101 Best Escape Room Puzzle Ideas

101 BEST ESCAPE ROOM
PUZZLE IDEAS
Q: What’s the ultimate win for an escape game operator?
A: Making a group of players want to simultaneously curse

you and high-five you.
Seriously! When escape room players love you and hate

you at the same time, you’re doing something right!
To run a truly great escape room, your puzzles must be

challenging, unique . . . and FUN!
To help you get started, NowEscape has compiled the

following list of 101 escape room puzzle ideas, based on
the most common escape-game puzzle types around the
world.
BEFORE YOU BEGIN

This list is by no means all-encompassing. There are
hundreds more room-escape puzzle ideas out there that
you can explore, adapt, and use.
These ideas are provided to spark your imagination – to

give you the “a-ha!” you need to design your own unique
puzzles.
Will copying these ideas as described wow your customers

and make your brand a household name?
Probably not.
Veteran escape room players are looking for puzzles that

surprise them.
You want your escape rooms to be the standard by which

new players judge all other games going forward.
Take these ideas and craft them into something your

customers – and your competition – have never seen
before.
Are you up for the challenge?

Let’s get started.
The puzzle types and percentages discussed

in this article are based upon research
conducted by Scott Nicholson in 2015 and
published in his white paper, Peeking
Behind the Locked Door: A Survey of Escape
Room Facilities. You can download his white
paper here.
HIDDEN OBJECTS
Hiding physical objects throughout a room is the most

common puzzle used by escape room designers.
That doesn’t mean you should avoid using hidden objects –

you just need to get creative in how you do it.
Idea 1: Hide a clear glass ball in a container of water.

Idea 2: Hide money or documents in a book.
Money, photographs, documents and more can be hidden in a hollowed-out book.

Idea 3: Hide a key in a flower pot.
Idea 4: Hide a key on a wall where it’s only visible when
illuminated by black light.
Hidden objects are used in 78% of escape rooms

worldwide.
TEAM COMMUNICATION
One of Nowescape’s favorite puzzle categories involves

tasks that can only be completed if several people work
together.
These puzzles are not only challenging, they require

players to exercise team-building and communication skills.
Many corporate groups looking for team-building exercises

for their employees seek out rooms that require this type of
problem solving.
Idea 5: Require one player to perform a task in one room

with no view, while a teammate who can see the results
provides directions from another room.
Idea 6: Chain or tie players to one another, restricting their
movement until they find a key to release themselves.
Chaining players together results in teamwork … whether they like it or not!

Idea 7: Connect the electricity that powers a puzzle to a
stationary bicycle. Require one player to pedal continuously
while another solves the puzzle. For an added challenge, if
the player operating the bicycle stops pedaling, reset the
puzzle.
Team communication is used in 58% of escape rooms

worldwide.
LIGHT
There are numerous ways to use light in an escape room.
Light can be used as a tool to reveal or hide clues. It can

also be used to create atmosphere, supporting your theme
and helping immerse your players in the environment
you’ve created.
When considering the types of lights and light effects you’d

like to use in your escape room, keep your theme in mind.
A black light may fit into your nightclub or biolab theme
perfectly but may seem out of place in a pirate ship or a
castle dungeon.
Idea 8: Place a code on a spinning fan so that it can only

be read using a stroboscope in the dark.
[Tip: Make sure you warn players in advance if using any

kind of strobe light effect; strobe lights can cause
customers with epilepsy to have seizures.]

Idea 9: Create clues that glow in the dark.
Idea 10: Require players to navigate a completely dark

environment.
Idea 11: Write clues or messages with UV-paint

(transparent or otherwise).
Idea 12: Use a lamp and a sundial to reveal a hidden door.
Idea 13: Create a three- to four-character sequence out of

Christmas lights on the ceiling, then surround it with
additional lights. Design a switch that shuts off the
additional lights, leaving only your code lit up. Require
players to find and figure out how to use the switch in order
to read the code.
Light is used as a puzzle element in 54% of escape rooms

worldwide.
COUNTING
Although complex mathematical puzzles are often not
recommended, since you cannot predict your customers’
education level and math ability (see the section on algebra
and mathematics below), it is generally safe to assume
players are able to count.
Idea 14: Hide objects that are clearly related throughout the

room and require players to find them all and use the total
number to solve another puzzle.
Counting is used as a puzzle element in 53% of escape

rooms worldwide.
NOTICING SOMETHING “OBVIOUS”

IN THE ROOM
Often, players are so busy looking for hidden objects and

obscure clues they miss what’s right in front of them.
Rather than hiding all your clues, try putting some of them
out in the open and see how long it takes your players to
realize they are there!
Secret doors are common features in escape rooms.
Idea 15: Require players to step into a set of footprints
printed on the floor in order to open a door.
Idea 16: Place a set of scales in the room and require

players to balance or weigh a set of objects.
Idea 17: Reveal a clue if a player sits on a piece of

furniture, such as a sofa or a bed.
Idea 18: Hide the entry to the next room under a bed,

beneath a rug, or behind a ventilation cover.
Noticing something obvious in the room is used by 49% of

escape rooms worldwide.
SYMBOL SUBSTITUTION WITH A

KEY
Symbol substitution is generally a simple task of comparing

provided symbols to a key and matching them up to the
letters or numbers they correspond to.
While a fairly easy puzzle to solve, something like this at
the beginning of a game can give players an early win and
the confidence and motivation to tackle more difficult
puzzles later.
To make a symbol substitution puzzle more challenging,

you can place the symbols in one room and the key in
another, thus requiring players in separate rooms to work
together to solve it.
Code a message in an ancient language and let players decipher it.
Idea 19: Substitute Morse code signals, braille, or
hieroglyphics with letters.
Idea 20: Substitute letters for numbers, or vice versa.
Symbol substitution with a provided key is used by 47% of

USING SOMETHING IN AN UNUSUAL

WAY
Objects don’t always have to be used for their original or

most common purpose.
Providing objects that look like set decoration but that can
be manipulated in unusual ways to accomplish goals is a
great way to challenge players to think outside of the box.
If players need a hint on how to use something, you can

incorporate the hint into part of another escape room
puzzle.
Idea 21: Provide a dial phone that can be used as a
calculator, or vice versa.
Idea 22: Provide a plastic card that players can slide

between a door jam and a latch to open a locked door or a
door with no handle.
Idea 23: Require players to use a heavy object in the room

to apply weight to a platform or a switch.
Idea 24: Hide a magnet inside an object, such as an

eraser, that can be used to lift a key out of a floor crack or
operate a magnet-activated switch.
Idea 25: Provide a loose screw that can be removed and

used to pull out a drawer that’s missing a handle.
This kind of out-of-the-box thinking is used by 47% of

SEARCHING FOR OBJECTS IN

IMAGES
Depending on your theme, you may have paintings,
diagrams, photographs, posters, and other decorations on
the walls (or in frames on shelves or desks) around the
room.
Why not add some puzzles to your set decoration?

A map can contain key coordinates, hidden messages, and more!
Idea 26: Encode clues or messages in a map.
Idea 27: Require players to recognize a famous person and

use that information elsewhere in the game.
Images with clues hidden in them are used by 43% of

ASSEMBLY OF A PHYSICAL OBJECT
Many rooms include objects that obviously (or perhaps not

so obviously) go together and require players to combine
them to either create a new object or to activate a switch.
Idea 28: Require players to insert money into a money-

counting machine.
Idea 29: Require players to run a credit card through a

credit card reader.
Idea 30: Reward players with a clue if they put beer in a

fridge.
Idea 31: Activate a switch if players attach a prop to a
statue, such as inserting a fishing rod into a fisherman
statue’s hand.
Idea 32: Require players to place a model car on a map.
Idea 33: Require players to place a book on a shelf.
Idea 34: Activate a switch if coins are deposited in an old

public phone.
Idea 35: Dispense a clue if coins are deposited in a

vending machine.
Idea 36: Reveal a clue if players set a laptop on a table.
Idea 37: Give players a jigsaw puzzle to assemble. Include

one extra piece, which can be used as a clue or a tool
elsewhere in the room.
Object assembly is used by 40% of escape rooms

worldwide.
ALGEBRA AND OTHER
MATHEMATICS
There is some debate among escape room operators

regarding the use of algebra and mathematics (as opposed
to counting or simple calculation) in escape games.
Some feel that escape game players expect challenges

they may not be prepared for and understand that they can
request hints if they get stumped. Others believe that all the
knowledge required to solve the puzzles in a room should
be either extremely basic or specifically provided in a prop
or another puzzle.
A solution that may satisfy both sides of the debate would

be to include mathematical puzzles but also provide
alternative ways to solve them (such as a mathematics
book on a bookshelf containing the answer) if players lack
the skills to solve them on their own.
Idea 38: Provide an algebraic formula and require players

to calculate the answer.
Algebra and mathematical equations are used by 39% of
PATTERN IDENTIFICATION
According to the German gestalt theory, our brains naturally

create patterns from or connections between stimuli in our
surroundings.
Give your players an opportunity to recognize and combine

related items to create messages or clues that aren’t
immediately obvious.
Idea 39: Provide a set of dots within which a shape or code

can be found.
Idea 40: Give players a set of symbols that can be

combined to create a word or a number.
Idea 41: Attach items to a wire board and require players to

connect those that create a pattern.
Pattern identification is used by 38% of escape rooms
worldwide.
RIDDLES
Riddles have been challenging minds for thousands of

years. They typically require players to consider alternate
meanings of words or to make leaps in logic.
In ancient Greece, the ability to solve riddles was

considered a sign of keen intelligence. In fact, Greek
mythology brought us the famous story of the Sphinx, who
allowed entry to Thebes only to those who could answer
her riddle.
BrainDen.com offers a collection of riddles you could use in

your escape game puzzles.
Idea 42: Make the answer to a riddle a clue that players

need to complete a task.
Riddles are used by 37% of escape rooms worldwide.

CIPHERS WITHOUT A KEY
Unlike the symbol substitution with a key discussed earlier,

this type of puzzle requires critical thinking and logic rather
than matching.
A cipher wheel
Idea 43: Let players re-create a cipher key from some
known information and apply the key to an encrypted code.
[Tip: If you choose to use ciphers in your rooms without

providing a key, make sure you provide players enough
information to recognize that they need to develop the key
themselves. Players can become discouraged and less
motivated to keep playing if they spend too long looking for
a key that isn’t available.]
Players are required to develop their own cipher keys in

35% of escape rooms worldwide.
SOUND
Many escape game puzzles rely upon players’ sense of

sight. But there’s no reason to neglect the other five
senses!
Using sound as a puzzle element can be an interesting way

to mix things up a little and give players some diversity.
Like light, sound can also be used to reinforce your theme
and immerse your customers in the world you’ve created.
You can also use sudden, loud noises to distract or frighten
players, if it’s appropriate for your theme.
Idea 44: Play a melody that players must repeat using a

mini-piano.
Idea 45: Give players a message in Morse code.
Idea 46: Play a sequence of sounds (animal sounds,

rhythms, tones) and require recognition of the sequence to
solve another puzzle.
Idea 47: Use a well-known music track to provide a clue

that involves the band name, the song name, or something
related to the song. For example, a Beach Boys song could
represent the need to use a shell or a bottle of sand for
some purpose.
Idea 48: Play parts of the same message in different rooms

so that teammates have to spread out and listen
simultaneously to get the full message.
Idea 49: Play a loud distracting sound to indicate that a
player has pushed the wrong button or flipped the wrong
switch.
Idea 50: Record clues on cassette tapes and provide a

tape player to listen to them.
Idea 51: Transmit clues or messages over a radio; require

players to find the batteries and the right frequency.
Sound is used as a puzzle element in 26% of escape

rooms worldwide.
MIRRORS
Mirrors can be used by players as tools to solve puzzles.
Idea 52: Create a message or a map that can only be read

using a mirror.
Messages written backwards are easier to read if reflected in a mirror.
Idea 53: Require players to hit a target using a laser and
mirrors.
Idea 54: Write a hidden message on a mirror that is only

revealed if a player breathes on it.
[Tip: Here are instructions for writing hidden messages on

mirrors.]
Message is revealed when condensation is applied.

You can also create tricky visual illusions when
incorporating mirrors into the puzzles themselves.
Item 55: Use a mirror to make it appear as if a clue is within
arm’s reach. When players reach for it, they’ll find only
empty space.
Mirrors are used as puzzle elements by 26% of escape

rooms worldwide.
ABSTRACT LOGIC
Some puzzles aren’t challenging because they’re hidden;

with some puzzles, the trick is simply figuring out how to
arrive at the right answer.
Idea 56: Hide clues in finished Sudoku or similar puzzles.
Idea 57: Make the answer to an IQ test question the secret

to solving another puzzle.
Abstract logic is used by 22% of escape rooms worldwide.

RESEARCH USING INFORMATION
SOURCES
Providing reference materials (hard copies or via digital

interface) can open up numerous possibilities, since they
allow you to design puzzles that require outside knowledge
to solve.
For those players who know the answers, such puzzles can
be solved more quickly, but for everyone else, the
opportunity is still available to quickly find the answer and
move forward.
Idea 58: Include an almanac of facts among the books on a

bookcase that contains a crucial but obscure fact, number,
year or other piece of trivia.
Idea 59: If players have access to the Internet, create a

dedicated website based on your theme containing a clue
or message in its images or text.
Idea 60: Provide access to an encyclopedia (or the
Internet) as a backup for finding solutions to trivia, math, or
other puzzles most people (but not all) are familiar with.
Research skills are required of players in 20% of escape

rooms worldwide.
STRATEGIC THINKING
While some might argue that escape games require

strategic thinking throughout, this category refers
specifically to puzzles that require players to think ahead
and predict outcomes.
Idea 61: Create a sequence of puzzles that must be solved

in the correct order to reach a desired outcome.
Idea 62: Give players a Chess problem to solve.
Puzzle sequences and other challenges that rely upon

strategic thinking are used in 20% of escape rooms
worldwide.
HAND-EYE COORDINATION
Hand-eye coordination tasks increase the energy in a

room, and they’re a great way to give team members with
different strengths an opportunity to contribute.
Idea 63: Require players to hit the bullseye on an electronic

dart board from a distance.
Idea 64: Give players a water gun and reveal a message or

clue if they can hit a target with a steady stream of water.
Hand-eye coordination is used in only 17% of escape

rooms worldwide.
ROPES OR CHAINS
Depending on your theme, there may be a great

opportunity to use ropes or chains as props. But don’t
discount the opportunity to use them as puzzles as well!
Idea 65: Tie something up and make the knot difficult to
untie; for an extra challenge, require the use of another tool
found elsewhere in the room to release the knot.
[Tip: Make sure players don’t have access to anything

sharp enough to cut the rope and ruin your prop!]
Idea 66: Chain players to each other or to something in the

room at the beginning of the game and challenge them to
get free.
Puzzles using ropes or chains are used by only 16% of

TRADITIONAL WORD PUZZLES
Word puzzles, like algebra and mathematics puzzles, often

require outside knowledge that some players may not
possess.
Consider making sure alternate methods of solving word

puzzles are provided, especially if you frequently have
tourists who are not native speakers of your country’s
language.
Idea 67: Here is an online crossword puzzle maker.
Word puzzles like crosswords or word searches are used

by 14% of escape rooms worldwide.
MAZES
Mazes can come in all shapes and sizes. You can build a
life-sized maze for players to navigate or give them smaller
mazes to complete using hand-eye coordination and
teamwork.
Idea 68: Activate a switch when a labyrinth puzzle is

completed.
Idea 69: Require players to navigate a hidden maze with a

radio-controlled car using a camera feed or a teammate’s
directions.
Idea 70: Place a key in a covered maze and require
players to use a magnet to move it through the maze to an
opening where it can be retrieved.
Idea 71: Give players a map that reveals the exact path

through a maze and hide a code in the path pattern.
Mazes are featured in only 14% of escape rooms

worldwide.
PHYSICAL AGILITY
One of the best ways to immerse players in your fictional

world is to create physical obstacles they must overcome,
especially if your theme involves horror, science fiction, or
heist elements.
Whether they have to crawl out of a serial killer’s basement

or climb over debris to make repairs to a damaged escape
pod, giving players a chance to interact physically with the
space considerably heightens the level of realism.
[Tip: Not all players are physically able to perform tasks that
require crawling, climbing, or navigating obstacles. Make
sure you specify the level of physical activity required in
your room description, so customers can plan
appropriately.]
Idea 72: Full-sized secret doors aren’t the only way to hide

a secret room. Consider providing access via a trapdoor set
into the floor.
Idea 73: Require players to navigate a laser maze; reset

the puzzle and make them start over again if they touch a
beam.
Anyone who has seen a spy thriller or a heist movie will know what to do if faced
with a laser maze.
Idea 74: Hide something at the end of a tunnel or an HVAC
vent that’s just big enough for a person to crawl through.
Players are required to get physical in only 13% of escape

rooms around the world.
TOUCH
Back to the five senses. You can use texture and

temperature to add to the atmosphere of a room, but you
can also create puzzles that require touch.
Idea 75: Place an object in a sealed box with a hole in it

and require players to identify it solely with their hands.
Idea 76: Set up a switch that requires simultaneous

pressure on multiple items or spots around the room so that
multiple team members must work together. Add to the
challenge by requiring the pressure points to be tapped in a
certain sequence.
The sense of touch is used to solve puzzles in only 12% of

KNOWLEDGE OF FACTS NOT

PROVIDED IN THE ROOM
As mentioned previously, many escape room operators and
players consider it bad form to require outside knowledge
(with the exception of commonly known facts) to complete a
game.
Idea 77: Require players to know the street address of the

room.
Only 11% of escape rooms around the world require

players to use information not provided in the room to solve
a puzzle.
SHAPE MANIPULATION
Shape manipulation can be combined with pattern

identification, although it doesn’t have to be.
Idea 78: Give players a matchstick puzzle to complete.
Shape manipulation puzzles are used in 11% of escape

rooms worldwide.
How are you doing? Is your head filled with ideas yet?
Now let’s move on to some extremely rare escape room

puzzles categories.
LIQUIDS
Liquids are rarely used in escape room puzzles.
In order to successfully use liquids in your escape game,

you’ll need to consider several factors, such as how easily
you can reset the room if you need to dry off props or
furnishings and what you will do if players spill or drink the
liquids (and thus make the puzzles unsolvable)
Mysterious bottles of liquid can be used for set decoration or as elements in puzzles.
Idea 79: Place a key or object in the bottom of a container
that is too narrow for a player’s hand; require players to
pour liquid into the container to raise the floating item.
Idea 80: Provide a hose or a water gun that produces a
strong stream or jet of water that players must use to push
an object or a button from a distance.
Idea 81: Provide liquids of different colors and require

players to mix them to create a new color that is needed in
another puzzle.
Only 9% of escape rooms worldwide use puzzles that

involve liquids.
SOCIAL ENGAGEMENT WITH

ACTORS
Some escape rooms use actors to great effect (as

evidenced by the popularity of the “Trapped in a Room with
a Zombie” theme) while others interact with players only
through their hint systems.
Using actors in your escape room can come with additional

operations challenges, such as increased payroll,
costuming expenses, and contingency plans if actors calls
in sick or fail to show up for work.
That said, talented actors can significantly increase the

realism of a theme.
Actors add a sense of realism to a room that props and set decoration alone cannot
match.
Idea 82: The prisoner in the next cell keeps whispering and
muttering nonsense (or is it?) throughout the game.
Idea 83: The psychopath drags a group member (actor)

from the room; screams can be heard in the next room for
most of the hour . . . then, as the clock ticks down . . .
silence.
Idea 84: As players frantically search for clues, a mental

patient on the other side of the door randomly pounds on it
and shouts to be let in.
Social interaction with actors is used by only 7% of escape

rooms worldwide.
PHYSICAL ENGAGEMENT WITH

ACTORS
Some escape games create a complete interactive

experience for their guests with actors and entire houses or
buildings to explore. These venues begin to blur the line
between escape room and immersive theater or
performance art.
There are currently few facilities offering this type of

experience. Operators who are considering entering this
space are pioneers in an exciting new form of
entertainment.
Idea 85: A physician gives a player a physical, discovers

something that terrifies him, and bolts from the room.
Seconds later, alarms go off and the facility is locked down.
Idea 86: A guide takes players hands and leads them

through the dark into their one-hour reality.
Idea 87: Non-player characters (NPCs) provide hints or

messages to players throughout the game.
Currently, only 4% of escape rooms worldwide feature

physical interaction with actors.
SMELL
The sense of smell can be powerful. It can create a sense
of nostalgia . . . or it can result in a disgust or fear. If you
can find air freshener that matches your theme, you can
use scents to add realism to the experience.
Idea 88: Apply scents to color- or letter-coded containers

(or add letters to jars containing scented votive candles);
then require recognition of the scent pattern to decipher a
coded message.
Idea 89: Add scents to blank jigsaw puzzle pieces. Give

players the final “picture” (i.e., arrangement of scented
items) and require them to assemble the blank puzzle
based on the scents on the pieces.
Idea 90: Let players know that two objects must be

combined by making them smell the same.
Only 3% of escape rooms worldwide include puzzles that

incorporate the sense of smell.
TASTE
Not surprisingly, the sense of taste is rarely used in escape
room puzzles. Many people respond negatively (or throw
up!) when they taste something they do not like, and even
the fear of unpleasant tastes can be enough to impact a
player’s enjoyment of the game.
Additionally, because they respect the props and

furnishings around them, many players will assume they
are not meant to put objects they find in an escape room in
their mouths.
If you choose to use the sense of taste in your room, you’ll

need to find a subtle way to let players know a) that they
are allowed to put items that look edible in their mouths and
b) that they will not be forced to taste anything that will
make them sick..
Idea 91: Give players a cinnamon candy and require them

to apply this knowledge in the next puzzle.
Idea 92: Scatter white powder (salt, sugar, baking soda,

flour) on a surface and make it critical that players find out
what it is.
Idea 93:Require players to use chewing gum to connect
two things together.
Idea 94: Give players a cup of a clear beverage; tasting it is

the only way to determine which nearby container (lemon-
lime soda, club soda, water) contains the next clue.
Only 1% of escape rooms worldwide require players to

taste something.
TEMPERATURE
Obviously, you want to set the environment temperature

according to your theme. So if your players are in a
morgue, make sure it is cold; if they’re in a crematorium,
make sure it is hot.
In rooms in which the ambient temperature isn’t extreme

either way, some objects and substances will display
different properties depending on their temperature.
Temperature is a fun and unusual way to hide or reveal
clues or messages in an escape room.
Idea 95: Write a message or draw a map on a surface with

thermochromic paint. Provide an icepack or rely on a
player’s body heat to reveal the hidden message.
[Tip: Paint with Pearl sells thermochromic paint online.]
The effect of thermochromic paint when it’s heated

Idea 96: Write a letter in “invisible ink” which must be
warmed up to reveal the secret message
[Tip: You can make invisible ink yourself with common
household products.]
Idea 97: Provide a thermometer and an enclosed space or

an object for which the temperature must be measured to
complete a code or solve another puzzle.
Idea 98: Create a puzzle that requires conversion of

Fahrenheit to Celsius or vice versa; provide a thermometer
to assist those who don’t know the conversion calculation.
Idea 99: Place a temperature sensor on the wall and

activate a switch or reveal a clue when the sensor is heated
to a certain temperature. Depending on your theme,
players may have access to a tool that will produce heat, or
they may have to rely on the warmth of their hands.
Idea 100: Write something on the inside bottom of a bowl.

Cover it with an opaque (non-transparent) liquid which must
be heated and evaporated to reveal the secret message.
Idea 101: Cover a code made of metal wire with wax which

must be melted off in order to see the code underneath.
Fewer than 1% of escape rooms worldwide contain
temperature-related puzzles.
So, there you go! 101 escape room puzzle ideas to help
you get started.
Many of the ideas referenced in this article were generously

contributed by escape room business owners around the
world. To avoid accidental spoilers, I’ve listed them in no
particular order.
My gratitude goes out to:
 Nicolette, Escape Room in Tucson, Arizona, USA

 Paul, Best live Escape Room in Essex, England
 John, Escape Room in Denver, Colorado, USA
 Rita, Escape Room in Gastonia, North Carolina,
USA
 April, Escape Room in Marietta, Georgia, USA
 Sarah, Escape Room in Richland, Washington, USA
 Renee, Escape Room in Madison, Wisconsin, USA
 Elina, ActivityFan (activity booking website)
Got an idea you think should be added? Drop me a few
lines via email.
If you’re feeling a little lost or overwhelmed, don’t be

discouraged. Not only are you not alone, there are two
other potential solutions that may take that weight off your
shoulders.
First, there are companies that sell escape room designs to

operators who aren’t quite ready to do it themselves.
Escape room designs generally cost anywhere from $700

to $5,000 or more, depending on a number of factors,
including the complexity of the design and the number of
puzzles included.
Some of these designers also offer packages that

include consulting, equipment, delivery, and installation for
an additional fee.
Your second option is to buy into an escape room

franchise.
When you purchase a franchise, you gain a recognized
brand, room designs that have proven to be successful in
other markets, and the support and guidance that come
from operating as a franchise owner.
For a complete list of resources, browse

Nowescape’s Escape Room Resource Directory, which
lists escape room service providers around the world.
You’ll also find plenty of tips and insight in the following

Nowescape blog articles:
 How to Open Your Own Escape Room: A Simple 22-

step Guide
 21 Ways to Sell More Escape Room Games
 21 Quick HR Tips on How to Hire, Manage, and
Retain Your Escape Room Staff
 Most Popular Escape Room Booking Systems
If that’s not enough – you may also be interested in 13

Secrets from an Escape Room Design Guru.
Escape Rooms (a.k.a. Puzzle Rooms, Adventure Rooms,
Mystery Rooms, Exit Games) have surged in popularity
recently. A few months again there was some discussion
on a couple of the camp professional Facebook groups
about running an Escape Room at camp. Is it possible to
create an Escape Room at camp without spending
thousands of dollars on the kind of set-up and
electronics that commercial Escape Room companies
spend on each of their games?
Wait. I’m getting a head of myself. You may not even

know what an Escape Room is exactly. Let’s start there.
Here is an abridged description of Escape Rooms

from Peeking behind the locked door: A survey of escape
room facilities by Scott Nicholson.
“Escape rooms are live-action team-based games where
players discover clues, solve puzzles, and accomplish
tasks in one or more rooms in order to accomplish a
specific goal (usually escaping from the room) in a
limited amount of time. The escape room experience
starts with the players meeting their gamemaster, who
briefs them on what will be happening over the next
hour and gives them the rules for the game. If there is a
back story, the players may watch a video or be given a
passage to read. The door is closed and locked and a
countdown clock begins.
Players explore the room, tentatively at first but then

more aggressively as time goes on, looking everywhere
for clues. There are usually numbers, symbols, or
pictures on the walls but no apparent guide to
understanding what they are there for. It’s all a mystery.
The first part of the experience is searching through
drawers, boxes, pockets of clothing, and underneath
and behind everything; well-communicating teams call
out what they find and organize things that might go
together. At some point, players will discover a puzzle
and figure out how it can be solved; some puzzles have
directions and others do not.
The solution to one puzzle will lead to something else – it

may be a code for a padlock, the starting key for another
puzzle, a door that opens to another room, a piece for a
meta-puzzle, or it may be a red herring (something that
misleads or distracts the team). The group continues to
work on puzzles, sharing information about what is
found. If they are stuck, there is usually a way for a team
to get a hint to help them continue.”

There are around 3000 escape rooms operating all over

the world. Some are very elaborate while others are not.
Proprietors spend thousands of dollars on decor and
puzzles for each game. This begs the question, “Can a
camp create an escape room experience without
spending thousands of dollars?” The answer is yes, a
camp can create one for under a few hundred dollars.
Before I show you how, I want to talk about your
audience.
Are Escape Rooms kid

friendly?
There is one Escape Room experience for kids that I
know of (at the time of this writing). It’s at the Escape
Lounge in Washington D.C. There may be a couple of
others, but I haven’t been able to find them. Many
Escape Room operators will allow kids to go in with adult
supervision, but the experiences are designed mainly for
adults.
Then there is Breakout EDU, a company that creates a
similar experience for teachers to use in their
classrooms. Instead of escaping the room, however, the
goal is to unlock the main box. Breakout EDU sells their
wood lockbox filled with enough props and supplies to
run one of their games. On their site you’ll also find
videos and instructions on how to run a variety of
classroom puzzle hunt games that teachers have
designed themselves. If you’re a teacher that is looking
to add math or history or even science to a puzzle game,
then I strongly encourage you to check out Breakout
EDU. Camps with S.T.E.M. programs can also benefit
greatly from their site. Even if you don’t want to include
education in your Escape Room experience, the videos
can show you some neat ways to create some
inexpensive puzzles. You can find plenty of videos on
YouTube by searching for “breakout edu”.
So, while you can create an Escape Room experience for
elementary school aged kids, I think it is much more
suited for your middle school and high school aged
campers and CITs. It can be a great team building
experience, especially if you debrief afterwards.
Storyline
Let’s begin with a theme and/or storyline. Whether it’s
an Egyptian theme, a “diffuse the bomb” scenario, a
zombie theme or a detective theme, having a theme and
a storyline will not only make the experience more
memorable, but they will also make it more enjoyable to
create. Of course, decorating a room as though it’s an
Egyptian tomb will require a complete redecorating of a
room and the purchase of a lot of decorations, unless
you already have some. If you have an extra room to run
your game and the budget to decorate it then go for it. If
not, consider using a space you already have and
designing the game around it. Here are a couple of
examples.
Location: Barn
Theme: Wild West
Storyline: The Sheriff has locked your group up thinking
you are the notorious Mustang Gang. There isn’t enough
room in the jail cell so he had to use the barn. The
hangman will be in town in 45 minutes. You have until
then to escape the barn. Luckily, Suzy May and her
father have provided you a way to break out. They hid
clues around the barn so that the Sheriff and his
deputies wouldn’t easily discover their plan. Solve the
clues and you’ll earn your freedom. Then you can figure
out who set you up. Of course, that’s a game for another
time.
Location: Office
Theme: Kidnapped Director
Storyline: The camp director has been kidnapped and is
being held for the ransom of an alien device he found.
Under duress the camp director told the kidnappers
where the device is and they are on their way to camp.
Fortunately, he left clues in his office as to its
whereabouts. Your group must find the device before
the bad guys arrive to claim its power. (This game is
spelled out step-by-step in the How to Create a Low Cost
Escape Room for Camps, Youth Groups and Community
Centers ebook.)
Note: Not all “Escape Room” games are the same. For
many of them the purpose is not to escape the room,
but to solve a mystery. That is why Adventure Rooms,
Mystery Rooms or Puzzle Rooms are alternate names
for these types of games.
Types of Clues and

Puzzles
When a group enters a room they should start looking
around for clues. Clues could be lying out in the open or
hidden just about anywhere in the room. The first clue
will probably lead to a puzzle which will need to be
solved to find the next clue and so on.
Clues and puzzles can be in a variety of forms. Keep in

mind that we are trying to keep the cost low for your
camp, so the clues and puzzles I mention are not
electronic or expensive to add to your game.
 Pencil Indentations
 QR Codes
 Jigsaw Puzzles
 Maps
 Images, Photos and Paintings
 Tape or Video Recordings
 Math Puzzles
 Logo-Number Puzzles
 Number Patterns
 Sensory
 Riddles
 Word Puzzles
 Ciphers
 Morse Code
Using a variety of puzzles and clue delivery systems is
important in a game. They should also fit the scenario.
You wouldn’t have a video recording if the game is set in
the Wild West.
Props
Again, I have not included electronic props like Arduino
products and software. I also have not included any
magnetic props. However, in a typical Escape Room
game you will need supplies. Here is a list of equipment
that you might use for a game.
 Digital Timer showing participants how much time is

left in the game
 Locks (they come in different forms)
 Word Locks
 Key Locks
 Number Locks
 Directional Locks
 Playing Cards
 Lockboxes
 Wall Art
 Diversion Safes
 Blank Jigsaw Puzzles to create your own
 Puzzle Boxes
 Cipher Tools
 Black Light Flashlights
 Invisible Ink
 USB Flash Drives
 Laptop
 Hasps
 Books
 Colored Items
Creating a Game
Here is a very basic list of how to create an Escape Room
style game for camp.
1. Have the gamemaster go over the rules with the group
(be careful with the props, no running, do not touch
anything that says Do Not Touch, you only have 45
minutes, etc).
2. Then have the gamemaster introduce the storyline.
3. Lay the first clue out in the open. This clue should lead
the group to several different puzzles. Most camper
groups will have around 10 kids. It’s best if they split up
into smaller groups. Otherwise, some of them will get
bored as the group tackles one puzzle at a time. If they
don’t split up naturally, the gamemaster or supervising
counselor should suggest it.
4. Have each puzzle be the beginning of a path. In other
words, one puzzle will lead to the next which will lead to
the next. If there are three paths you’ll have 3 groups of
3-4 campers working on each puzzle.
5. All paths should lead to a meta-puzzle or a box. A
meta-puzzle is a difficult puzzle all the campers can work
on together. See the Pyramid path illustration below.
(The illustration was taken from Peeking behind the locked
door: A survey of escape room facilities by Scott Nicholson.)
6. From there, split them up again with three new paths.
Each path will have three more puzzles and lead
everyone to the end, be that a treasure, solution to a
mystery, key to unlock the main door, etc.
7. Take the group somewhere else and debrief the
activity. Having a trained ropes facilitator as the
gamemaster would be a good call.
The group counselor is there to supervise only, not to
help the group other than encouraging them to
continue.
Hint Cards
You may want to provide Hint Cards. If the group gets
stuck they can use a hunt card and ask the gamemaster
for assistance on whatever puzzle they are on. Let me be
clear, the gamemaster is not to tell them the answer to
the puzzle, just to give them a hint to help the campers
solve it on their own. I’d suggest giving the group 3 hint
cards. Once they have used all three that’s it. Groups
need to be careful when asking for help. They don’t want
to waste all their hint cards if they really don’t need it.
Finishing the Game

Commercial Escape Rooms have varying degrees of
success rates. Some rooms are very difficult and the
success rate of groups attempting to “escape” or solve
the mystery is low, as low as 10%. Other rooms have a
better success rate, as high as 80%, but that’s rare. No
commercial Escape Room has a 100% success rate. If
that were the case, then that room would be much too
easy.
Your room should be difficult enough that not every

group will solve everything in the given time limit, but
easy enough that they will be making continuous
progress. If you need to make your game harder, adjust
the difficulty of your puzzles or add more of them. If you
want to make it a bit easier, eliminate a few puzzles or
make some of them easier to solve.
I understand that at camp we feel that everyone should

succeed, but there are a lot of lessons that can be
learned from failing or running out of time before you
hit your goal. However, if you are determined to see
everyone be successful I suggest you create a game that
would take the normal group 30 minutes and put a 45
minute time limit on it. Then, to make things a bit more
interesting, you can have a leaderboard up for the
summer that shows every group’s time.
Either way, I also suggest that you take a picture of each

group after they finish. The campers can hold signs up
for the photo that say things like “We did it!”, “Mission
Accomplished!” and “WooHoo!” or “Almost”, “We’ll get
’em next time!” and “So close”.
Play Testing
After you have created your game you’ll need to get
some staff together to play test it. This will show you if
you need to add time, make a puzzle more or less
difficult or are missing a key element in your game.
Only Scratching the

Surface
There are so many things to consider when creating an
Escape Room experience. I know that this post is only
giving you a taste of what is involved, but to spell out
everything in detail would take a book. It just so happens
that I wrote an ebook that walks you through step-by-
step on how to create a low cost game. It’s called How to
Create a Low Cost Escape Room for Camps, Youth Groups
and Community Centers. Click on the link to be taken to
my online store.
ABOUT THE PRODUCT
Escape Rooms are a type of physical adventure game

in which a group of people are locked in a room and
have to solve a series of puzzles, find clues,
and escape the room within a set time limit. Escape
Room facilities can be found all over the world. While
“Escape Room” is the most widely used term for these
types of games, they have also been called Adventure
Rooms and Exit Games. The mission of the group is
not always to escape a locked room. Sometimes it’s to
get into a secret box or to solve a mystery in a certain
amount of time.
Nearly all Escape Rooms (or Adventure Rooms) have
certain things in common…
 There is a theme
 Participants play in groups, not solo
 T
here are a series of puzzles that must be solved
 There is a time limit
In this ebook you’ll find…
 A lot of different ideas on puzzles, clues and

challenges
 Theme and story ideas
 A list of supplies and where to get them
 Ways to supervise and give hints to groups
 Alternatives to the Escape Room scenario
This is a great team-building program. It’s also a
program that will require the purchase of
supplies/equipment. While you could design a really
elaborate set-up that can cost thousands of dollars,
you can also do it on the cheap for a couple of
hundred dollars or less, and we’ll explore these
options in the ebook.
This is the only book that tackles the idea of escape

rooms for camps. If your team building programs are
becoming a little stale, this my be what you’re looking
for.
Save Hours of Time
What is your time worth? This ebook will save you

many, many hours creating a new type of team
building program.
PDF eBook
This is a book in PDF format. All you need os Adobe

Acrobat to view it, which is standard in nearly all
computers these days. A link will be emailed to you
when the ebook is ready.
https://patchworkmarketplace.com/downloads/how-to-create-an-
escape-room-experience-at-camp/
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ESCAPE ROOM TIPS

 Best Escape Rooms by City
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Top 11 Puzzle Ideas
for Escape Rooms
September 22, 2016
8 Comments
These are the most common and flexible

escape room puzzle ideas that we’ve
seen in our experience doing 60+ escape
rooms across the United States and
Europe. These ideas are not specific to
any particular theme or company, and
can be adapted to work well in
most rooms.
On one end of the spectrum, these puzzle
ideas can be perfect for an escape room
on a tight budget. On the other end of the
spectrum, some of the best escape rooms
in North America use these ideas with
stellar execution.
This list is broken up into two sections:
 Section 1: Common puzzle themes
 Section 2: Alternate locking
mechanisms
Section 1: Common
Puzzle Themes
This section contains very common
puzzle themes that are repeated in many
escape rooms. Many of these themes can
be easy to implement and are not high-
tech, but can lead to fantastic results in
high-quality rooms.
Idea #1. Extract Numbers
from Pictures
Public Domain
Gummy bear count: 6 red, 2 orange, 4 yellow, 5
green, and 4 white. Combine that with a hint
elsewhere of “Red Orange Yellow Green” gummy
bears leads to a code of 6245.
This one is incredibly flexible since it

serves both as decor and a way to hide
numbers that are used in some sort of
combination lock. This one is also easier
to implement since you just need some
sort of design or image, and then to
secure it to the wall firmly so that
overzealous room escapers won’t be able
to pry it off.
Tips: An extremely common method is
just counting, like the example in the
image caption above. You can have an
image of 9 pineapples – and somewhere
else in the room you have a hint that a
pineapple is supposed to correspond to a
number. The number of pineapples, in
addition to the numbers of 3 other
fruits, can give you the code for a 4-digit
combination lock.
Idea #2. Decrypt Messages

Public Domain
With the right key, players might be able to decipher
this. (These are medieval runes from the Codex
Runicus)
These red symbols sure look enticing. If

only we could decipher this… (This is the
Codex Runicus)
Custom codes and ciphers are the most
common in escape rooms since they’re a
great way to incorporate the theme.
Other than custom symbols, Morse code
seems to be the second most
popular because of its flexibility (works in
audio and flashing light forms too) and
general recognizability. Other popular
codes and ciphers include ASCII /
Binary, Pigpen Cipher, Caesar Cipher, or
a Book Cipher(commonly the Arnold
Cipher).
Tips: This code sheet (from Puzzled Pint)
lists the most common codes / ciphers
used in puzzle hunts, which is also some
of the most common codes / ciphers used
in escape rooms. Make sure you provide
some sort of reference sheet for your
players if you plan on using a cipher /
code – this is not necessarily common
knowledge.
Idea #3. Find Information

in Plain Text
Public Domain
This Valentine’s day poem is an acrostic. Read the first
letter in each line to find out who it’s addressed to.
You can hide information in passages of

text that otherwise help fit the story or
theme of the game. This one is incredibly
flexible. There are a huge number of
ways you can do this, including:
1. Highlighting or coloring certain
words or letters in a text passage
2. Giving your players access to some
sort of sheet with holes. These holes
lined up with the text in the right way
will show specific words that players
should read.
3. Particular words in the text will refer
to particular objects around the room,
which will give players a particular
selection or ordering.
4. Hide a message thats revealed if
players read the words in a particular
way, for example every 5th word, or
reading down a particular line.
5. Certain words in the passage could
glow if held up to a light, when the
lights are turned off, or over a
blacklight.
6. Have players look up information in
a particular file
Idea #4. Reveal Invisible

Messages by Blacklight
Public Domain
A blacklight can reveal messages written on the wall.
This is one of the more common

mechanisms that we see in early escape
rooms. A blacklight is hidden somewhere
in a locked box or cabinet somewhere in
the escape room, which lets
players comb the walls and objects
around the room for hidden puzzles
written in blacklight marker.
Tips: Make sure that the things you want
to show in the blacklight are visible when
the blacklight is shone on it. If it isn’t
visible, either you’ll need a stronger
blacklight, a new coat of blacklight paint,
or you need to move the clue to
somewhere with much worse lighting.
Please also keep the batteries fresh!
Advanced Tips: You can also have a
whole wall full of blacklight paint, and
then have some sort of player action
trigger a whole room to light up in
blacklight with a blacklight fixture.
Idea #5. Search for Items in

Odd Places
Public Domain
This book can certainly hold some hidden objects. Not
an immediately obvious location, but experienced
room escapers will certainly ruffle through every book
in the room.
This is almost certainly the most common

escape room puzzle – it’s so common that
every one of the escape rooms we’ve had
have had searching as a component in
some way or another. This simply
involves hiding important things in not-
so-obvious places.
Tips: Common places include within coat
pockets, inside a book safe, inside
drawers, inside containers, on top of a
ledge, on top of surfaces that are just
beyond eyes reach, or stuck to a support
pillar of the room. More evil places
include behind parts of the wall,
underneath the floorboards, or wedged
behind things.
Word of caution: Escape rooms that
have more searching will also have more
players trying to take apart the room.
We’d warn against hiding things in the
ceilings, above arms reach, or inside
electrical outlets as that can cause
issues.
Idea #6. Retrieve Items Out of

Reach
Terry Madeley
The photographer dropped his car keys down the
drain and used a stick to fish them back out again.
This is especially common in prison-
themed escape rooms. The keys to a cell
are usually just out of reach beyond the
bars, and the players must use a long
stick, a magnet on a string, or grabby
tool.
Tips: Keys are not magnetic, but steel
rings are. A magnet attached to a string
can grab keys on a steel ring. This
concept also applies in general to any
object that’s out of reach via normal
means, and the player must find some
sort of method to extract the object out.
Usually the object is a key.
More Tips: You can also do this with
lines of sight. Potentially something
written somewhere is not visible unless
the player holds up a mirror.
Idea #7. Solve Puzzles in
Everyday Objects
Public Domain
There are lots of puzzles you can make that just
involve a set of playing cards… Maybe certain cards
are missing, or your players have to count how many
are in any particular suit.
This idea is a catch-all for all of the

different kinds of objects that you
can turn into a puzzle. Playing cards are
extremely common and probably
somewhat overused here. Here are some
more ideas:
1. For objects that clearly belong
together, you can write on them so
that it spells out some sort of code or
message (when reassembled into the
right order).
2. For objects that are very numerous,
you can write various symbols on
them and have some sort of
mechanism to get your players to
choose the right ones (in order). You
can also have your players count them
to get the combination for a lock.
3. For objects that already have
numbers on them, you can have some
sort of mechanism to have your
players choose the right ones in order
in order to get the combo to a lock.
4. An object has to be placed in exactly
the right place in order to trigger a
magnetic lock (see the “Magnetic
Reed Switch” idea)
Tip: Another way to expand on this is to
have your players put these items in
order to form some sort of code. The
ordering can be by size, length, in the
order that they were mentioned in a
passage of text, or so on.
Idea #8. Take Out an Object

from a Maze
Chris Hackett and Eleanor Lovinsky
Players can solve some sort of maze (like the classic
Labyrinth game) in order to get a key or object.
The key (or other important object) is
hidden in plain sight, but the player has
to solve some sort of maze in order to
access the object. The player has to
maneuver the key or other object outside
of the maze using a set of restricted
movements.
Tips: There’s tremendous variety here.
The maze can be horizontal and rely on
tilting motions, vertical and mounted on a
wall, or even 3-dimensional and requiring
the coordinated actions of two players.
Idea #9. Piece Together Parts

Liza Daly
In an escape room, expect to solve jigsaw puzzles with
up to 12 pieces, not 512 pieces (whew).
This common puzzle involves players

slowly finding various pieces of a large
clue they need to solve the game. This is
incredibly common as it allows players to
achieve satisfactory progress, let them
try to solve the incomplete puzzle, and
then realize that they need more pieces
in order to proceed. This comes in a
variety of flavors:
1. You get the pieces of a multi-piece
puzzle sequentially, not all at once.
2. A critical piece of paper you need
comes in parts, and you need to find
all or most of them in order to
understand its contents
3. A jigsaw puzzle or tangram puzzle or
something similar
Section 2: Common
Locking Mechanisms
While the key lock is ubiquitous, it can
easily be overused. Here are some of our
suggestions to go beyond the normal key
lock and look into other mechanisms.
Some of these mechanisms can only be
executed with some basic electronics
knowledge.
Idea #10. Open a

Combination Lock
Public Domain
This love lock bridge definitely has too many key
locks.
Combination that are common in escape

rooms include 4-digit combination
locks, 5-letter word locks, and directional
locks. These locks are fairly common in
escape rooms and do well to establish
more variety in the locks in an escape
room (and help prevent the scenario
where players aren’t sure which lock their
code should go in).
Tips: For 5-letter word locks, some
players will attempt to guess the right
word according to the theme of the
room (like MAGIC for an magic-themed
rooms). To avoid that, it’s better to go
with a world that’s much less obvious.
Similarly, for 4-digit combination locks,
players will likely try to guess the last
digit after they have 3 out of the 4 digits.
Idea #11. Trigger a Magnetic

Lock
An object placed in the correct location
can trigger the opening of a door. This is
more advanced than the other ideas on
this list but also can be a simple
electronics project.
Tips: The object will usually have a
magnet or an RFID tag buried on the
bottom. The surface that the object is
placed on will have a Reed Switch or
some sort of RFID reader. There’s
enormous flexibility here to hide the
technology inside props that are
appropriate for your theme.
Getting Started: For beginners to
electronics, we recommend getting
an Official Arduino Starter Kit. After
getting familiar with the platform, you
can get a pack of reed switches to test
out some basic ideas. Arduinos are small
computers / micro-controllers that can
route switches to the correct action (e.g.
if 3 items are placed in the right place
then a maglock will open a hidden door).
Non-Recommended Puzzle
Ideas
While these are still valid puzzle ideas for
escape rooms, we personally don’t
recommend them (although they can be
fun for certain players).
Not recommended due trivialness
 Trivia – Escape rooms are best
when they don’t depend on pre-
existing knowledge, else your
customers can easily get stuck. This
includes answers to crossword puzzles
that rely on trivia rather than guessing
of a proper word.
 Riddles – These mostly rely on
people having heard the riddle
before, and are usually difficult to fit
into the theme of the game.
 Arithmetic – A math problem
shouldn’t be used as a puzzle by itself.
Not recommended due to frustration
 Puzzles without one definite
solution – Following the puzzle
solving process properly should lead
players to one definite solution, not
two, three, or multiple.
 Technology that is likely to be
finicky – If a player does exactly the
right sequence of steps, they should
be able to solve the puzzle.
Not recommended due to safety
 Hiding things in fake electrical
outlets – This is a safety issue.
 Hiding things in ceilings – This is
also a safety issue
Conclusion
Our general (and very common) advice
for entrepreneurs interested in starting
an escape room business are to travel
and try out as many great escape rooms
as possible before you begin, to get a
sense of what makes a good experience
for your customers.
These ideas that we listed can be
incredibly easy and inexpensive to
implement, but please don’t make them
seem like they were easy or inexpensive
to implement. These ideas are very
common, which means that the most
basic versions of these puzzles are
somewhat overdone. However, with good
execution and application of your
theme, you can still delight your
customers with variants of these puzzles.
If you’re looking for additional resources
to help you start your escape room
business, we would highly recommend
Scott Nicholson’s (Professor of Game
Design at Wilfrid Laurier
University) escape room white paper,
which also includes a list of 31 types of
puzzles in escape rooms. Best wishes
with your escape room!
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8 thoughts on “
Puzzle Ideas for
Escape Rooms”
1. shawn says:
February 3, 2017 at 8:19 pm
Most keys are made from brass (a non-ferrous

metal) therefore a magnet will not work unless
you attach a steel (ferrous metal) ring to the
key.
Reply
1. William says:
February 4, 2017 at 12:20 am
Ah, thanks for the clarification. That’s an
important note so I fixed up that part.
Reply
2. Charlene Lameront says:
February 23, 2017 at 6:20 pm
Hi William,
I am co-organizing a camp for Girl Guides of
Canada. We are hoping to have about 350
participants, ranging in age from 6 years to 17
years. The camp is at Doe Lake Girl Guide
Camp, Sprucedale Ontario. Our camp theme is
The Mystery of Aloha. We want to have camp
wide game, that the participants will engage in
through-out the day. The girls will be seeking
clues to solve the Mystery ( who stole the Tiki
Man). I want to set up escape room style puzzle
through-out the camp. Our budget is pretty
much nil. Can you provide me with any ideas,
suggests or ……….. I think I have bit off more
than I anticipated
Reply
1. William says:
February 24, 2017 at 12:05 am
Hi Charlene! With 350 participants and a nil

budget, a puzzle hunt or scavenger hunt
type activity would be a lot more doable
than an escape room style puzzle. A camp-
wide scavenger hunt that ties into your
theme is a scalable way to occupy 350+
participants for maybe a few hours. If you
have enough volunteers, you can have your
participants go to various stations and do
certain actions.
You can also have “puzzle stations” that
involve paper “Mystery of Aloha”-themed
puzzles, or any of the ideas on this list
(there are low-cost versions of many of
these). For puzzle hunt puzzle ideas, you
can take inspiration from the Puzzled Pint
archives
– http://www.puzzledpint.com/puzzles/.
They have puzzles of various difficulty
levels.
Reply
3. Pingback: Explore the Diverse World of

Escape Room Puzzles!
4. Polly says:
July 6, 2017 at 9:28 pm
We are hoping to try some escape room kind of

activities for our youth group. Thank you so
much for the great article!
Reply
5. Jen says:
August 11, 2017 at 6:43 pm
Any ideas for a 8th grade classroom for first day

back to school?
Reply
1. William says:
August 11, 2017 at 6:51 pm
Hi! If you’re looking for general paper

puzzle ideas, the puzzled pint archive is
always a great place to
start: http://www.puzzledpint.com/puzzles/.
Reply
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100 MORE GREAT ESCAPE
ROOM PUZZLE IDEAS
Your goal is to design the most fun, challenging, immersive
escape room game in your area.
Or, heck – no reason to limit yourself . . . you want to

design the best escape game in the world!
To do that, you need great puzzles.
You need puzzles that will challenge your customers, but

which will also be fun and just the right amount of difficult to
make them enjoy solving them without getting angry or
frustrated.
The puzzle ideas in Nowescape’s blog, 101 Best Escape

Room Puzzle Ideas, helped you get started. Now we’ve
compiled another list to spark your imagination and help get
you on the path to success.
Remember, you don’t want to just copy these ideas exactly
as they are. If everyone used the same puzzle ideas in their
room escapes, customers would get bored pretty quickly.
Take these ideas and give them your own unique spin.
Your customers will appreciate it, and your revenue will
reflect it!
Let’s get started!
HIDDEN MESSAGES AND CYPHERS

Using cyphers and other techniques to hide secret

messages is a great way to give players information while
simultaneously ensuring that they experience some
extremely satisfying wins.
Idea 1: Use a scytale cipher to hide a message.
Idea 2: Hide a message in a snote.
Idea 3: Hide a message using a red reveal technique.

Red reveal cyphers can be created on a computer if you have a color printer.
Idea 4: Use a mask technique to reveal a hidden message.
Idea 5: Similar to Idea 4, use a postcard decoder to hide a

message.
Idea 6. Use the NATO phonetic alphabet to create a

message.
Idea 7: If appropriate for your theme, write coded
messages in fictional alphabets.
Escape room players love opportunities to show off their geeky knowledge of
fictional worlds.
PLAYING HIDE AND SEEK

Finding something that has been hidden is a particularly
satisfying moment for escape room players. Even if they
still have to figure out what to do with the object(s) they’ve
found, the moment of discovery always energizes everyone
in the room.
Idea 8: Hide a clue inside a fortune cookie.
Idea 9: Hide plastic Easter eggs or other objects that easily

break open around the room. Place slips of paper with
message fragments inside them. Players must find them all
to complete the message.
Idea 10: Write a message on the back of a painting.
Idea 11: Hide a message within the image in a painting.
Idea 12: Design a desk drawer or trunk with a secret

compartment and hide something in it.
Idea 13: Hide a message in the underside of an umbrella.

[Note: Another way to add immersion would be to give
players “bad luck” once they’ve opened the umbrella to get
the clue.]
Idea 14: Hide an object inside a skeleton’s “stomach,” as if
it had once been swallowed. Players must unbutton the
skeleton’s shirt and reach between its bones to retrieve the
object.
Dead men tell no tales.
Idea 15: Place a whiteboard or chalkboard in the room with
notes or equations all over it. Players must erase the chalk
or dry erase ink from the board to reveal a message written
in permanent ink.
Idea 16: Place an ancient research diary (à la Professor

Jones’ diary) in the room. Hide cryptic clues throughout the
notes scribbled within.
Idea 17: Leave a blank notepad on a desk. Players must

scribble lightly with a pencil on the top page of a notepad to
reveal the note that had been written on the page above it.
Idea 18: Place a computer or tablet in the room that takes

players to a room-specific website you’ve created. Place
clues in the website text and images.
Idea 19: Write a message on something tiny and require

players to use a microscope to read it.
Idea 20: Place instructions somewhere in the room, but rip

off the bottom section, so the instructions are incomplete.
Hide the bottom section as a charred piece of paper that
falls from the chimney if players open the flue in the
fireplace (as if someone tried to burn the paper, and it flew
up into the chimney before it was completely destroyed).
LOCKING THINGS UP
A lot of exit games use locks as a prop and puzzle. Be
careful not to rely too heavily on this puzzle type, or your
customers will get bored. A few locks here and there,
though, can be nice satisfying wins that don’t require too
much effort to figure out.
Combination Locks
Here are some ways to provide lock combinations.
Idea 21: Use a book series (the kind that has numbers on

the spines) and draw a diagonal line across the bottoms of
the books. Players must stack the books so the line is
straight, then use the numbers on the spines as a
combination.
Idea 22: Write a combination in invisible ink on the bottom

of the box containing the lock.
Idea 23: Write a combination on the inside of a lamp

shade.
Idea 24: Provide the combination in a Chinese takeout

menu with certain meal numbers circled.
Idea 25: Provide solved number puzzles with incorrect
answers; require players to recognize which answers are
wrong and use those numbers as a combination.
Keypad Locks
There are generally two steps to solving a keypad lock.

First players must figure out which buttons are part of the
code. Second they must figure out the order in which to
push those buttons.
You can place a datebook with a significant year or other

clue elsewhere in the room to give them the right order.
Players can use actual burglar techniques to guess a keypad code.
Idea 26: If players blow powder on a button keypad, the
powder will stick to the buttons that have the most oil on
them.
Idea 27: A button keypad with some of the number labels
worn off will also show players which buttons are used most
frequently.
FINDING, UNLOCKING, AND

OPENING DOORS
Many escape rooms are really made up of several
connected rooms, giving game designers opportunities to
challenge players with secret or locked doors.
Secret Doors
Idea 28: Create a hidden door that is only visible by the

light from the next room seeping through the cracks around
its edges. Players cannot find it unless they turn off the
lights.
Idea 29: Create a hidden door that can be found if players

feel a draft coming through the cracks around its edges;
this may require holding up a lit match or lighter to see
where the flame wavers.
Idea 30: Create a hidden bookcase door that requires

pulling the right book or a nearby wall sconce to open it.
Everyone loves a classic.
Idea 31: Make the back panel of a closet a door that opens
when another task is completed in the room; players must
return to the closet to realize it has opened.
Idea 32: Hide a secret door in the back of a fireplace.

Players must crawl through the fireplace to go through it.
Locked Doors
Idea 33: Hide a key in a drain. Players must use a magnet

attached to a piece of wire to retrieve it.
Idea 34: To make Item 33 more challenging, require

players to remove a painting’s hanging wire to retrieve the
key.
Idea 35: If you have a prison cell or enclosure with bars

players can reach through, require players to reach through
and unlock the door backwards using a mirror.
It’s all about keys – finding the key to a lock or finding the key to a puzzle.
Idea 36: Create a door without a visible lock that only
opens if players use the right knock pattern.
Idea 37: Or, similar to Item 36, program a desk drawer to

remain locked until players knock on the right spot on the
desk surface.
Idea 38: Create a door that pops open if a certain action is

performed elsewhere in the room but latches again if
players don’t access it immediately. One player must
perform the task that opens the door, and another must
rush through it or find a way to keep it open.
Idea 39: Create a room with various types of tiles on the

floor and a locked door on the other side. If players simply
walk across the room, nothing happens. Players must get
from one side of the room to the other without stepping on
certain tiles or stepping only on the correct sequence of
tiles to unlock the door.
Idea 40: Give players a locked door with a key in the

keyhole – but on the other side. In order to get the key and
unlock the door, players must slide something flat, like a
piece of paper or a mat, under the door so it sits below the
doorknob. Then they must poke something into their side of
the keyhole to push the key out, so it lands on the flat
object. They can then retrieve the key by carefully pulling
the flat object back to their side of the door. [Note: With a
puzzle like this, you must have a backup solution prepared
in case the players push the key out without something
there to catch it. Unlike a video game, where players can
recognize that they missed a step and go back to try again,
in real life, once the key is on the floor in the next room, the
first solution will never be possible again.]
ACTIVITIES
Not all challenges should involve decoding or unlocking

things. Sometimes players enjoy performing unusual tasks
or activities that require multiple steps to accomplish an
overall objective.
Idea 41: Players must repair an electronic device by

correctly configuring dip switches.
Idea 42: Players in an art gallery must replicate the poses
of statues.
Idea 43: Similar to Idea 42, players must adjust statue

poses (move their arms, legs, and heads) to match images
they’re provided.
Idea 44: Players must swap out an object with something of

equal weight.
This idol belongs in a museum.
Idea 45: Players must figure out how to turn an old, beat up
radio on (they may need to “repair” it first) and tune it to the
right frequency to hear auditory clues.
Idea 46: Players must build a musical instrument out of
objects found in the room and use it to play a specific
melody.
Idea 47: Players must use a litmus test to analyze a

solution. [Note: Some players may not know what a litmus
test is. Make sure you include an explanation and
instructions somewhere in the room.]
Idea 48: Players must reach behind the top drawer of a

desk or file cabinet to retrieve items in locked drawer below
it.
Idea 49: Players must wind a grandfather clock. [Note:

Many people today may not know how to wind grandfather
clock, so you might need to hide instructions elsewhere in
the room.]
Idea 50: Straight out of LOST: Give players a computer

keyboard and require them to type a series of numbers in
at regular intervals to avoid catastrophe.
4 8 15 16 23 42
Idea 51: Players must program a robot to perform a task
they cannot do themselves.
Idea 52: Provide an 8mm or 16mm film projector and a reel
of film; players must use the projector to watch the film.
[Note: Many players may not know how to thread film
through a projector. Make sure you include instructions
somewhere in the room.]
Idea 53: To make Idea 49 more challenging, give players a

reel of film that’s missing a critical section. Hide the section
elsewhere and require players to splice the missing piece
into the film to watch the whole thing.
Idea 54: A player in one room must carry out a task by

following directions provided by a second player watching
from another room on a monitor.
Idea 55: Supply players with a flashlight that has no

batteries. Elsewhere supply them with a clock or other
object that uses the same type of batteries. Players must
recognize that they need to remove the batteries from one
object and use them in the other.
Idea 56: Use a cryptic code to provide the correct on-off

configuration for circuit breakers in a breaker box.
Circuit breakers can serve a variety of purposes in an escape room.
Idea 57: Place a dispenser (such as a cigarette, soda, or
snack machine) in the room that contains something
players need (for example, a bottle of water to use in
another puzzle). Players must find a coin or slug to access
the object. Alternately, players must find another way to
access the object. [Note: Make sure the machine is bolted
to the floor to prevent players from accidentally pulling it
over on themselves while trying to get the object out.]
Idea 58: Give players a brief glimpse of a scattered set of

objects or a picture with multiple items in it. Require players
to remember as many of the items as they can later in the
game, [Note: Make sure you provide a clue that lets players
know their memories will be tested later or allow them a
second chance to view the items.]
Idea 59: Send players into the future with a time travel

device and require them to figure out how to set it to return
to the current time.
Idea 60: Send players into the future with a time travel

machine and require them to figure out how to repair it
using tools that have not yet been invented.
SET DECORATION? OR PUZZLE?
If you’re doing a good job of creating a thoroughly
immersive environment, your escape room will contain
some furnishings and props that are there solely for
aesthetic purposes. Figuring out what’s useful and what’s
just part of the set decoration is part of the fun.
Mirrors and Paintings
Idea 61: A mirror that turns into a painting that reveals a

clue if players read an incantation or repeat “Bloody Mary”
in front of it.
Idea 62: A mirror in which players can see “ghosts”

standing or moving around behind them in the room. The
ghosts’ activities can provide clues regarding where things
are hidden or how to operate machinery.
Idea 63: A painting in which the subjects move when

players aren’t looking. Subjects may point or turn their
heads to provide clues. [Note: In a historic room where you
don’t want to use a computer monitor or walkie talkies as a
hint system, this could be your solution.]
Imagine the chills in the room when someone notices the subject of a paining has
moved.
Idea 64: A painting in which the subjects advance closer to
the frame when players get closer to the right answer and
move farther away when players get ‘colder.’
Idea 65: A painting or an old photograph showing the room
players are in with a different furniture configuration;
activate a switch if players rearrange the furniture to match
the picture.
Idea 66: To make Idea 66 more challenging, make one of

the pieces of furniture broken or missing, requiring players
to find a substitute to place in that spot.
Idea 67: A mirror that players can reach through or step

through into “opposite world.” Players must use teamwork
between the two rooms to accomplish a task.
Create two rooms that are mirror images of each other and make the “doorway” a
mirror.
Idea 68: Activate a switch when players straighten a
crooked painting.
Idea 69: Require players to slide a painting sideways to

find something behind it.
Flooring
Idea 70: Make a clue part of the design on the floor or

carpet, so it can only be read if players climb on a ladder or
otherwise view it from a high vantage point.
Idea 71: Create an “X marks the spot” puzzle in which

players can only see the answer they’re looking for if they
stand directly on an X.
Idea 72: Create a room in which the floor is a sliding tile

puzzle. Players must first figure out how to move the tiles,
then solve the puzzle.
Idea 73: Create a room that is a lifesize version of a board

game board. Players must act appropriately as pieces on
the game board to reach the “end space,” i.e, the other side
of the room.
CHANGING ENVIRONMENT
While a single room filled with puzzles can be fun,
opportunities to move through a larger environment or
anticipate changes to the environment (whether real or
fictional) can significantly increase the fun of exploration, as
well as the sense of urgency.
Idea 74: Put players in a room that gets colder or warmer

over time. Players must figure out how to stabilize the
temperature.
Idea 75: Shut the lights in the room off and then on again.
Change something in the room every time the lights are off.
Players must recognize what has changed.
Idea 76: Inform players that they have a limited amount of

air. Require them to make it into another room within a
certain amount of time (depending on the complexity of the
puzzles in the first room, this could be anywhere from 15 to
45 minutes) or they forfeit the game.
Idea 77: Supply players with a lantern that’s almost out of

oil or a flashlight with dying batteries. Require them to make
it into another room before they run out of light. [Note: If
they do run out of light, you have the option of forcing them
to forfeit the game or allowing them to continue to play in
the dark, perhaps with a sliver of light seeping in through a
“window.” Or you can tell them they’ve been eaten by a
grue.]
Idea 78: Lock each player in a separate room with its own

set of puzzles. Once players escape from their private
rooms, they must all work together to escape the central
room. [Note: A game like this can allow for repeat visits,
since each individual room has a unique set of puzzles.]
Idea 79: Put players in a room that gets smaller over time

(for example, the walls gradually move in or the ceiling
slowly lowers). Players must figure out how to either stop
the room from contracting or escape before they’re
“crushed.”
INTERACTION WITH THE OUTSIDE

WORLD
As escape rooms begin to blur the line between games and
interactive theater, many escape room operators are
creating ways for players to interact with non-player
characters or gain an awareness of the fictional world
outside the room(s) they’re in.
Idea 80: Make the first puzzle the players must solve

figuring out how to ask for hints. Players must successfully
interact with the game master to complete the task.
Idea 81: Give players a two-way radio to communicate with

a commander or extraction team. They must figure out the
right password in order to get a useful response.
Idea 82: Use the sound of thunder outside the room to

indicate the right time to perform a task. For example,
players may need to perform a loud action that they don’t
want the guards outside the room to hear.
Idea 83: Provide an extremely quiet audible clue that can

only be heard in complete silence; players must stop talking
and listen carefully to hear it.
Idea 84: To make Idea 83 more challenging, fill the room
with a loud noise, such as water rushing over a dam or a
constantly bleating alarm. Require players to figure out how
to shut off the noise (open the dam, shut off the alarm,
etc.).
Idea 85: Provide clues through snatches of sound coming

through the static from a radio or television.
The excitement in the room will spike if players suddenly hear a voice break the
static.
Idea 86: Require players to figure out how to access and
watch digital “captain’s logs” or a “distress signal” from a
spaceship or space station.
Idea 87: Let players know there is another prisoner in the

next room. Have the prisoner send them messages
using tap code. [Note: Many players will be unfamiliar with
this code. Make sure you provide a key to deciphering the
messages and let them hear any critical messages enough
times to solve the puzzle.]
Idea 88: To make Idea 87 more challenging, require

players to respond using tap code.
Idea 89: Include a pet door and allow players to hear a cat

or dog “outside.” If players push a bowl of cat or dog food
through the pet door and wait, they’ll find that the food is
gone and in its place is a collar with a note attached when
they retrieve the bowl later.
Idea 90: Send players a coded message, then require them

to code a response and send it back. Later in the game,
their success at this task may impact their success with
another puzzle (e.g., the later puzzle is much harder – but
not impossible – if they failed to correctly send their
message early in the game).
Idea 91: Include key pieces of information in conversations

carried on by actors (or a recording of actors) on the other
side of a door or wall.
Idea 92: Alert players to an impending explosion or attack.

Require them to protect themselves when the time comes
by building a protective barrier to block fire or debris or
finding a secure hiding place.
Idea 93: Set up a task that requires players to use a lot of

electricity. Use the sound of a thunderstorm “outside” to
alert them to the presence of lightning and require them to
enable a lightning rod to access the power.
Special effects can make your escape room especially memorable.
Idea 94: Use the smell of cigarette smoke to alert players to
an approaching guard or other non-player character.
Idea 95: Create “windows” that show players what’s going

on outside the room or building; require them to use this
information to track progress or solve puzzles within the
room. For example, if a zombie apocalypse is underway,
allowing players to witness how the zombie’s behavior is
changing over time may provide clues to a puzzle. [Note:
Even if the things players can see outside don’t help them
solve puzzles, it can add to the immersive quality of the
room. For example, being aware of the increasing numbers
of zombies outside the “window” can add a sense of
urgency.]
GETTING PLAYERS OUT OF THEIR

COMFORT ZONES
Depending on your escape room theme, players may be
prepared to get a little dirty or do things they wouldn’t
ordinarily do. Just make sure your room descriptions and
marketing materials alert customers up front that your room
contains scary or uncomfortable elements.
Idea 96: Require players to reach into a tub or sink basin

filled with disgusting water to retrieve a key or clue.
Idea 97: Require players to use a container to retrieve filthy

water from a tub or sink basin and use it to solve another
puzzle (such as causing a key to float to the top of a tube
that’s too small to reach into).
Idea 98: Create a room that can only be accessed by

climbing into a large drawer and being pushed through the
wall by the other players.
Idea 99: Require players to reach through cobwebs, bugs,

or something slimy to get a key or a clue.
Idea 100: Give players an object they need to complete a

task in another room, but make it impossible to carry it
through the door (for example, the door could lock every
time they approach it with the object in their hands). Players
must find an alternate way to move the object to the other
room, such as crawling through a narrow vent or a filthy
crawlspace under the floor.
There you go! Our list of 100 more puzzle ideas for your
next escape room.
We hope these ideas brought your imagination to life and

gave you the spark you needed to create a thrilling and
challenging exit game to delight your customers.
Special thanks to the following people and organizations for

providing the inspiration for the puzzles in this list.
TOP 20 PUZZLE IDEAS:
IDEA 20
Before locking players in the room for 60

minutes, chain or tie two players together,
restricting their movements until they find a
key in the room to release themselves.
IDEA 19
Have a clue in the room that glows in the dark,

forcing players to turn the lights off at some
point. Or better yet, have the entire room’s
theme be glow-in-the-dark!
IDEA 18
Players must navigate a completely dark

environment – no lights can be turned on in the
room. If you’re feeling generous, flashlights or
glow sticks can be provided.
IDEA 17
Players must substitute Morse signals with

letters to solve a particular puzzle.
IDEA 16
Players must recognize a portrait of a famous

person, whose name/age/etc. is a solution to a
puzzle.
IDEA 15
Construct a secret bookshelf that requires

something to be pulled in order to open the
hidden doorway.
IDEA 14
Have players come across an old public phone.

Then hide coins across the room that they
must find in order to activate it.
IDEA 13
Leave a jigsaw puzzle with one missing or extra

piece in the room. Players must assemble the
puzzle, find the missing/extra piece, and then
determine its significance.
IDEA 12
Force the players to use math! Provide an

algebraic formula for players to solve,
where they must first find the necessary
variables, and then calculate the answer.
Cruel, we know.
IDEA 11
Decorate the room with Christmas lights, some

of which players must turn on/off to reveal a
secret combination.
IDEA 10
Make players listen to a melody then repeat it

using a mini-piano. In turn, the keys on the mini-
piano could be numbered, providing a numeric
solution to another lock/puzzle once the correct
melody is performed.
IDEA 9
Have players listen to the sound of animals in a

certain order, then make them apply the
knowledge in another puzzle.
IDEA 8
Have players listen to a specific, well-known

song or band, where the name of the song/band
is the key to another puzzle.
IDEA 7
Leave a radio for players to find which needs to

be tuned to a specific frequency, where
another clue can be transmitted.
IDEA 6
Leave a message or map for players to find that

can only be read by using a mirror.
IDEA 5
Actually push players to use their phones for a

change. Leave a clue that forces them to
research something on the Internet.
IDEA 4
Leave an unfinished crossword puzzle for

players to complete. Then, one or more of the
missing words can be used as a key, or, as
another clue.
IDEA 3
Larry Laserman would love this one!

Construct a laser maze so that if a player
touches any of the beams he/she resets
the puzzle and players have to start over again.
IDEA 2
This is a really sneaky one. Require the players

to know the address of the escape room, either
as a combination to a lock, or a part of another
puzzle. They’ll never see it coming!
IDEA 1
Leave a letter with a secret message for

players using thermochromic ink (or milk).
Players must then warm up the letter to reveal
the secret writing.

101 Best Escape Room Puzzle Ideas

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101 BEST ESCAPE ROOM

A: Making a group of players want to simultaneously curse

Seriously! When escape room players love you and hate

To run a truly great escape room, your puzzles must be

To help you get started, NowEscape has compiled the

BEFORE YOU BEGIN

These ideas are provided to spark your imagination – to

Will copying these ideas as described wow your customers

Veteran escape room players are looking for puzzles that

You want your escape rooms to be the standard by which

Take these ideas and craft them into something your

Are you up for the challenge?

The puzzle types and percentages discussed

Hiding physical objects throughout a room is the most

That doesn’t mean you should avoid using hidden objects –

Idea 1: Hide a clear glass ball in a container of water.

Money, photographs, documents and more can be hidden in a hollowed-out book.

Hidden objects are used in 78% of escape rooms

One of Nowescape’s favorite puzzle categories involves

These puzzles are not only challenging, they require

Many corporate groups looking for team-building exercises

Idea 5: Require one player to perform a task in one room

Chaining players together results in teamwork … whether they like it or not!

Team communication is used in 58% of escape rooms

There are numerous ways to use light in an escape room.

Light can be used as a tool to reveal or hide clues. It can

When considering the types of lights and light effects you’d

Idea 8: Place a code on a spinning fan so that it can only

[Tip: Make sure you warn players in advance if using any

Idea 10: Require players to navigate a completely dark

Idea 11: Write clues or messages with UV-paint

Idea 12: Use a lamp and a sundial to reveal a hidden door.

Idea 13: Create a three- to four-character sequence out of

Light is used as a puzzle element in 54% of escape rooms

Idea 14: Hide objects that are clearly related throughout the

Counting is used as a puzzle element in 53% of escape

NOTICING SOMETHING “OBVIOUS”

Often, players are so busy looking for hidden objects and

Idea 16: Place a set of scales in the room and require

Idea 17: Reveal a clue if a player sits on a piece of

Idea 18: Hide the entry to the next room under a bed,

Noticing something obvious in the room is used by 49% of

SYMBOL SUBSTITUTION WITH A

Symbol substitution is generally a simple task of comparing

To make a symbol substitution puzzle more challenging,

Idea 20: Substitute letters for numbers, or vice versa.

Symbol substitution with a provided key is used by 47% of

USING SOMETHING IN AN UNUSUAL

Objects don’t always have to be used for their original or

If players need a hint on how to use something, you can

Idea 22: Provide a plastic card that players can slide

Idea 23: Require players to use a heavy object in the room

Idea 24: Hide a magnet inside an object, such as an

Idea 25: Provide a loose screw that can be removed and

This kind of out-of-the-box thinking is used by 47% of

SEARCHING FOR OBJECTS IN

Why not add some puzzles to your set decoration?

Idea 27: Require players to recognize a famous person and

Images with clues hidden in them are used by 43% of

ASSEMBLY OF A PHYSICAL OBJECT

Many rooms include objects that obviously (or perhaps not

Idea 28: Require players to insert money into a money-