Riddles are often the key to unlocking the Escape Room’s secrets.
With sixty minutes on the clock and a determination to beat the room, solving a riddle, or a puzzle might be your best way out.
From the Egyptian tombs, you may come across a sphinx with a twist in its tail. Bursting onto the scene, straight from a 1920s train heist, you may have to figure out the right code to unlock your next clue.
Whatever puzzle, quest, or riddle is thrown your way in an Escape Room; there are plenty of ways to prepare yourself.
Take a look at some of the Escape Room’s best-kept secrets to find out more.
1. Crack a picture code
Escape rooms are pretty effective at utilising everything within a room. Nothing is accidental. Nothing is by chance.
Combined with the hint ‘Green Pink Blue Yellow’ from another clue, take a look at this image, and see what you can deduce.
You should get a 4-digit code.
2. Extract information from plain text
Escape Rooms are big on themes. And, as I’ve said before, nothing is placed accidentally.
There may be an open book containing a poem, a typewriter with a half-written note or a computer screen with code on.
Your task with text in the room is to extract as much information as possible.
Acrostics, highlighted words, or numbers on a page can create a code, or show you what objects to pick up next.
Take a look at the poem below, and see what you can find out:
Eloquently he passed over the land
Divulging its secrets
Giving light to the dark.
Altruistic in mind, never failing to let go
Revelling in the madness
Altogether unknown.
Lesser men could do no wrong,
Like the folly within
At times curbing the sadness
Never to be free.
Poetic by right,
Offences unknown.
Endangered he wasn’t, truth be told.
Deciphering a poem like this one would lead you to your next clue.
3. Noticing patterns within a text
Not unlike the acrostics example above, words within a text can hold significant meanings to a room. Highlighting standout words can draw your attention to an essential feature within a room.
See what you can observe within the text below:
If Roses are the most powerful imagery in the flower kingdom, you can only imagine the effect they had on the Romantics. The Renaissance age was full of spectacle and wonder that only a few could appreciate at the time. With what we know now, the Revellers of the age sure knew a thing or two about how to swoon.
Iconic portraits, photos and the like are often part of an Escape Rooms storytelling. They add depth and meaning to the tales they are telling.
4. Follow the map
What better way to explore your surroundings than by following a map?
Escape Rooms can build a variety of scenarios by presenting you with a map to explore.
Number codes can be built from literally joining the dots, or even words, pointing out something relevant to your quest.
Try and solve this simple riddle:
If I fly west over the Atlantic Ocean, and land in Uruguay, which country did my journey begin in?
Once you have your answer, your next clue would be unveiled.
5. Date Location Puzzles
Not noticing the finer details may be what stops you from beating the Escape Room.
Escape Rooms do not tread lightly on the aesthetic – equally, every clue, object and manuscript serves a purpose. Taking note of all the intricacies of a room will make you realise just how well thought out and thrilling the experience is!
You are investigating a murder. You have become a real detective. What have you noticed?
- There is a case file with the words, “the day she breathed her last” and a six-digit lock.
- A near-finished newspaper article is sat in a typewriter, It states “A Theatre of Tragedy. Actress’s life was taken five days after opening night!”
- You look through the desk and see a poster for a play, it reads, “opening 08/05/1958”
Now you have your evidence, deduce the clues!
Do you feel ready to take on an Escape Room?
Now’s your time to try!
Let’s see how many you got correct!
1 – 8959
2 – Edgar Allan Poe
3 – Highlighting the words ‘Roses’, ‘Romantics,’ ‘Renaissance’ and ‘Revellers’ would point you in the direction of a painting hidden in the room
4 – South Africa
5 – You have the date “18th May 1958” and you have the knowledge that the actress died 5 days after opening night. The 6-digit code should be 130558