This story begins with the worst escape room we have ever played. The room had a great premise: a gathering of trickster gods. We mention this because a) as far as we can tell, the room is gone now; and b) we're hoping someone else will take that concept and make a better room.
In short, here was the room:
- Our ultimate goal was to collect and assemble puzzle pieces.
- The puzzle pieces were laminated paper with Velcro on the back, so we could stick them on the wall.
- Each laminated paper puzzle piece was in a locker and/ or lockbox, which frequently was too small for the puzzle piece, which then had to be bent/folded to fit, causing creases which made the sticking-on-the-wall part difficult.
- There was a binder on a table, which we were told to use. The binder had a page for each god, and more or less told us exactly what to do to open each lock.
And we mean exactly. At best, it was like, "Anansi's a spider so to open that box, find a puzzle made of string." But the most challenging lockbox for us was one where there was no puzzle at all: the binder just gave us the code for the letter lock, and we were like, "No, that can't be it. There must be something else we're supposed to do." The theme was tricksters, and there were zero tricks.
Why are we calling this the worst room ever?
We know, it's kind of mean. But here's a list of things we enjoy about escape rooms, and whether or not this room contained them:
- Clever premise: ½ credit. "Gathering of trickster gods" is cool, but this was, we kid you not, "gathering of trickster gods in a hotel," and… we dunno.
- Creativity: no. Every puzzle answer was a lockbox code.
- Immersion: no. There was no set; all the materials were set around the room on what may well have been furniture from Goodwill.
- Good quality props: no. See above.
- Challenging, well-designed puzzles: no. Every puzzle was a maximum of one step, and the biggest challenge was that one lockbox was UNDER the counter.
- A sense of build or progression: no. There were no puzzles gated behind other puzzles. The closest thing to a progression was turning the pages of the binder.
- And... not requiring the entire group of people to read a single binder, forcing you to choose between "Fight Over It" or "One Person Doesn't Do Any Puzzles." no! This was a particularly painful example of what REA has dubbed a "runbook." REA was an early critic of this mechanic; you can read more about it here!
This room was so bad that Emily spent the last 20 minutes in an uncontrollable giggle fit.
But after we left, we had the biggest surprise of the day: our kids really liked it.
Did we miss something? Did our kids have really bad taste? What did this mean?
Simple can mean accessible
We grilled our kids on the way home... why did you like the room?
Basically, it was the first time that they felt like everything in the room was within their grasp. They had never gotten to do so much in a room—partially because everything was so simple, partially because Emily and I eventually sat down and just directed traffic.
Our then-seventh grader could have solo-ed this room. Our younger kid could have come close (if he were taller.)
This got us thinking about times when our youngest–despite our best efforts–was bored when the rest of us got caught up in an elaborate series of puzzles. It got us wondering: is there a good version of a "bad room" that is great for kids?
An idea to discuss: bowling alley bumpers
Upon reflection, hear us out, it occurred to us that this place might have been onto something. Maybe there is a use for a "binder." Not a literal binder, of course; that was terrible. But what about a metaphorical binde? Not a physical runbook, but an element of a room that decreases its difficulty?
Consider the bumpers that some bowling alleys will put in the gutters when kids are playing. It's a removable component used to make an adult game more fun for kids.
Let's take a simple puzzle as an example: to open a lock, you have to notice that the pattern on a bookshelf matches the pattern on a rug. There's three general approaches to cluing this puzzle:
- Lateral leap: Solvers need to notice both patterns and have it "click" that they're the same.
- Nudge: The books have titles like "The Magic Carpet" or "Four on the Floor."
- Instruction: A note expressly tells the solver to search for the pattern somewhere else.
Kids with less experience might struggle with lateral leaps. Spelling things out for them more explicitly is the equivalent of the bowling bumpers. This, in our opinion, is as reasonable as moving an object to a lower shelf that a kid can reach.
Enter "the binder" (again, not an actual binder). One could conceivably even design a removable set of props/ components that could be added to a room for, say, a 12th birthday party to decrease the difficulty level of the cluing, and then could be taken out when the adults play. In the above example, it could be alternate sets of books you could swap out on the shelf. But heck, it could even be a series of Post-Its left around the room by the missing scientist or a previous prisoner or whatever.
Aren't you just describing a gamemaster?
Yes, gamemasters have the ability to adjust the difficulty of a room through hints and nudges.
But there's one more insight about kids. They love being able to do things all by themselves.
After an escape room, kids will often confess if they received a lot of hints from the gamemaster. But if the hints are pre-placed, they will think they rocked that room all on their own. And when they escape, you'll see that excited look in their eyes that says they can't wait to come back and try another one!
We'd love to hear if anyone tries or has tried something like this. And if you try it and it works, you can thank the Worst Escape Room Ever!
Some good news for escape room fans
We learned one more lesson from the worst room in the world: You can absolutely build an escape room in your own house that your pre-teens will enjoy. Your only restriction is finding enough things to put a lock on. If you put just one component of one puzzle behind another lock, you've already got a better room than this one.
We've done multiple rooms set in a reproduction of a kid's bedroom. You might have an ACTUAL kid's bedroom right there in your house! You're off to a great start already! Oh no! Their favorite toy/ blanket/ stuffed animal was stolen! But the thief left a series of clues. Seriously, this is WRITING ITSELF.
And for some kids, a bunch of lockbox puzzles that they can solve themselves can bring just as much joy as a complicated professional room!
What makes a room great for kids?
We'd like to take one moment to acknowledge, not every escape room wants kids in there. This is a completely valid business decision, and thank you for reading this far.
We also acknowledge that it's easier to design a room with bumpers than to retrofit a room with bumpers, and that some rooms just won't work with them anyway. But sometimes, could this work?
Adults like many things in escape rooms. Arguably, the top of that list would include immersion, discovery, and seeing something new.
In comparison, this experience taught us that the #1 thing our kids like in an escape room is feeling like they always understand what's going on. Kids love a sense of control and a sense of mastery.
Not every room can inherently engage on both of these levels at once... Hello, Bernie Block! (which is fantastic.) But there may be ways to give kids a boost.
Bernie Block at Escaparium
Image via Natacha D Photographie
With some fundamental but easily achievable changes, this room could have been elevated from the Worst Escape Room Ever to a really solid room for kids. Sure, for the parents it was a lost cause, but if they had just put in the effort to make the puzzle pieces out of better material and find appropriately-sized containers to put them in (making them more fun to handle, harder to damage, and eliminating the frustration of Velcro peeling off the wall), then they'd have eliminated our kids' only major complaint.
Reaching out to the kids
Kids like escape rooms. In our neighborhood in Chicago, there's a K-8 summer camp whose theme for one week this summer was Escape Rooms. It sold out.
It's not difficult to engage kids! It can be adding a sliding scale to the difficulty meter on your website. Or it can even be assembling a great story around a bunch of lockboxes. When done well, that can be enough to connect with kids' love of grasping new things and being at the center of a story they control. This can inspire a new generation of escape room enthusiasts!
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