Most escape rooms sold as family games are written for children, and it shows within the first puzzle. An adult group wants a story with some weight to it, puzzles that do not hand over the answer, and no one reading instructions aloud.
A printable kit gives you that for one price, however many of you there are. You download it, print one set per team and play the same evening. Nothing to book, nothing to wait for in the post.
On this page: which kits suit adults and which suit teenagers, how an evening runs, what to do with a group bigger than six, and the differences that matter against a boxed game or a venue.
What makes a kit work for adults
Three things, and they are not about difficulty. Adult groups abandon a game because it feels childish, not because it feels hard.
| What matters | Why |
|---|---|
| A story with stakes | A bank job, a murder, a theft. Something with a reason to hurry, not a cartoon quest |
| No adult supervision built in | Nobody should have to read passages aloud or explain the rules as they go |
| Puzzles with one clean answer | Ciphers, cross referencing, deduction. Not riddles with three plausible answers |
| Enough puzzles to split up | Six to eight, some running in parallel, so a group of six is not watching one person work |
Three questions, one kit that actually fits. Nothing is sent anywhere.
Escape room kits for adults
Written for groups of adults, from a dinner party to a stag or hen weekend. No reading aloud, no supervision, and the puzzles assume you can handle a cipher.
Heist of the century16 + years oldA bank job. The most played kit in the adult range
The mysterious murder14 + years oldA murder mystery, printable, no acting required
Arsène’s masterpiece14 + years oldAn art heist, with several puzzles running in parallel
Will you dare to enter?14 + years oldA haunted house, the tense oneEscape room kits for teenagers
Thirteen to seventeen is its own category, not a smaller version of the adult one. A teenage group spots a game written for younger kids in about ninety seconds and disengages, but an adult murder mystery often lands flat too. What works is tension with a lighter touch.
Mission Z: Zombie Emergency+13 years oldA zombie outbreak, written for 13 and up
The cursed treasure8-14 years oldPirates, ages 8 to 14, and it works outdoors
The case of the stolen jewelsFamilyA family format that holds a mixed age group togetherMixed ages at the same table
If the group spans teenagers and adults, pick by the youngest and split the teams so each has one adult in it. A slightly easy game still gets finished. A game pitched over their heads gets abandoned at puzzle three, and then nobody plays anything.
Occasions these kits get used for
The adult range gets bought for a handful of recurring evenings, and the right choice changes a little with each one.
| Occasion | What to pick | Why |
|---|---|---|
| A dinner party | A murder mystery | It carries conversation instead of competing with it, and pauses easily between courses |
| A stag or hen do | A heist | Fast, competitive, and it works with several teams racing each other |
| New Year or a house party | An art heist or a haunted house | Short puzzles, easy to pick up late, no long reading |
| A birthday at home | Whatever matches the person | Theme beats difficulty once the age rating is right |
| A team evening at work | A heist with several teams | Everyone plays the same story and you compare times at the end |
For work events with more than about fifty people there is a separate setup with support and adapted material, which lives on our company page.
Teenagers: what changes
A thirteen year old and a twenty five year old want different things from the same hour, and the gap is not difficulty. Teenagers will happily crack a cipher that stops an adult. What loses them is tone.
Anything that reads as written for children goes down badly and fast. So does an evening where an adult hovers and explains. The kits that hold a teenage group are the ones with a bit of threat in them, zombies, a curse, a break in, and an adult who hands over the envelopes and then leaves the room.
Let them run it themselves
From about fourteen, hand the game master booklet to one of them instead of keeping it yourself. Running the clock and doling out hints turns out to be the part they enjoy most, and it removes the adult from the table entirely.
Bank jobs, murders and art thefts, written for adults. Nothing to read aloud, no supervision, and puzzles that assume you can handle a cipher.
See the adult kits →How an evening actually runs
Around two hours door to door, of which one is the game itself. The rest is people arriving, drinks, and arguing about the answers afterwards.
| When | What happens | How long |
|---|---|---|
| The night before | Print one set per team, sort into envelopes, hide them | 30 min |
| Arrival | Drinks, forming teams, choosing team names | 20 min |
| Briefing | Read the intro, explain the rules, start the countdown | 5 min |
| The game | Teams work in parallel, you hand out hints when asked | 60 min |
| The reveal | Compare codes, declare a winner, argue about puzzle four | 15 min |
One person does not play. They keep the clock, read the opening and hand out hints before a team stalls out. With one team that is a light job. With three it is a real one, and it is also the only seat where you see the whole story.
For the rest of the evening, we keep a list of birthday party games for adults and one of things to do on a night with friends. Around New Year, the New Year’s Eve games page is the one people use most. If you would rather write your own, start with the DIY guide and the puzzle list.
The mysterious murder
A murder mystery in printable form, with no acting required and nothing to read out mid game. It pauses well between courses, which is why it is the one that works at a dinner table.
Will you dare to enter?
A haunted house for 14 and up. The tense one in the range, and the one teenagers ask for once they have outgrown the children’s kits.
More than six adults
Six is where a single team stops working. Past that, two people solve and the rest hold drinks. The fix is not a bigger game, it is more teams playing the same one at the same time.
| Group | Teams | Sets to print |
|---|---|---|
| 8 people | 2 teams of 4 | 2 |
| 10 people | 2 teams of 5 | 2 |
| 12 people | 3 teams of 4 | 3 |
| 16 people | 4 teams of 4 | 4 |
| 20 and more | 5 teams or more | 1 per team |
You print the same kit once per team and everyone races the same story. Nothing else changes, and the price does not move. There is a fuller breakdown on the large groups page.
Against a boxed game or a venue
| Printable kit | Boxed mystery game | Escape room venue | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 20.69 for the group | 25 to 45 per box | 25 to 35 per person |
| Group size | unlimited, in teams | 4 to 6 | 4 to 6 per room |
| When you get it | straight away | delivery | whenever they have a slot |
| Second play | reprint any time | no | no |
| Drinks allowed | yes | yes | usually not |
Where the maths turns
At four players a box and a kit cost about the same. From eight upward only the kit stops scaling, because you are paying for the game, not for the seats. At sixteen people a venue runs past 400 and the kit is still 20.69.
Three things that spoil an adult game
Starting too late in the evening. An hour of puzzles after a long dinner does not work. Play first, eat after.
Teams too close together. Two metres is enough, but less than that and one shouted answer skips two puzzles for the table next door.
Nobody running it. Whoever knows the answers cannot play, and whoever plays cannot give hints. Decide this before people arrive, not once a team is stuck.
💡 The expert’s tip
Play before dinner, not after. An hour of ciphers on a full stomach turns into a slow conversation about the answers, and the group that was racing thirty minutes earlier stops caring who wins.
Frequently asked questions
What escape room kits are good for adults?
Look for a story with real stakes, a bank job, a murder or a theft, puzzles with a single clean answer, and no instructions to read aloud mid game. Kits rated 14 and up are written on that basis.
How many adults can play one escape room kit?
Any number. Split into teams of three to five and print one set of the kit per team. Everyone plays the same story at the same time, and you compare finishing times at the end.
How long does an adult escape room take?
About 60 minutes of play, plus 30 minutes of preparation beforehand and roughly 15 minutes at the end to compare answers. Around two hours from arrival to finish.
Choosing between two stories
Every product page carries the age rating, the playing time and the puzzle count. When two appeal equally, pick the theme the group already likes. That pulls harder than any puzzle design.
Is a printable kit cheaper than a boxed escape room game?
For four players they are comparable. Above that the kit wins, because it costs 20.69 whatever the group size while a box covers four to six people for a single play.
Can teenagers play the adult kits?
Some of them. Kits rated 14 and up work for older teenagers, while the 16 and up ones assume adult players. For a group of thirteen to fifteen year olds, start with a kit written for that age instead.
Do I need padlocks or props?
No. A numbered envelope that stays shut until someone has the right code does the same job. Padlocks are nicer to handle but nothing in the kit depends on them.
Print one set per team and race the same story. At sixteen people a venue runs past 400 euros and this is still one purchase.
See the adult kits →
Who writes this page
Clément Pontegnier
Founder of Escape Kit
I have been writing printable escape rooms since 2018. The adult range started because our own friends kept asking for something that was not a children’s game, and it is now the part of the catalogue I test hardest.
