Escape Room FAQ

One of the biggest mistakes people make is not working as part of a team.

As your group arrives and gets ready to go into the room, it's normally a mix of people who have been before and newbies. Instead of people that have done an escape room before telling their friends what to expect, they tend to have the "can do attitude". Which is exactly the opposite of what playing escape rooms is about.

What you need to do is work as a team and discuss the game plan before the game starts. Then just before the game starts most venues will give you a short briefing which includes the story of your game. You will then be taken into the room and the door locked behind you. The clock then starts.

Escape rooms are all about working together as part of a team and communication. If you get those 2 bits right then you and your team will escape in time.

When the game starts and you get taken to the first room all you want to focus on are different areas of the room and discuss what each other can see, and then listen to each other to work out what clues may be helpful to escape the room. If you keep communicating and listening to each other, then you will work your way through all of the rooms and escape at the end.

If you want your team to win and escape your room, then don't overthink the game. All of the clues will be there in front of you, you just need to find them as a team. There are no tricks or mysteries. When your team moves in to each room, take a side of the room each and look at everything that you find and let your team know. This may then connect with something that they have seen. This includes looking behind pictures, under desks, chairs and beds, as you just never know where the next clue may be.

But the most important thing of all have fun.

As well as searching the room as a team, you need to organize the clues you find, as well as listening for what your team find. You don't want to get to a point in the game where you all have clues everywhere, and you don't know which ones you have tried. Remember you are racing against a ticking clock.

As you move around the room, and try different clues to help your team escape, all you want to try and do is make a pile of clues you have tried, that way if you get to a point where you have used up all of the clues, then at least you know this and you can start to rethink what you are doing to win the game and escape.

This is still debated to this day as some people say that the idea first came from a video game called Crimson Rush, which was created by Toshimitsu Takagi in 2004 from Japan, but this was just a video game.

The first ever live escape room for the public to play was in 2007 which was in Japan, this was created by Takao Kato as he wanted to create a fully interactive live game, and the company was called SCRAP.

Before this time you also had TV shows like The Crystal Maze which was first shown back in 1990. There was also many different TV shows based on this idea around that time. The TV shows and the computer game may all of helped this idea grow, but you can still not get away from the fact that the first live escape room was designed and craeted by Takao Kato in 2007, which then caught on in Hungary, and the rest of Europe, before coming to the UK and the USA.

Escape Rooms are opening up everywhere all of the time, and at Let's Go Out we find it hard to keep up with them to make sure that they are all listed on our website for you to find, so if you know of an Escape Room that we are missing let us know.

As the escape room and activity industry continues to grow at an incredible pace all over the UK and the world, and as more and more great ideas are created for the themes of each escape room. At the time of writing this there is currently around 1,500 escape rooms in the UK alone. If you were to do 1 escape room a day, it would take you just over 4 years to do them all, (just think in 4 years time there will be even more).

The longest escape room so far in the world is based in Greece, and lasts up to 3 hours, the game is called The Mansion, and is based inside a 120 square metre house, which you work around in your team to try and find the clues to help you escape. What better reason do you have to head over to Greece, and enjoy some nice sunny beaches, and also try your skills out in this escape room.

An escape room is a game where you and your team are locked in a room for 60 minutes. The idea of the game is that you find the clues and solve puzzles within the room so that you can find the code or key to unlock the door to move onto the next room. As you move though each room you need to find the clues to win the game. Remember all of the time you are against the clock as you only have 60 minutes to escape. The time stops for nobody.

When you book the escape room you will be given a choice of the theme of the game you want to play and also the difficultly level. The game can be anything from an abandoned cabin in the woods, knights of the round table to Area 51, you have so many options you can choose. There are games available which last only 30 minutes. When you arrive at the venue the game master will meet you and answer any questions you have before showing you a short video. Once the video is over, the game will start and you will enter a different world.

You will have a game master with you at all times or very close by. If for whatever reason you need to leave the room, then your game master will be able to let you out the same way you came in. There is no need to worry if you do not manage to escape the room within the time frame as you will be let out. (If you ask nicely)

When you choose the game that you and your team want to play it will show you the maximum time you have to escape. This can vary from 30 minutes up to 90 minutes, so is always worth checking as you don't want to think you have 1 hour and it turns out you have 30 minutes as you will be locked in.

But don't worry as if your team does not manage to escape in time....then you won't be locked in forever (never to see daylight again). The game master will appear and let you all out, so that you can return another time and try your skills again. Most venues have more than 1 game, so if you fail at one then try a different one the next time.

This does vary from game to game but most games will have either the lights on as normal, or dimmed lighting. The chances are the lighting will be dimmed as this will help create an atmosphere, and help you all be a part of the story. If you feel like you need to leave the room at any time then you can ask the game master to let you out, but keep in mind that the clock will not stop.

As mentioned above you will always have a game master close by, so if you do need to go to the toilet and you can't wait, then just let your game master know. Most venues do have a washroom for visitors, so if you ask nicely they may let you out, but as above do keep in mind that the clock will not stop, so be quick!!