This might be as simple as a brightly coloured envelope, or a post-it note. You could include a directional arrow, or the initials of a room, or even the initials of a person. Players will then head to that room or ask that person who will have a scripted line: “I float but you can’t push me underwater, bigger than your head but lighter than a feather.” This points players towards the next clue: balloons. See why in the section below! Photo by Jo Szczepanska on Unsplash Some DIY Puzzle Ideas: First, making an escape room is a lot of fun. It’s not too different from playing one if you think about it. When you play an escape room you try to piece together the different clues to come up with the answers that the authors decided. When you make an escape room you try to piece together stories and puzzles to create a fun experience for your players. Finally, you should be present physically in the room and be ready to supply hints if needed. Use the same rule of thumb that if the players are not progressing for more than a few minutes you offer a hint, but of course, accept if players prefer to not get a hint. The good news is that we will give you a complete rundown of the process so you know exactly what to expect and where you are in the process at any given time.

First, you should complete the room yourself. Testing by yourself has some limitations, but if you, the designer, is not able to complete the room even with all your prior knowledge of the puzzles, then no one else will be able to. In this kind of testing, you will be able to find mistakes in your clues and props or mistakes in the overall structure of the game that make it impossible to complete.

The Easiest Way to Create a DIY Escape Room

This concludes the tips for puzzle creation. If the puzzle ideas don’t come naturally to you, don’t worry. We recently published a list of 24+ DIY Escape Room Puzzles that you can just grab today and there are plenty more to be found on the internet.

First of all, let’s make it clear, it’s not going to be as easy as it seems, just scatter a puzzle here and a puzzle there, and you are done. No, no, my friends, it takes much more than that, it’s more like taking your creativity to the next level while doing it with a whole lot of love. I’m not gonna lie, it requires a lot of time and energy, but trust me, it’s worth every second of it. As you can see in my organizational chart, it is a nonlinear game, which means that I connected multiple puzzles that lead to solving the next one. Along the same lines, think about the lighting. For the president’s office example, daylight might be the most suitable, but if your setting is an ancient Egyptian tomb, then dim lights and candles would be more appropriate. Consider that the puzzle we just created takes away the document (hides it in a safe) and instead gives the players a post-it note with the code for the safe. We can make the puzzle longer by continuing this line of thinking and also removing the post-it note with the code and giving the players something else instead. Of course, the easiest way is to let someone else do the work and provide you with exciting high-grade puzzles. That’s why we’re here!

My first escape game was a real blast. It took me almost a month of thinking, searching, creating, buying some stuff, and setting all of it up in my living room, but when it came down to the actual playing, I felt like the Superman of the Game Masters. Actually, it was a surprise party for my escape room crew, and btw, I’ve played many escape games with them. Atmosphere makes all the difference! This is true for any DIY escape rooms you build as well as other at home escape rooms. However, the Mystery at Stargazer Manor was a little better. Not quite as good as Dr. Gravely, but somewhat entertaining. The reason that I didn’t add it above is that the story for this one isn’t great. Want to Create the Entire Activity from Scratch in True DIY Fashion? First I categorized the puzzles from easy to hard. The last thing you want to do is create extremely easy puzzles or very hard ones. Either way is not going to be fun for the players. You need to find something that is challenging but at the same time something that anyone can solve. The puzzles within this game all solved cleanly, and pulled from Japanese culture and puzzle design.

In this way, lead the tester through all the content in your game, providing hints as needed and disregarding any time limit you might have put on the game. Write down all the hints you needed to give and the total time the tester spent. by Doug Staneart | Team Building Tips, Team Games and Activities Do It Yourself Escape Room to Customize Your Team’s Experience Balloon Clues: You can insert clues into balloons and then inflate them. You can then read out a riddle that indicates people need to burst balloons to find a clue, like “I float but you can’t push me underwater, bigger than your head but lighter than a feather.” Making your first home escape room is time and energy-consuming, but in the end the reward is unparalleled. If you really love this kind of games and want to make a special night for the people you love, just go for it! 4. Make it more specialCreating your own DIY escape room allows you to customise your own tasks, puzzles and narratives, all within the comfort of your own home! It might sound like you have a mountain to climb to make all the bits and pieces you’ll need yourself but Epic Escapes have you covered for that. Mix Up You Puzzle Types: I’ll give you a few ideas below on different types of puzzles that you can use. Just make sure to mix up the types of puzzles. Otherwise, the game will be repetitive.