How to Choose an Escape Room
Updated: 12/26/18
Escape rooms are one of the best ways you can spend an hour with friends and family. They’re challenging, engaging, and memorable. But like with most things, choosing the right one matters. Here are 7 suggestions to help you choose the one the room that will be most fun for you!
We’re now coming to the end of our first year open, and we’ve learned A LOT we never knew about both playing and running an escape room. The 7 tips we laid out here more than a year ago are still critically helpful for escaping the room, but there’s some nuance too. Check out our tips on choosing an escape room below and our updated take things.
1. Pick your teammates wisely
Who you partner with can make or break your experience. When I play, I’m thoughtful about who I’m going to play with as it impacts the other decisions such as theme or difficulty.
For instance, my parents and in-laws are…um…not good at escape rooms! So when we play together, we go find the easiest rooms possible. That makes it a little boring for me, but it allows them to contribute and have fun too.
It obviously matters how many people you play with. Most of the larger escape rooms allow 8-10 players per game. But others have max player counts of 4-6. That clearly matters when you’re picking a room.
If you put too many in a room, it will be too crowded, you may trip over each other, and you could solve the game too quickly. Conversely, too few players and you may have no hope of solving key puzzles.
At Escape Tactic, all of our rooms allow up to 10 guests (more are possible if booking private events). We constructed all of our games for this high player count so you’ll find larger rooms, more puzzles, and more intricate game play as a result. There are great small rooms out there too. We just took a different route.
Our Updated Take: Too many people seem to forget that escape rooms are about fun. If you’re not having fun in an escape room, you’re doing it wrong! But having fun is as much about the room as it is the people you’re playing with. If you’ve got an over-bearing, control-freak friend, maybe you don’t want to play an escape room with them! Or if you don’t want to play with strangers be sure you take advantage of private game offers. A few months ago at the request of our guests, we create options for you to book a private event without booking the entire room. Know your teammates and what type of experience you want!
2. Level of Difficulty
You’ll want to choose a room that has a difficulty level that matches the number of players in your group and their experience. Nearly all escape rooms list a difficulty rating for each room. Some will share escape rates, and others will provide additional insights into how hard the game is.
You may find descriptions like “perfect for beginners” or “non-linear game play.” That doesn’t always relate to difficulty, but it can help you make a decision.
Our Updated Take: Difficulty ratings matter. We list them very clearly on each one of our escape room pages, and they’re critical in choosing the right game for you. If you’re a self-proclaimed “pro,” King Tut’s Curse is likely too easy for you. We designed this game to be a challenge but more for people who haven’t played 751 escape rooms – yes, we met an incredible couple where were on #751 when they played with us! Similarly, if this is your first time, don’t start with SEAL Team. It’s by far our most challenging game, and i guarantee you won’t escape. But I did get to watch the best group of escapers I’ve ever seen beat SEAL Team in record time and before we took the room off “expert.” There are now 7 fewer puzzles in SEAL Team, and it’s still our most challenging.
3. Type of Escape Room
There are actually different kinds of escape rooms. So here are some questions to ask as you’re picking one:
- Do you want live actors or not?
- Do you want a scary theme?
- Do you want a simple “exit” goal or want to solve something more complex in the game?
- Do you want a single room game or a game with multiple rooms?
There are no right or wrong answers – only personal preferences. For our rooms, we don’t use live actors. We don’t have scary/horror themes, which we’ve written about before. Our games are more complex, and we always use multiple rooms.
We chose to build them this way because it’s what we love and what most people told us they wanted. But that doesn’t have to be your choice, and there are plenty of great games out there that do it differently.
Our Updated Take: The most common question we still get is “are your escape rooms scary?” Nope! In fact, most aren’t. Despite what the movies show, most escape rooms around the world aren’t scary. There are plenty that use a scary theme, and some of them are pretty good (though some focus too much on the horror and too little on the actual game). But if that’s not for you, don’t worry. Most escape rooms – including all of ours – are not scary. They’re family friendly for kids 10 and up. We’ve also received a lot of positive feedback about the size of our room. All of our games are 650-1,000 sf, include multiple rooms, and easily hold up to 10 people. That’s important to know if you have a large group, are doing team building, or want to make sure you have a game that isn’t isolated to a single space.
4. Theme
This is a big one. If a room is built right, the theme will make your experience outstanding. (Though poor set design can really ruin an otherwise fun theme). The theme and backstory set the context for your game. You’re going to want to play something interesting to you. And in some games, the theme has elements you may love or hate.
For instance, I played a game while on vacation once where they handcuffed me to the wall to start the game. Many places do that. It wasn’t a problem for me, but if that’s not your thing, you don’t want that theme!
You also have to decide if you want a traditional theme or something more unique. The most common escape room themes include bank heists, prison escapes, space stations, creepy motel, and zombie escapes. They can be a lot of fun, but they can start to feel familiar if you play a lot of games. And you may run into duplicate puzzles, and that’s never fun.
On the other hand, unique themes can give you a different feel and a different game. Our games don’t follow the traditional model. The concepts in King Tut’s Curse and SEAL Team have been done before, but we tried to put a different spin on them. A few places in the country have tried things similar to Mine Trap. But Flight 282 and Amazon Survival are truly unique. Those are completely different themes/sets.
Our Updated Take: We’ve had over 20,000 people play our games already, and it’s been exciting to watch and hear how people react to each of our games. Amazon Survival and Flight 282 have been by far our most popular rooms. They’re pretty unique. The things we put into Amazon aren’t found in many escape rooms, and building a replica airplane like we did in Flight 282 is truly different. But people have loved the military experience of SEAL Team, the dark cavernous feel of Mine and the real Egyptian set design in Tut. It’s all a matter of preference. Make sure you find a theme for you, and go all in!
5. Booking Availability
You almost always have to book you escape games in advance. These are scheduled events so it’s unlikely you can just show up and play. Depending on when you want to play, you’ll need to book in advance.
For games with just a couple of people or a small group, booking 1 week in advance is usually enough. Thursday nights, Fridays, and Saturdays will book up fast. Then Sundays will fill up mid-week. So if you want to go at these times, plan ahead.
For team building, birthday parties, and large groups, you’ll want to book these a few weeks to a few months in advance depending on your own planning. It’s always easy to book online, but if you need help you can always call the escape room for help.
Our Updated Take: We’re fortunate to be located in the heart of one of Charlotte’s most popular neighborhoods. Our friends at OMB, Sugar Creek, Queen Park Social, and GoodRoad Ciderworks have been amazing, and we’ve had more walk-in traffic than most escape rooms will ever have. But we often have to turn people away because we’re full. You’ll always be able to see our game schedule online. So if you want to try an escape room, plan ahead. You can usually find space even just a day in advance, but last minute can sometimes leave you missing out.
6. Reviews
By now we’re all pros at this. If you want to know what’s good, see what others have to say. Check out Google, Facebook, or Trip Advisor to see what others have to say about the rooms. Traditionally, escape rooms get really high marks (nearly all of 4.5 stars and above). It shows how much people enjoy escape rooms, but if you’re trying to find the perfect room, you’ll have to dig beyond the scores.
Look at what people say about the games, the puzzles, the staff, and the customer service. That will give you insight into whether this is the right place for you or not.
Our Updated Take: We have the best staff in the business! We’re incredibly lucky to have the team we have, and we all work very hard to create exceptional experiences for our guests. We’re not perfect – no one is. We’ve fallen short, screwed up and simply missed multiple times. We work really hard to limit those mistakes and get better. But we’re incredibly proud of our reviews. Less than a year in, we have more Google reviews than anyone in town and a 4.9 overall rating. Check out the reviews. You’ll learn a lot about our games and the overall experience we offer. Do the same for other escape rooms out there. There are plenty of good ones!
7. Find a Premium Location
You want an escape room close to where you’re going to be, but you also want it close to other things to do. Find something close to bars, restaurants, breweries, and other entertainment venues. It’s particularly helpful if it’s all in walking distance.
Escape rooms are a great one-hour event, but they’re better when you can enjoy a good drink or a great meal with friends afterwards!
Our Updated Take: Our guests have loved this as much as anything. We’re 300 yards for 6 of Charlotte’s best breweries! It makes it easy to spend an afternoon in LoSo. We even have discounts available with some of our neighbors if you’re looking for a post-game celebration. When we travel to see family, we often play other escape rooms to see what they offer. It’s really hard to find one that offers a great experience in a great location. But when you find that place, give it a try!
Use these guidelines to help you pick the right room for you. Then take the plunge and try it out! Then before you go, check out our 15 tips that will help you in your game.
Good luck becoming an Escape Master!
