Your first escape room: 10 tips for beginners

There’s no method that guarantees a win in every escape room. You’ll gain the most from three habits: listening carefully to the briefing, saying out loud what you find, and asking for a hint before frustration eats up a few of your minutes. The other tips help you organise your teamwork, so your time together isn’t lost to chaos.

These ten tips are about how to play, not about solutions to specific scenarios. You can read them together before your visit and pick the ones you want to keep in mind.

Before you book: a room for your first time

It’s easier to start your first game with a lower-difficulty scenario. Operators usually show the difficulty on the room card, but every company uses its own scale, so only compare the numbers within one venue. For example, at Gamescape the card for Dead Man’s Chest lists 65 minutes and a difficulty of 6/10, while House of Krak lists 90 minutes and 9/10. You’ll find the full list of escape rooms in Krakow, with the number of players, time and difficulty, in the Gamescape catalogue.

You don’t need to prepare in any special way. According to Gamescape, the host briefs the team on everything before the start and gives hints during the game if needed. Wear something comfortable. It’s your head that counts, not your fitness.

1. Listen to the briefing, then get going

Arrive a few minutes early. Gamescape recommends 10 to 15 minutes, so you can get to know the place, the rules and the story without rushing, and being late may shorten your game. First find out the goal of the mission, the time limit and what you’re allowed to search. Ask how to contact the Game Master and how to get out if you need to. Only start looking for clues once the game begins. Rushing doesn’t help if you end up guessing the rules later.

2. Split up the space you need to search

You can look around different parts of the available area, so you’re not all examining the same object. A pair of players may spot more details than one person, but a crowd around a small drawer probably won’t help. Only search what the briefing allows. If you’re told that something doesn’t need to be moved, don’t waste time on it.

3. Don’t all crowd around one puzzle without a reason

If several tasks are available at once, split your attention. When someone gets stuck, swapping in another person can bring a fresh perspective. Tell them what you’ve already tried, so they don’t repeat the same attempts. Not every room lets you work on several paths at once, though. If the tasks come one after another, the next stage stays locked until you finish the current one, and focusing on one puzzle together may be the only way.

4. Talk about what you find

“I’ve got a letter padlock” is useful information for the person who has just found a word puzzle. Describe objects and symbols briefly: “I’ve got three symbols in different colours” says more than “I’ve got something!”. A shout on its own doesn’t help the others connect the information.

5. Give ideas a chance

Different associations are useful if you can test them. Ask the person suggesting an answer to explain how they got there. That explanation sometimes reveals a mistake, and sometimes helps connect the next piece. Don’t laugh at a theory that misses. It may point to a detail you’ll use in a different way.

6. Go back to the instructions when a theory gets too complicated

If an idea needs lots of assumptions that nobody gave you, take a step back. Check whether you’ve missed a visible clue. The same goes for a code that still doesn’t work after a few tries. A team may read the right digits but put them in its own order instead of the one the clue gives. Instead of assuming something is broken, ask: how do we know which order to enter them in, and which lock do they belong to?

7. Keep your items in order

Agree on a place to put the things you find. You can set aside the ones you’ve already used, but don’t assume every item has only one use. Don’t move everything onto a single pile either, because where things are placed may matter. The rules of the specific scenario apply. Put things down so the whole team can reach them.

8. Don’t use force

Resistance isn’t an invitation to yank. If something doesn’t open after you’ve solved it, check the instructions or ask the Game Master. Don’t take the equipment apart and don’t reach for elements that are excluded from the game. At Gamescape, the rules explicitly forbid removing or damaging the decor, and players are financially liable for any damage. Save the alcohol for later, too, because it’s not allowed during the game.

9. Use hints wisely

Before the start, agree how help works and ask whether a hint affects your result. There’s no universal rule that you have to ask for a clue after five minutes. What matters more is whether you still have sensible ideas, or whether you’re just repeating the same attempt. When you keep coming back to the same idea, do a quick recap before asking for help: what do we already know, what haven’t we used yet, and what have we assumed without checking? Sometimes that’s enough, and if it isn’t, it’s easier to tell the Game Master where you’re stuck. A small hint can get you moving again without giving away the whole solution. At Gamescape, the Game Master follows the game on a monitor and is in constant voice contact with the team, so you don’t have to leave the room to ask for help.

10. Leave room for everyone

A person who’s good with their hands can help with a manual task, and a sharp observer with comparing symbols. Don’t lock anyone into a single role, though. Not every team needs a permanent leader. Sometimes it’s enough for someone to gather the discoveries for a moment and suggest how to split the tasks. Beginners should also get the chance to discover something on their own.

After the game, you’ll remember not only the result, but also the moments when you worked out the answer together.