Start designing it
You’re about to create the wackiest escape game you’ve ever built. Congratulations!
Like any puzzle, it’s going to be difficult and maybe even impossible. But, follow this plan and be very creative, you will need it!
Before we begin, let’s be honest. Chances are your first Escape Room DIY (Do It Yourself) will be pretty bad. But they are fun to do and this guide will help you a lot.
How to succeed ?
It’s very ambitious to create a House Escape Room in professional mode if you’ve never done it before. But you can fulfill this mission!
To get started, we recommend that you make an Escape Room in only 30 minutes instead of one hour.
By adopting this approach, you will experience the process without wasting too much time. In addition, by keeping the players busy for 30 minutes, you will have done most of the work.
Let’s do it!
PS: If you have a short time, just download and print our turnkey Escape Room kit!
Start by writing a crazy theme
This part is easy and fun!
You know what kind of adventure you like…
- “A detective has gone mad in the middle of an investigation” Great.
- “What really happened on the trip to Las Vegas ?” Funny.
- “Students trapped in a video game” Original.
Some of the greatest sources of inspiration are the movies, games and Escape Rooms you have made, all your experiences can be inspiring.
Long story or the short one, just choose an Escape Room theme you prefer. The important thing is that it must not be boring.
Then describe your world
Once you have your theme developed, use Google Images to find 10 objects/persons that belong to your world. This list will represent the elements and actors of your Escape Room.
For example, in an Escape Room on the theme of a Corrupted Detective, the object could be a pocket watch covered with blood and fingerprints.
Sketch a storyboard
Now that you have a theme, you will need an “event” in your Escape Room.
This may seem obvious, but he it is often missing.
Be creative and move away from popular belief like “Prisoners escaping the most secure prison in the country” but rather something like this:
- Robbing into a bank vault or hacking into the FBI database.
- Saving someone’s life by giving them the antidote so they don’t succumb to Zombie bites.
Write your overall idea. If you make a printable Escape Room kit, without a game master, keep the storyboard at only one location. This keeps the game under control.
At this stage, none of the elements of the story are puzzles, so feel free to be creative and make your story as interesting as possible.
Convert your story into an organizational chart
This is the moment when all the elements come together.
Write your history points on different Post-It. Then, arrange them as an organization chart of what is happening, where and when. As most Escape Rooms have a lot of things going on in parallel, this method will help you organize.
Each of these Post-It will become a challenge or puzzle in your Escape Game.
Well… okay, I’ll be honest. In fact, you will change half of your challenges before the game is over. But hey, you have to start!
Converting your flowchart into the history of a series of puzzles is surprisingly difficult. The best way I found it to do is to add as much detail as you can now.
Start by adding Post-It to represent objects from your story. I prefer to use paper of different colors for objects to help visually recognize each idea.
Keep going until you have a clear story in your head because it will save you a lot of time when it comes to designing your puzzle.
Choose a puzzle for each challenge
Congratulations! You’ve come this far!
Now it’s time to start the really fun part: transforming your story into a series of puzzles.
Start by doing a quick version of the exercise before spending a lot of time on a whole puzzle. This allows you to quickly browse your design without getting lost in details or puzzles that are too complicated.
To do this, write a quick description of a puzzle on each of the Post-It challenges.
Tip: You can find many puzzles on Pinterest.
Although there are no perfect Escape Room puzzles, they must all be logically connected to each other. Otherwise, you’re going to have players banging their heads against the wall because it’s so inconsistent and difficult to find their way around.
Simplified version
Now it’s time to make a simplified version of your game as simple as possible to test it before investing hours on details and accessories.
After a few tests, you will see if your game will evolve and change radically. The story will not be well understood or challenges will be missing to keep players on their toes for an hour.
It is essential to have your puzzle tested by as many teams as possible (at least 4/5).
Time the players in front of you to see how long a puzzle lasts and your entire game. The idea is to arrive at 45 minutes of play!
Once your game is ready, don’t forget to add accessories to spice up the session!
