5 Tricks to Escape From Any Escape Room

tips & tricks | escape room basics

Have you ever been to an escape room and walked out 30 seconds before the end or didn't escape at all? Or maybe you want to try the experience for the first time and need some clues. In either case, you've come to the right place!

 

After we hit the 250.000+ player mark, we noticed that the difference between the teams that escape and the ones that get stuck isn't intelligence. It's the method of play!

 

Discover the 5 tricks that work in any escape room, regardless of theme or difficulty, so you can enjoy the experience and escape.

1. Explore the room thoroughly

The first mistake that almost every team does in an escape room: they focus on the first clue they find and forget about the rest of the details in the room. The first 5-10 minutes are very valuable, use them to analyze everything you notice: objects, clues, locks, latches. In the first few minutes, don't try to solve anything. Observe and correlate.

2. Communicate everything to the team, out loud

The most underrated trick when playing an escape room: saying what you see, even if it seems trivial.

"I found a red key"

"Here we have 4 digits"

"This note looks different from the rest"

Why does it work? Because you and the rest of your team process information differently. What seems irrelevant to you may be exactly the missing piece in the puzzle that someone else is solving.

Silent teams, where everyone works on their own, get stuck more often. Not because they are less capable, but because they don't use their most important advantage: the team.

At Trapped Escape Room in Bucharest, the games are designed for teams of 2-7 people. Thus, they are suitable for couples, groups of friends, or families. Discover more about escape rooms → here.

3. Separate used and unused clues

Clutter is your enemy in an escape room. A lot of the time lost by teams comes from going back to already used clues or losing sight of important objects.

Establish a clear area from the start: used clues are put aside, unused ones remain visible in an accessible area. Simple, but it makes a huge difference during the game.

4. Let someone else solve it

There's a scenario that's repeated in almost every escape room: someone tackles a puzzle, gets stuck, but keeps pushing. Not out of malice, but out of the conviction that the solution they've found is the right one. Meanwhile, the rest of the team sits and watches, and time passes.

The rule is simple.: if you've been working on something for more than 3-4 minutes with no real progress, explain to the team what you've tried and ask if anyone sees it differently. It's not a defeat, it's the best move you can make.

PRO TIP → Know your team before the game. Some people are great at skill puzzles, others solve logic games instantly, and some notice abstract patterns easily. If you know who's good at what, you can naturally distribute tasks instead of crowding everyone around the same thing.

At escape rooms, puzzles are not all the same. There are games of skill, mechanical, automated, abstract and logic. At Trapped you will find them all, in all 13 games available in the 2 locations in Bucharest.

5. Ask for clues sooner than you think

This is the trick that some players ignore, but end up regretting it. And chances are, if you've ever been to an escape room, you've encountered the stubborn friend who won't let you ask for a hint. Or maybe you're that friend. In either case, we have some bad news: it can keep you stuck for a long time.

If you're stuck on something for more than 5-7 minutes, ask for a hint. It's not a defeat, it's a strategic decision. Why? An escape room usually lasts 60 minutes. If you waste 15 minutes on a single puzzle, you sacrifice the next steps. The clues are there to keep the game going, so you can enjoy the game as much as possible, without frustration.

The Classified Tip… 🤫

THE ULTIMATE PRO TIP: don't come to the escape room to break records or to stress yourself out trying to escape at all costs. You're there to have fun. Enjoy the story, the decor and the atmosphere, they are carefully built for you. A team that has a good vibe, is curious and came for the experience comes out ALWAYS excited about the game.

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