HOW TO BE A BETTER ESCAPE ROOM PLAYER - DON'T OVERTHINK
Groups can sometimes head down deep rabbit holes, with one skewed idea leading to another, and another, and another, until you’ve wasted precious minutes on a puzzle your group was ultimately capable of solving. Here are a few tips to keep the process from spiraling out of control and, hopefully, leading you to faster solutions in an escape room.
CHECK YOUR ASSUMPTIONS
Oftentimes one player will begin with an incorrect assumption about a puzzle, and all players after them begin with that same wrong conclusion, dooming every subsequent attempt. Don’t be afraid to start fresh.
WHY
One quick way to dispel an incorrect assumption, is to ask yourself “why am I doing this?” Was there something in the room that suggested you take that particular course of action? If not, consider another approach or hand the puzzle off to another player, so you can get fresh eyes on it. If you have no “why,” chances are you’re just guessing, and that will kill your time in an escape room.
OCCAM’S RAZOR
We’ve seen some players attempt some pretty complicated methods of solving simple puzzles and, while there may be some that are more difficult than others, for the most part Occam’s Razor can be applied: “All things being equal, the simplest explanation is usually the correct one.” This is not to say that every answer in an escape room will be simple, but they will lean closer to that than some super-complex Rube Goldberg machine where a sliding wall panel shifts a weight that reveals a hidden portal in the floor.
Slow down, keep it simple, and don’t be afraid to toss out an assumption and begin anew on a puzzle. This will help keep you from overthinking for too long and burning away those minutes that could keep your team off the leaderboard!