Escape rooms have become a recreational phenomenon in recent years, providing a fun and rewarding experience for stag groups, work teams, and friends alike. Despite their enjoyment, though, escape rooms are hard. If you want to escape in time, building a solid strategy is essential.
Here are five simple steps that will give you a far better shot at solving the problems to find your escape to victory.
Choose The Right Teammates
Escape rooms are a team activity, which is why surrounding yourself with the right people. It’s not necessarily about finding the smartest minds you know. It’s equally crucial to boast a team on individuals that can stay calm under pressure and collaborate with each other at all times. If you’re not pulling in the same direction, the hopes of success are greatly compromised.
As well as the right type of people, you need to choose the right number. Trying to do it alone will backfire spectacularly while too many cooks spoil the broth. A group size of 5-6 people is usually best.
Prepare To Win
The escape room environment is mentally testing and draining. Frankly, then, the wrong mindset will instantly put you at a disadvantage. Without falling into the trap of arrogance, entering the arena with confidence is important. Likewise, you need to keep a clear head, which is why plotting your journey to the venue is vital. The panic of last-minute rushing can cloud your way of thinking.
Equipping yourself with a sense of clarity regarding the rules of the room is equally crucial. Knowing the regulations regarding clues, for example, will save time in stressful moments. It can help you maintain focus.
Be Methodical
Momentum plays a key role in your bid to escape in time. Therefore, taking a methodical approach should be on the agenda. You need your mindset to stay in a positive place. If you get stuck on a specific task, move onto the next or use a clue. Spending long periods focusing on a single problem could spell disaster for your endeavours.
Returning with fresh eyes, especially when you’re riding the high of having recently completed another challenge, could help you unlock the solution far sooner.
Communicate
Having put time and effort into finding the right team, you must ensure that everyone works as one. An object that you’ve seen may provide the answer to a puzzle your teammate is solving (or vice versa), so you should speak up about any sights that could be of interest. Meanwhile, it’s equally important to listen to each other at all times.
It’s OK to have leaders within the team, but you must avoid the dictatorship. Escape rooms strategies require a vast array of skills and logic. When each team member is confident in showcasing their attributes, you should be just fine.
Use Your Time
The escape room activity is a race against the clock. So, if you think you can overcome the challenge without keeping one eye on the time, you are sorely mistaken. The time can fly by very quickly, especially if you don’t have a strategy in place regarding how long you’ll leave a problem before asking for a clue. Besides, any time dedicated to thinking this through will be a waste.
Statistics show that most groups either finish with under five minutes left or run out of time while they’re on the last step. So, utilising your time to maximum efficiency could make all the difference.