In escape rooms, things are not always what they appear to be. Normal-looking objects can be secret hiding places and portals.

It is easy to miss something or make a mistake when you are under pressure. If you get stuck, switch places and re-check areas and each other's work.

If you hesitate to ask for a clue, you could fall so far behind that you might not be able to catch up. It is better to ask early.

It is easy to spend time on things that will not help you beat the room. Discern carefully!

Destruction never helps you beat an escape room.

Once you have used a key, leave it in the lock it opened. This will prevent you from wasting time or leaving with it in your pocket. It will also make it easier for the Game Master to reset the room.

Have you considered if clues could be hidden within the music and sound effects that are part of a game?

Are you familiar with the art of hiding messages in plain sight?

When you enter an escape room, do you think to check for color associations?

If an escape room is using a glypch cipher, you will need to find the key.

What is that sound?! If you hear repeating sounds, be on the lookout for the key to a tap code.

A cryptex is a lock and storage compartment all in one.

When in an escape room, take note of things that point out, indicate, or move in different directions.

Sometimes messages are hidden in plain sight. The most common form of steganography used in escape rooms is messages revealed by blacklights. Be sure to check your light sources!

A cryptex is a lock and storage compartment all in one.

If there is a different key for each letter of the message, you will have to turn the dial a lot of times to solve a coded message using the Alberti Cipher!

The Caesar Cipher is perhaps the most commonly used cipher in escape rooms. Do you understand how it works?

Can you figure out why the answer to this hidden message is “in the desk?"

If a box is locked it must contain something important!

Know how to recognize and use directional locks. If you see a directional lock in a room, this indicates that you must look for something that conveys different directions to enter as the code.

Would you recognize a digital lock if you saw one?

Is it magic or magnet? No key or code? Manhandling and prying will cause you to fail but with clever inspection you will prevail!

Do you know what a hasp is? It is likely that you will need to look for keys if you encounter a hasp.

In our second installment on locks, we take a look at combination locks.

When you head into an escape room, do you know the various locks and keys you might encounter? The first in our series on locks is: keylocks! The mechanism inside of a keylock requires the specific key that will create the alignment which allows it to turn. Consider all of the furnishings that may have a keylock installed and all of the hiding places that a key can be hidden.

To increase your chances of winning, utilize each teammate to their maximum potential.

A lack of physical or mental organization can cause you to waste time.

Sometimes you can think the game is more difficult than it is; watch out for these common mistakes that can trip you up.

When you play with a team, you have help, another perspective from which to consider things, access to someone with different skill sets and knowledge than you, and someone who can motivate you. Solving problems as a team can be a great way to build your relationships with others. For a team to thrive under pressure, the members must do what they can to contribute, involve everyone, and keep things positive.

Effective communication is necessary for a team to succeed. When team members do not announce what they find, the things in the room that are no longer a secret to them remain a secret to the rest of the team. When team members are not aware of potential puzzles, they cannot brainstorm how to solve them or interpret which order things need to occur in. Successful teams employ a strategy of talking things out with each other, keeping each other focused, motivated, and on the right path.

All puzzles have an answer and all games have a way to win them. Learn how to identify and look for the elements the game designers included in the game.

Effective communication is necessary for successful escape room play. Why not begin before you enter the room?! Make sure that your entire team is on the same page. Are you playing for fun or to be competitive? Talk strategy. Does your team want to execute certain techniques to try and increase your performance? Which ones? What has your success been with things in the past? Express your thoughts. Are there certain things you are uncomfortable with? Roles you would like to assume? Skills you would like to try to master?

If the challenges that escape rooms present were easy, the games wouldn’t be very much fun. While players appreciate the satisfaction of solving hard puzzles, the failure to be able to do so often is simply a matter of needing to change one’s perspective, a failure to properly identify or find something, a misunderstanding of how to carry out a task, or a communication failure between teammates. Game Masters offer you the benefit of being able to recognize these things for you and provide the assistance and correction that will help your team.

When you step into an escape room, remember that you are playing a game. Every game has a means by which it can be won. As you begin to discover and solve things, ask yourself what kind of game you think it is. Did the game designer create it so that one thing leads to another (linear path)? Was it designed that the group must stay together? Can your team split up to work on various tasks (non-linear or open path)? Are there things that appear to go together (multi-linear path)?

Before you enter the room to play an escape game, there are things you can do to prepare yourself. See our list of suggestions in the image above and visit our Game Day Info page under the Obtain Docs heading.

In an escape room, you are in a race against the clock. How long is too long to spend on one puzzle? Your Game Master understands how long it will take you to progress through the room. Utilize them as a resource to help you master the game. Ask for feedback about how much time something is taking. Ask if they think you need a hint. Make sure that you do not become so focused on one thing that you lose sight of the time and bigger picture.

Although you are trying to escape from a room, you must remember that you have entered into a story. Before entering the room, you were given a backstory; what does it reveal about the room itself? The story should develop as you move through the space until you escape; what does each room reveal about the story? Use the answers to those questions to help you interpret how to best play the game.