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Escape Tips

Escape tips, advice, and strategies. Cross Roads Escape Games is here to help you start winning and working as the ultimate escape team!

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Three Tips for Escape Rooms with Family

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The Holidays are here again and for many, that means time off from school and work, lots of food, and visits from family and friends. Of course, when you have out-of-town visitors, you need to find something to keep them entertained.

I love playing escape rooms with my family. Since my brother and I are big escape room fans, it’s almost become tradition to take on an escape room whenever we get together. My parents like to join us as well and, though my dad would say he doesn’t really do much besides hold the clues, I really cherish when I get to participate in one of my passions along with my family.

My Parents after nearly escaping The Fun House.

Bringing your family to an escape room is an exciting and unique way to spend time together, but you should be sure to pick the best game for your group. Here are a few tips to make sure you and your family have the best time possible!

Tip One: Choose A Theme

It’s very important to find a room that everyone in your group will enjoy. Though you may love the intense rush of trying to survive a horror film, there’s a good chance that grandma would prefer something a little less heart-pounding. Escape rooms like The Fun House are a great choice for families because they are light-hearted, appropriate for all ages, and provide fun thrills without any scares.

Tip Two: Choose A Difficulty Level

Unless you have a family of avid gamers and puzzle-solvers, I would recommend looking for games with an easy to medium level of difficulty. Rooms that are packed with puzzles are the best choice so everyone will have something to work on. Non-linear games are also fairly helpful for groups of mixed experience because players can work on multiple puzzles at once, ensuring everyone has something to do. You want to challenge yourselves so you feel accomplished, but you don’t want a game so challenging your group feels overwhelmed.

Tip Three: Play For Fun

Everyone likes to win, but sometimes you have to accept a loss. When playing games with family, it’s important to keep your cool and remember that you are playing an escape room for fun. Manage your expectations and just try to have the most fun you can have in the escape room. Remember that you are getting to spend time with your loved ones, solving puzzles and playing games, and that whether you escape or not shouldn’t really matter as long as you’re creating great memories. And if you do happen to beat the game? Well, that’s just the icing on the cake.

Have you tried taking your family to an escape room? What was your experience? Leave us a comment and let us know!

Geoff Durham

Game Master, Manager

Cross Roads Escape Games

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How to Solve a Puzzle

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On this blog, we’ve covered a lot of topics, from What Is an Escape Room to Who Should I Bring to an Escape Room and a who slew of other escape room-related musings. But I realized just recently that we were missing the most basic part of escape rooms: how do you solve a puzzle? I’ve decided to tackle this deceptively complex topic so first-time players and Escape Room Extraordinaires can play to the best of their ability.

WHAT IS A PUZZLE?

Let’s start at the beginning. According to Merriam-Webster, a puzzle is “something that puzzles” (a very unhelpful definition if you ask me), or “a question, problem, or contrivance designed for testing ingenuity.” In escape rooms, you will come across a wide variety of puzzles, but they will all have something in common:  you will be required to use your brain to connect pieces together and discover an outcome.

Step 1: SEARCH

No matter what type of room you are playing, there is one thing you should always do first: Search the room. This should be a very obvious step, but I have seen many groups stumble over this important step and severely impact their game. Any escape room you play will have clues scattered around for you to find. If you don’t take the time to discover your space and collect the provided clues, there is a good chance you will miss vital information that will help you not only solve your puzzle, but be able to understand what you are solving. I recommend collecting anything that looks like it is a clue and placing it somewhere accessible to the group but not in the way. Put things on top of a large open table or desk if there is one available; Do not pile everything in walkways or in front of doors. Know the difference between what looks like a clue and what is just set dressing. Which brings me to a little footnote here:

Know the difference between clues and set dressing. More often than not, clues are made to stand out just enough that they will catch the eye. Look for things that don’t belong, are repeated in different ways throughout the room (such as colored blocks, similar but distinct statuettes, or jars labelled with different types of poison), or look to be purposefully altered in some way. Leave behind things that do not easily move, seem to only serve the purpose of making the space more believable, or don’t have any defining characteristics. And as a pro-tip, avoid making a mess of the room in case you accidentally cover up something you need.

Step 2: ORGANIZE

After you’ve collected you clues, it’s time to move on to organizing your clues. Organize your found items into groups that correlate with each other. Have a collection of severed doll heads each with different hair? Those might go together. Have three marbles, a rubber snake, and a portrait of an old lady playing cards? Those might not go together unless there is something else that stands out about them. Remember to use common sense. If it feels like you’re stretching to make a connection, there’s a good chance that’s not the right path. Ask your group for their opinions.

It’s important to remember that escape rooms are played by a lot of people each day, each with varying degrees of familiarity with puzzles. Many escape rooms are also aware that they will have players that are not native English-speakers and have developed their puzzles to be more accessible to a wide audience. If you find yourself digging for some obscure horror movie reference to open a lock, chances are there’s an easier way to solve the puzzle.

STEP 3: FIND

After you have organized your clues, it’s time to move on to the next step: finding where to input your code. If you are solving a puzzle and it looks like you are getting an answer containing five numbers, look for a place to input a five-digit code. This can also help you in the opposite direction. Have a collection of items but you’re not sure what to do with them? Look at what you’re trying to unlock. If it’s a five-letter lock, you know you will somehow have to convert your puzzle pieces into letters. Seriously, this is probably one of the most helpful hints I can give for any escape room; Know what you are looking for and let that guide your puzzle solving.

STEP 4: INPUT 

And now we reach the final part of solving a puzzle: input your code. If you are unlocking a number or letter lock made up of tumblers, it’s important to make sure you are aligning your code perfectly to the correct spot. Look for any indicators of where to align your code. After your code is aligned, give the lock a firm tug. Yanking ferociously multiple times on a lock will not open it if you have the wrong code, despite what many people seem to think. If your lock doesn’t open, check again to make sure your code is perfectly aligned to the correct spot and give it another tug. If you are using a keypad, make sure you hit the submit button after entering your code. Most of the time the submit button is specifically stated or may even be part of the code.

BONUS TIP

What if your lock doesn’t open? Double-check your work. Start from the beginning of your puzzle again and make sure you didn’t make a mistake. Ask a teammate to check your work. Search your room for another lock or place to input your code.

I hope this guide will help you or your friends in your escape room endeavors. Remember, escape rooms can be overwhelming at times, but as long as you stop to think about your basics, you can ensure your group moves in the correct direction.

Geoff Durham

Game Master, Manager, Puzzle-Solver

Cross Roads Escape Games

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Expecting the Unexpected

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Predicting Players in Non-Linear Games (Part Two): Expecting the Unexpected

In part one of Predicting Players in Non-Linear Games, I talked about how you can influence which puzzles your players will go for first by making certain options more accessible and noticeable to them. In this post we will be discussing what to look for in your beta tests and how to expect the unexpected.

One thing that all escape room owners can all agree on is that if players are given the ability to do something, they are going to do it. It doesn’t matter how alien the concept may appear to you, there will be someone down the line that will attempt ANYTHING to solve a puzzle. The human mind is an incredible thing and some players will come up with some truly spectacular ways to try and solve the puzzle, and sometimes… it will work.

This is why beta testing a room is so vital to the design process. You might think that you have the perfect design for a room but the moment you put a player inside it, they will find flaws in everything that you have made. If there are numbers spread randomly around the room, then expect the players to randomly guess the correct 5-digit code out of a group of 10 numbers and open a lock way before they are supposed to.

If it is an outlier event, then don’t worry too much about it. But if you find that the behavior keeps happening over and over again during your beta test, then you know there is something in your room that is leading players to taking that particular course of action. Interview each player afterwards and ask them how they solved it. If they point to something and explain that they used a clue in a way than you intended; good! You have found something that needs to be changed. Alter the prop so it can’t be used in that way or change the puzzle to exclude that option from its solutions. Keep testing and changing until all of your puzzles can only be solved the way that it is intended.

Though it is true that each person is unique, groups of people tend to follow certain patterns of behavior. Believe it or not, people become more predictable when you put them in a group. There are tons of psychological studies done on peer pressure and group mentality. But most of them agree that if enough people in a group react a certain way to something, everyone else in the group will follow along/react the same way.

This behavior is great for all of us that are trying to predict what a person will do. So, at the end of the day, the best thing you can do is beta test your room again and again with as many different types of groups as you can find. Show it to people that love escape rooms, people that dislike them, and people that don’t even know what they are. When you start having groups reacting in the same way, that’s when you know that you really got ‘em!

Coming up next, we will discuss an important problem with non-linear games… the dreaded BOTTLE NECK! Till then, good luck to you.

Jason Sakal

Game Master and Manager

Cross Roads Escape Games 

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Bad Habits of Escape Room Players

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As an escape room enthusiast, I try to take every chance I can to play an escape room. I have played good rooms, bad rooms, and rooms that have almost melted my brain with the creativity and complexity of their puzzles. I have also game mastered here at Cross Roads Escape Games for several years now and there are a quite a few habits shared by both new and advanced players alike.  

If you’re like me, you are always looking to improve your escape room game. Here is a list of four habits that I have noticed cause even the most advanced player to fail from time to time.

1. SOLVING BEFORE SEARCHING

I see this all the time. A player will begin to search their room and the moment that they come across a puzzle they immediately start trying to solve it, before finishing their room search. Often times this leads to them not giving vital clues to their team mates in a timely manner or completely missing clues that help them solve the puzzle they are stuck on.

It is much more efficient to search your room and take note of all the puzzles that you find and gather all your clues before you even attempt to solve your first puzzle. This affords you the benefit of having all your clues in front of you and gives you the ability to determine which clues probably go to which puzzle. You have to search your room fully anyways, so don’t stop half way through just because you fall to the temptation of the first puzzle you see.

2. GETTING MARRIED TO YOUR FIRST SOLUTION

Now I don’t mean to break up any warm fuzzy feelings people have with the first solution they come up with for their puzzles, but like your first love… your first guess is pretty unlikely to be “The One.”

Of course, there is nothing wrong with getting the wrong answer to a puzzle, but if your gut reaction to a lock not opening is to assume that the puzzle is broken, then you might have this bad habit.

It is pertinent to double check your work and try the solution more than once, however if the answer just doesn’t work, move on! There are so many people that get a single idea stuck in their head and are then unable to look past it to find any alternative solution. They stop trying different ways to solve the puzzle and just assume that the puzzle is malfunctioning or outright broken. Trust me, save yourself the head ache and give puzzles the benefit of the doubt; especially if the room has already been open for a while.

3. NOT SHARING YOUR RESEARCH

This one seems like it would be common sense really, but you’d be surprised how often people don’t think to tell their team mates what they have learned from their attempts at trying to solve a puzzle.

If you try multiple times to solve a puzzle only to find yourself coming back to the same solution over and over again, then it is probably time to tag someone else in. That being said, when your team mate decides to give it a shot at least tell them what methods you have already tried and what codes you got. This will save them some time and help ensure that your team mate does just keep bashing their heads against the same wall that you have been. Let them try a different approach while you give a new set of eyes to a new puzzle.

4. NEVER PASSING THE BATON

I know we touched on this a little bit in the last one, but seriously gang… it is okay to admit that you don’t understand what to do with a puzzle. It is okay to ask for help. Sometimes what you really need to do is pass off the puzzle to one of your other team mates and step away from it. A lot of times this happens when someone gets stuck in a certain way of thinking (see getting married to your first solution above).  If this starts happening, just pass the baton and see if you can help one of your other team mates with something. Just make sure you share your findings with your team mate before walking away from the puzzle.

Of course, this is not an exhaustive list of habits that could hinder your gameplay, but I believe these are four of the most important ones to focus on. It’s important to step aside and analyze yourself from time to time, just like you would with any other hobby or activity you want to improve on.

Do you have anything that should be added to the list? Let us know in the comments below!

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Predicting Your Players in Non-Linear Games: Part One

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Possible Paths vs. Most Accessible Paths

Non-linear games have several possible puzzle paths from the very beginning and players can choose between any of them. However, you will notice that players tend to choose certain puzzle paths more than others. Why? The answer can be a number of things from prop design, clue placement, lighting, etc. Figuring out what is drawing your players to certain puzzles is key to being able to create predictable outcomes.

For instance, if the players enter a dark room with a light shining down on a bright red phone located on a desk in the center of the room and all other locks are obscured by shadows, then you can be fairly certain that one of the first things (if not the very first thing) that the players will investigate will be the phone. The moment the player picks up the phone, an ominous voice whispers, “follow the stars” and the lights come on. Now the players can see three visible locks and, unknown to the players, there are three hidden puzzles as well that can be discovered by searching the room. Since a ton of new info was just introduced, you can be fairly certain that the players will now divide and investigate the room separately or in small groups.

In this fictional situation, we started by drawing attention to the phone, which would give them their first clue and turn the lights on. Because of the clue they received on the phone, they are most likely to be drawn towards anything with a star on it. The players are not limited in what they can do and there are other puzzles that can be solved, but by setting up the situation like this, we can be fairly certain that the players will act a certain way without destroying the feeling of the game being non-linear.

The “Lone Wolf” players may still work on different puzzles by themselves and the rebels will purposefully ignore direct information given to them, but the majority of the players will try and hunt down information pertaining to the clue they were given: “follow the stars.”

From an outsider’s perspective it looks like the players have been “set up,” but because options were never taken from them, the player will feel like every choice they make is their own. And the choice of what to do should always be in the players hands, but it is a game designer’s job to try and predict what a player will do so that we can add more to the experience.

In part two we will discuss how to expect the unexpected and how beta tests can help limit the number of unexpected behaviors in the room. To keep your finger on the pulse of this topic, follow us on twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

Jason Sakal

Manager and Game Master

Cross Roads Escape Games 

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We Need To Talk About Leaderboards

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Dear Readers,

I’m going to come right out and say it: I hate leaderboards. Some people may call this controversial, but they said the same thing about my List of 10 pop-culture words I hate, Why I hate internet personality quizzes, and My list of controversial and inconsequential dislikes.

Whenever people ask me about the record for one of our rooms, I always hesitate to answer. From the moment someone hears the record for a room they start making assumptions about how their game is going to go. In my experience, fastest time records are almost always outliers from the average experience of players. Most groups will not come close to those arbitrary numbers markered onto the whiteboard in the back.

A record will give a group unrealistic expectations of how they should be playing and can only lead to disappointment.

When a group goes in knowing the record for a room, suddenly they have expectations. They start comparing themselves to this mythical group of 12-armed supergenius octopi that were able to solve a fairly difficult and puzzle-heavy room in less than 30 minutes. They start feeling like they’re falling behind because they aren’t walking out of the door five minutes after the game started.

You should be celebrating  that your group did they best they could.

A leaderboard changes the escape room from being your group versus the game, to your group versus other groups versus the game. Suddenly you’re playing against absolute strangers who have no idea you exist, trying to beat them at something they don’t even know you’re playing. Now, I like a little competition every now and then; Like with games such as The Psych Ward where I’m pitted against my friends in an experiment of trust and betrayal, or in competitions where I know I have an even playing ground like geek trivia where all of my teammates know everything that isn’t music or cult movies so I can pick up the slack and eat pizza. When you escape from an escape room, your group should be celebrating your hard work, communication, and puzzle-solving. There should be laughing, cheering, smiling, and fist-pumping (if you still do that kind of thing.) If you pit yourself against a stranger’s score, there will still be a tinge of disappointment that you didn’t do better.

Leaderboards won’t tell you how much fun the record-holders had.

Another reason I dislike the idea of a “record” is that it feels counter-intuitive to creating a fully immersive escape room experience.  Part of the fun of escape rooms is getting to lose yourself in a new world for an hour. Sure, it’s important to solve the puzzles and try to escape, but I believe you should also take enough time to appreciate your surroundings. Take some time to appreciate the humor and self-aware nature of The Fun House. Take some time to become a horror movie character and believe your surroundings in The Hex Room. Take some time to figure out what is really going on in The Psych Ward, despite the amount of times the nurses and orderlies keep telling you there is no other experiment going on. Believe me, escape rooms are a completely different experience when you allow yourself to be part of the room.

Now that escape rooms are popular enough to become plot points in TV shows like Bob’s Burgers, Portlandia, and Crazy Ex Girlfriend, companies are being more mindful of making their games immersive and unique. If you speed through a game at a breakneck pace, there’s a good chance you’re going to miss things along the way. You should take some time to laugh at a funny code for a lock or marvel at how a complicated puzzle came together. You should take time to interact with any interactive elements in the room. Allow yourself to get lost in the moment. After all, you came to this escape room for fun. Which brings me to my final point…

You came here for fun.

Nobody likes to lose. But when your hobby includes locking yourself in themed rooms with friends in a race against time, there’s a strong possibility that eventually you’re going to experience a loss. I’m here to tell you that’s okay. In fact, a loss every now and then is expected. What’s important is to remember to enjoy yourself. If you have the most fun you can possibly have in a game and then beat the record? Well, that’s just the icing on the cake. The happiest groups we see are normally the ones focused on playing the game who escape with only seconds remaining, not the ones trying to break a record.

I hope, dear readers, that you can agree that I have made some pretty compelling points. If you own an escape room or are an avid player, you may feel differently. What are some reasons you think leaderboards are a good idea for escape rooms to display? Let us know your thoughts in a comment below!

Sincerely,

Geoff Durham
Game Master, Manager, Also Hates Award Shows
Cross Roads Escape Games

Tips for Escape Room Experts

Tips for Escape Room Experts: Confessions of a Game Master

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We’ve seen a lot of escape room players over the years, from first-timers to full-on escape artists. That is no surprise though as escape rooms make for great outings or party destinations! With the popularity of escape rooms on the rise, it’s not very hard to find a new game to play near wherever you may be at the moment. But after you play a certain amount of games, they may begin to blend together and start to feel familiar.

Here at Cross Roads Escape Games, our games were designed by escape room enthusiasts for escape room enthusiasts. Owners, Luke and Madison, have played over 250 games together, and we’ve seen several groups with hundreds of games under their belts. How do they keep each game fresh and exciting? Our game masters share some of their observations and tips to ensure you get the most out of each of your escape room experiences, even if you consider yourself an Escape Room Expert.

Tips for Experts:

Teamwork makes the dream work!

Instead of solving a familiar puzzle by yourself, coach someone less familiar through it. That way you’ll both get the experience of solving a puzzle, but also have the chance to work together, making the game more enjoyable for both of you.

Treat each game as a new game.

Even if you think you know how a game is going, allow yourself to discover the room as though it’s your first time. This will prevent you from skipping puzzles, jumping to conclusions, or missing out on hidden clues or experiences.

Be conscious of your group size.

Ask for the suggested group size before making a booking. Games like The Hex Room were designed with a certain number of players in mind. Try playing with the optimal number of players and avoid maxing out a room if possible.

Look for games that push the boundaries.

o Games like The Hex Room and The Psych Ward were designed to push the boundaries of what an escape room can be. Look for games in your area that offer something different that your traditional escape room.

Ask your game master for suggestions.

Often times, game masters have experience with other games in the area and can point you in the direction of your next game. Tell them what you’re looking for in a game (scary, silly, competitive, point-based?) and ask them what their favorite games are.

Remember to have fun.

Remember why you are playing. Don’t let yourself get too worked up on something, and if you feel like you’re flying through a game, take a moment to take a breath and see if there are any experiences you are passing up. I’ve done a few games that offered interactive elements or side quest-type experiences that I could have fun with.

Are you an escape room expert? What are some of your tips for keeping your games fresh and fun? Let us know in a comment below!

Geoff Durham
Game Master, Manager
Cross Roads Escape Games

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What I Look For In An Escape Room: Geoff

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For me, there are three things that make or break an escape room: Is it immersive, does it make sense, and is it original? At the time of this blog, I have nearly 20 different games under my belt; some games have blown my mind, and some have left me wanting more.

My top escape rooms have all had detailed environments with a clear theme. From the moment the game began (and sometimes even before I entered the building), I was immersed in a believably new environment and excited to partake in something out of the ordinary. I love escape rooms because they take you out of the real world for a while, and I expect the games I play to try and transport me to this new world.

Working in the industry for about three years and partaking in escape rooms before then, I’ve spent plenty of time in games where you are all-too-aware that you are in an office building. I applaud the games that are aware of their limitations and find clever ways to cover up their allotted location. I’ve been privy to the business side of escape rooms and know that sometimes building a room from the ground up or even painting walls is not an option. I’ve seen games find ways to either work around these limitations, or in some cases even embrace it. There’s one escape room I did where they were not able to drastically change their space, so instead they made up for it by turning out the lights and giving each player a handheld candle. I found this incredibly inventive as it made us as players pay less attention to the walls, helped to tell the story, and even became part of the experience. Finding ways to adapt or overcome your space can make or break your game.

For escape rooms that are able to have control over their entire space, immersion is paramount. I remember playing an escape room where the desk staff were part of the experience. They were in character from the time you entered the front door until the time you left the building, and even reacted to how your game played out. Without spoiling too much, once our team successfully completed the game, both the Game Masters had an interesting albeit subtle change in costume, making the outcome of our time traveling adventure reach beyond the walls of the escape room.

It’s also important for escape rooms to make sense. If the puzzles aren’t themed to the environment, it will easily pull players out of the game and feel more like a task than part of the fun. I played a game once that was hidden above a store. Everything in the game was handmade (including some very interesting puzzles), and you could feel the near-bohemian, old world, secret society theme from the time you met a cloaked woman holding a lantern outside of the shop. None of the puzzles were electronic, keeping with the old-world theme. Even the hints were hand-written on tea-stained pieces of paper passed under the door. And even in this low-tech, unsuspecting room, I came across some of the most memorable and enjoyable puzzles I’ve ever experienced.

On the flip side, I’ve also played a few games where it didn’t make sense to have some technology in the room. It’s hard to justify electronic puzzles in a pirate ship or modern televisions in an abandoned cottage. It’s important to purposefully integrate or disguise technology and puzzles to fit into your room.

Originality is another top priority for me. After playing dozens of games, some of them start to blur together. It’s important for a game to do something original to stand out. Cross Roads has some of the most original games I’ve ever played. The Hex Room and The Psych Ward push the boundaries of what escape rooms can be. They are memorable in design because you won’t get to experience another game quite like them. Whether it’s being physically separated in The Hex Room or adding extra layers of strategy and immersive theatre in The Psych Ward, these games are perfect for those who want to experience the next steps in escape rooms.

Geoff Durham
Game Master, Manager
Cross Roads Escape Games

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Psych Ward Tips: Confessions of a Game Master

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Hello everyone! It’s been a while since our game masters have shared their wisdom with you. We’ve all been going a little crazy getting the new Psych Ward running, but now that it is accepting patients, our Game Masters decided they should prepare you for this new experience. Here’s a quick overview of what you need to know before taking part in the experiment.

WHAT IS THE PSYCH WARD?

The Psych Ward is NOT an Escape Room. The Psych Ward is a strategic game of trust and betrayal. It incorporates escape room, board game, and immersive theatre elements. Traditional escape rooms require you to solve every puzzle in order to escape, but in The Psych Ward you can solve as many or as few puzzles as you need to win. Your goal is not to escape The Psych Ward, but to win.

TIPS TO WIN

• The Psych Ward requires active participation. The Psych Ward is more than solving puzzles: it involves deduction, strategy, and exploration. This means not only will you be solving puzzles, but you will be trying to figure out who on your team you can trust. If you prefer to simply solve puzzles to try and escape a room, I recommend one of our other great games. The Psych Ward is an experience designed for those who want to try something new.
• Observe your fellow patients. It’s not enough to solve as many puzzles as you can. Pay attention to how helpful others in your group are. Remember, you can’t trust everyone.
• Pay attention to the rules. Just like when playing a new board game, you have a new set of rules to learn. Pay attention, especially when scoring is explained, to make sure you understand how to earn points.
• Come up with a strategy. You need to be able to identify those who are not on your team and earn points. Feel free to discuss strategy with your fellow patients but remember you can’t trust all of them, so it might be a better idea to keep strategy to yourself.

WHO IS SANE? WHO IS INSANE?

In each game, there will be a mix of sane and insane players. Who is sane and who is insane is decided randomly by the game each time. The number of insane players depends on the size of your group.

WHAT IS THE WIN RATE?

The Psych Ward has an even 50/50 split of Sane/Insane winning. The difficulty depends on your group and how observant or sly you can be.

OTHER THINGS TO NOTE

• BE ON TIME. Timing, of course, is everything. The Psych Ward runs on a very strict schedule and games cannot be started late. Players are NOT ABLE to enter a game once it has started.
• PLAYER LIMITS ARE STRICT. This game is designed for 5-8 players. It will not function with less or more than the specified amount.
• SPECIAL EFFECTS. This experience incorporates loud noises, fog, theatrical lighting, tight spaces, and restraints. It is not scary, but you may be put in tense situations.
• KEEP YOUR GROUP IN THE KNOW. It is extremely helpful for your teammates to know what they are getting into. Feel free to send them this post for a quick crash-course on The Psych Ward.
• THE PSYCH WARD IS A REPEATABLE EXPERIMENT. Since the experience is based on deduction and strategy, you are encouraged to come back and play with a new strategy. Which patients are sane and insane is random with each game, so you may be on the other team when you replay. This experience was also designed with more tasks and tests than can be completed in a single hour-long experiment, so return players can unlock new paths and secrets within the room.

The Psych Ward is the perfect experience for fans of escape rooms who want to try something new. Adding a level of deduction, trust, and betrayal takes this experience into new realms of possibility for interactive games. If you are a fan of board games or card games like Werewolf or Mafia, The Psych Ward should be your next game.

Geoff Durham
Manager, Game Master, Insane (and won!)
Cross Roads Escape Games

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You’re a Monster!

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Greetings humans and humanoids of all kinds! Halloween has officially passed us by, leaving us feeling spooked out and monster-depleted until next year. You may be telling yourself horribly depressing things like, “I wish Halloween wasn’t the only scary time of the year” or “I won’t even see another monster until NEXT Halloween!” FEAR NOT for there is a reason to get your fear back ON!

My fellow spooky adventurers, there are monsters everywhere; hidden within each of us and buried in your local Escape Room… But I’m here to tell you I see monsters every day. In every game that I or my fellow Game Masters monitor, we see monsters within each of you players. I’m here to reveal them to you so you can figure out for yourself which Escape Room monster you are and learn which Escape Room monster you’d like to be.

I’ve compiled a list of said monsters; each of them with pros and cons. I’ve included methods of defeating some of the more dangerous ones, as well as interactions I have observed between the monsters themselves. When I refer to “Human” I am referring to anyone who has not yet showed signs of being one of these creatures, rather someone who has remained sane and unaffected by the temptations of becoming one of… them.

ZOMBIES

Special Power: Mob Mentality
Zombies are players that begin slowly moving around the room making sleepy gestures and inarticulate conversation. They tend to solve puzzles with the same slow and meticulous energy that they used when pacing the room. One Zombie on its own will often fail to do much, however if you have a horde of Z’s in your game, then you will find that they can really get things done. Zombies are much more efficient in packs!

 

KAIJU

Special Power: Destructive Personality
There are often no more than one Kaiju in a team of escapists. This one Kaiju, however, can do a lot of damage. They will break things accidentally (sometimes purposefully) and enjoys shutting other people’s ideas down to assume control of the game. The only way to defeat a Kaiju is by becoming one yourself to redirect the team (Pacific Rim rules apply).

 

Lycanthrope

Special Power: Aggressive Dominance
Lycanthropes start off just like any other human. They laugh and joke with their team mates and engage with escape rooms’ staff in a friendly manner. But the moment they find themselves in an escape room something begins to change in them. A sudden rage is released, and they begin snarling and shouting at their team mates. A Lycanthrope can come in handy, however, in a team lacking a strong leader. Lycanthropes have no problem barking orders.

 

WITCHES

Special Power: Prophetic Wisdom
There are 2 different kinds of witches: Optiwitches and Pessiwitches. Witches will make predictions about how they think the game will go. For example, “We are definitely not getting out, I’m not that smart.” This creates a self-fulfilling prophecy that has the power to ruin games. If you get an Optiwitch, however, there’s nothing to worry about! Unless this Optiwitch is really a Lycanthrope in disguise, then something during the game will make them flip their view to pessimistic. These are dangerous, but a Human armed with Logic and Encouragement can defeat a Were-Witch, just like an ordinary Lycanthrope.

 

CANNIBALS

Special Power: Super Genius
Cannibals will refuse to let anyone else solve any puzzles. They will eat up clues for themselves and are easily identified as the person taking props and clues straight from people’s hands. Cannibals are incredibly intelligent and tend to consume on their own.

 

ROBOTS

Special Power: Item Analysis
If you put all the clues for a puzzle in front of a Robot, they will have no problem piecing them together correctly. Although they may be good at connecting dots, COLLECTING those dots is an entirely different story. Unable to figure out where to look, Robots do not make good search and finders.

 

ALIENS

Special Power: Buddy System
Aliens are players who simply don’t communicate with their team. They are highly intelligent, but that only helps if they speak up. The only kind of monster that can understand an Alien is the Sketchy Government Official (see SKETCHY GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL) because they usually have a close relationship with one another.

 

VAMPIRES

Special Power: Keen Senses
Vampiric players will let other people solve puzzles for them but will always keep a keen eye out for those who arrive at final codes. They will be the first to bolt to a lock and suck up the glory from other players for themselves by opening the lock with a code solved by someone else. They are fantastic at getting locks open quickly, but they tend to feed off of their fellow players’ problem solving rather than doing it themselves.

 

TROLLS

Special Power: Attention Getter
As you may have guessed, Trolls are the players with no problem back talking their fellow teammates or their Game Master. Trolls are usually the loudest in their group, needing to maintain the most attention on them as possible to prove how smart they are. Trolls are commonly mistaken as Kaiju, but the main difference is their intention: a Troll wants attention, a Kaiju wants control.

 

LAKE MONSTERS

Special Power: Master Locater
Any Lake Monster remains unseen throughout the game. Lurking in the shadows, they keep a safe distance to observe their team. They will casually meander away from the group and are excellent at finding hidden objects. They are also the one person with a sign conveniently covering their face in the post-game picture.

 

DEMONS

Special Power: Persuasion
Demons are some of the most horrifying monsters there are. They actively hurt the progression of their teammates by suggesting outlandish ideas and insisting everyone follow through with it. Humans can defeat a Demon, but you must be able to pick out a Demon as quickly as possible. The longer you follow a Demon’s flawed logic, the further away from escape you get. There is also an alternate Demon that is a separate entity in the Escape Room from the players. If you don’t know what I’m referring to, read my previous post HERE.

 

GHOSTS

Special Power: Invisibility
Ghosts will hang in the back of the group. They usually don’t know most of the people they’re playing with, which is why solving puzzles for them can be a challenge: not in their ability to, rather their motivation to follow through. If a Ghost does choose to follow through, they become a Poltergeist (see POLTERGEISTS). More often than not, a group of Zombies can be seen playing with a Ghost and taking charge of the entire game. Ghosts are incredibly similar to Lake Monsters; however, Ghosts do not purposefully hide themselves from their group like Lake Monsters do.

 

GREMLINS

Special Power: Aggressive Motivation
Gremlins like to pile clues and props in a corner of the room, often confusing their teammates later on in the game when they are looking for something. An alternative version of a Gremlin is also similar to a Lycanthrope, but instead of turning into a stronger, more negative version of itself, it becomes much more aggressive at puzzle solving and is often the player that turns the tide toward the end of the game.

 

MAD SCIENTISTS

Special Power: Controls the Revenant
Mad Scientists are parents that have brought their child, who often tend to be Revenants (see REVENANTS), into the room with them. Often to their own downfall, they will refuse to listen to their Revenant because they KNOW they’re far smarter than they are. They did create them, after all.

 

IMPS

Special Power: Quick and Agile
Imps are small, agile players that have the tendency to climb regardless of rules. They often have something they need to prove to the rest of their group, like how their smarts make up for their height. This ends in one of two ways: either they really do prove just how smart they are and throw it in their team’s face, or they allow their “little-demon syndrome” to consume their every thought, ultimately leading to destruction.

 

POLTERGEISTS

Special Power: Possession
Poltergeists act just as Ghosts do, but with one main difference. A Poltergeist will often solve puzzles on their own apart from their group without informing anyone how they did it. To the rest of the group, it appears as if the puzzle had been possessed and solved itself when no one was looking. A group will be in the middle of solving a puzzle when someone notices the Poltergeist holding an open lock in their hand, offering no explanation as to how they opened it.

 

SKETCHY GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS

Special Power: Buddy System
A Sketchy Government Official is usually besties with the Alien of the group, and that is why they are the only ones that can understand the Alien. More often than not, however, a Sketchy Government Official shares none of the knowledge learned from an Alien and simply messes around with the Alien the whole game, accomplishing only what they do together.

 

REVENANT

Special Power: Fresh Mind
The child of the Mad Scientist. They are often ignored, although they usually have the right ideas due to having very little bias about the world to cloud their logic and reasoning. Revenants are known to turn into a Frankenstein’s Monster (similar to Werewolf) if their Mad Scientist continues to ignore them.

 

There you have it: the monsters people turn into while in Escape Rooms. Beware the eviler ones and strive to be the good ones! Remember, a Human armed with Logic, Reason, Encouragement, and Patience can defeat any of these monsters. If none of these monsters describe you, take a look at my previous post HERE. Your group might be afflicted by much, much worse…

Which Escape Room Monster are you? Did I miss any other monsters? Let us know in the comments below!

Zach “Doc” Dahm
Asst. Manager and Game Master
Cross Roads Escape Games

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