequence you found may be meaningless to you but exactly what another teammate needs.

6. Search Carefully, but Do Not Destroy the Room

Most escape rooms require some amount of searching.

Look inside drawers, behind movable objects, beneath items and around the room. Pay attention to anything that seems unusual or deliberately placed.

However, an escape room is not a demolition challenge.

You should not need to use excessive force, climb furniture, remove outlet covers, pull fixtures from the wall or take apart anything that appears permanently installed.

A useful general rule is this: if something will not move with reasonable effort, it probably is not supposed to move.

Props occasionally stick, and every room is different, so ask your host when you are unsure.

Good searching is observant and methodical. It is not the same as aggressively shaking every object until something falls out.

7. Keep Used Clues Separate

Organization may not sound exciting, but it can save your team a surprising amount of time.

Once a key, code or object has been used, place it in a designated area. Some rooms allow items to be used more than once, so listen to the host’s instructions, but many puzzles are designed around one-time-use clues.

Without a system, players often return to the same objects again and again.

Someone discovers a key.

The key opens a box.

The key gets placed back on the table.

Ten minutes later, someone proudly discovers the same key and announces that it must open something important.

Now half the team is testing it on every lock in the room.

Creating a simple “used” pile helps everyone see what is still active.

8. Do Not Let One Puzzle Consume the Entire Group

When a puzzle is difficult, escape-room teams tend to gather around it like people watching someone parallel park.

Soon, six players are staring at the same page while the rest of the room remains unexplored.

Unless the game is completely linear, divide the work. Let two or three people focus on the difficult puzzle while the others search for new clues or work on something else.

You can always switch places.

A fresh set of eyes often notices something immediately after the original solver has spent ten minutes becoming emotionally attached to the wrong answer.

There is no shame in stepping away. In fact, one of the best escape-room strategies is simply handing a puzzle to someone whose brain has not yet been personally offended by it.

9. Try the Obvious Answer Before Inventing a Complicated Theory

Escape rooms can encourage players to overthink.

A drawing of four animals may be a straightforward ordering clue. It probably does not require researching ancient mythology, converting the animals into zodiac signs and calculating the average life expectancy of each species.

Before developing an elaborate theory, ask a few simple questions:

What kind of lock are we trying to open?

How many numbers, letters or directions do we need?

Is there a clear starting point?

Have we used every part of the clue?

Does the answer fit the format?

Good escape-room puzzles should give you enough information to find a logical solution. You may need to make a creative connection, but you generally should not need to guess from thousands of possibilities.

Start simple. Become unreasonably complicated only when the room earns it.

10. Failure Does Not Mean the Experience Was a Failure

Not every team escapes.

You may run out of time with one puzzle remaining. You may discover afterward that you walked past the same clue 14 times. You may spend the entire drive home discussing the one solution that seems incredibly obvious now that someone has explained it.

That is normal.

The purpose of an escape room is not only to win. It is to share an experience, work together and create a story your group will probably retell with increasingly inaccurate details.

Some of the most memorable games are the ones where everything briefly falls apart.

Winning feels great, but losing by three minutes can still be fun—especially when it gives your group a reason to try another room.

11. Choose the Right Room for Your Group

Not every escape room is designed for the same audience.

Before booking, look at the theme, difficulty level, recommended group size and any information about lighting, physical activity or scare level.

A family with young children may want something colorful and approachable. A group of experienced players may prefer a harder, more atmospheric game. Someone who dislikes horror should not discover after the door closes that the room contains darkness, blood effects and an actor with a chainsaw.

At Exit Game OC, our two rooms offer very different first-time experiences.

Meow! I’m a Cat is our playful, family-friendly adventure. Your group has been transformed into cats and must find a way home before being adopted. Its colorful environment and non-linear puzzle structure make it a good choice for families, younger players and beginners.

13th Basement is our funny-scary horror parody. It has creepy environments and horror-movie themes, but the tone is intentionally playful rather than relentlessly frightening. It is a good fit for teens, adults and first-time players who want something a little darker and stranger.

When you are unsure, contact the escape room before booking. A good venue should be able to help you choose the game that best matches your group.

A Few More First-Time Escape Room Tips

Arrive on time. Escape rooms operate on a schedule, and arriving late may reduce your game time.

Wear comfortable clothing and shoes. Most games do not require athletic ability, but you may be standing, bending or moving around the room.

Bring your reading glasses if you use them. Small text and combination locks become much harder when half the group is holding a clue at arm’s length.

Use the restroom before the game. Time behaves differently in an escape room, especially when someone needs to leave with 12 minutes remaining.

Most importantly, do not put too much pressure on yourself. Your first escape room is supposed to be fun.

Ready to Try Your First Escape Room?

Gather a group of people you enjoy, choose a theme that sounds fun and be prepared to communicate more than you ever have during a normal social outing.

You will probably miss something obvious.

Someone will almost certainly become obsessed with the wrong clue.

And there is a very good chance that the quietest person in your group will suddenly solve the hardest puzzle in the room.

That is part of the experience.

At Exit Game OC in Anaheim, we offer private escape-room adventures for families, friends, couples and first-time players. Choose the bright and silly world of Meow! I’m a Cat, or enter the funny-scary underground world of 13th Basement.

You do not need to be an expert.

You just need to start the clock.