Sensory experiences in escape rooms

An escape room engages your senses in two ways: it builds the mood with light, sound and set design, and it hides the clues you need to solve the puzzles in them. Sight and hearing do most of the work, touch sometimes joins in, and smell or taste only turn up in some games. A murmur from a speaker, an object with an unusual texture or a sign that only shows up under the right light can change how you experience the whole game.

That doesn’t mean the game is sensory training or therapy. A rich set can be fascinating, but for some players too many stimuli get in the way of enjoying themselves. That’s why a description of the effects can be just as important as a description of the story.

What do sensory puzzles look like?

A few types of tasks you might come across in escape rooms:

• A hidden message. The text only appears under a UV torch or once the main light is switched off.
• A sequence of sounds. You have to repeat a melody you’ve heard, decode a signal in Morse code or pick out a sound that, at first listen, seems like background noise.
• An object you identify by touch. You put your hand into a box whose inside you can’t see and have to recognise a shape or count the pieces.
• Matching textures and shapes. The pieces of a prop only fit together one way, and your fingers feel the difference faster than your eyes can see it in the half-light.
• A scent as a lead. It’s rarer, but a smell in a container or in part of the set can point you to the right object.

These examples show types of tasks, not a description of specific rooms. To find out what’s in the game you’ve picked, it’s best to ask the staff, without asking for the solutions.

Sight: light, contrast and detail

Visuals can carry information through the colour, shape and position of objects. Low light changes the mood, but it also makes text harder to read. An effect one person finds intriguing can be a practical obstacle for someone else.

On the card for Enchanted Amulets, Gamescape clearly warns that the room is dimly lit. If clear lettering or good lighting matter to you, ask about them before you book. A general note that the room is child-friendly isn’t enough.

Hearing: clue or background?

A sound can underline a moment in the story, but it can also carry a message you need to solve a task. In the first case it builds the mood, in the second it calls for careful listening. Sometimes it does both at once.

If you have trouble following speech, it’s worth asking whether an important message can be repeated or given to you in another form. Someone sensitive to sudden noises will care more about whether the game includes loud surprises. You don’t need to know exactly when they happen to agree on the terms of taking part.

Touch: an object as part of the puzzle

A prop may ask you to match a shape, arrange pieces or feel the difference between surfaces. That’s a different experience from simply typing an answer on a screen. Still, don’t assume that every part of the set is there to be picked up.

During the briefing, pay attention to the markings and the rules for handling objects. If you’re not sure whether something is part of a puzzle, ask the host. Don’t try to find out by forcing things open or taking the furnishings apart.

Smell and taste: no automatic assumptions

Not every room uses scents, and dishes or food in the set don’t mean you’re allowed to eat them. Don’t taste any props without a clear instruction from the organiser. If you need to avoid certain smells, it’s worth asking whether they’re part of the game.

The senses in an open-air city game

In a city game, the city itself is the set. Nobody controls the lighting or the sound, so the tasks rely mainly on looking: at the details of townhouses, monuments, inscriptions and coats of arms. On top of that come conditions you won’t find in a closed room, namely the weather, traffic and the buzz of tourists.

In Krakow, some games add a layer of images on a screen. In Kraków Legends with augmented reality, the team walks the Royal Route to Wawel and combines the architecture of the Old Town with tasks shown on an iPad. Magic Portal also uses augmented reality, without goggles, on a route of up to 3.5 km towards Wawel.

The city has its own sound signals too. The hejnał from St Mary’s tower (in Polish) rings out every hour and always breaks off as if it were unfinished. You can turn it into a challenge even on an ordinary walk: who’ll be the first to hear the hejnał and count how many times it’s played?

For people who are bothered by low light or enclosed spaces, an outdoor game can be a more comfortable way to enjoy puzzles. In exchange, be ready for the noise of the city and check the length of the route.

What to agree before your visit

The most useful conversation before your visit is about specific conditions: low light, sounds, textures and what you’ll be asked to do, and for a city game also the length of the route and how much of it happens on a screen. That way you choose an experience that suits the players, without promising that the more stimuli there are, the more fun it’ll be.