A relatively new branch of board gaming – escape room games are a new twist on party games.
Perhaps you’ve been to a brick and mortar escape room. By that I mean you go to a business that features an Escape Room. From there you may find yourself in a room decorated to a particular theme. Within the room, there will be clues to discover and puzzles to solve. Either you successfully escape the room or – well you get the idea. They are generally great fun and often you can’t wait to do another one.
But what happens once you exhaust the various scenarios? Or what if you live in a city that doesn’t offer such an experience? Or, if you are reading this in 2020 – you are well aware that getting a group of people, and going into an enclosed space isn’t exactly en vogue at the moment.
Enter the Escape Room board game. Not so much as a game, as it is an elaborate puzzle or mystery. An escape room game can often find its way into a group that wouldn’t “normally” play a game. One of the reasons they work well is because they are a cooperative game. Co-Ops take away that competitive me against you element, and replace it with – we are all in this together.
Once you take away that competition, or fear of not knowing what to do, you can start to focus on the fun. Not every person needs to be familiar with the parameters. Several of the suggestion games have apps that function as hosts. A “perfect” Escape Room game is all about finding the way out – not arguing over rules. As far as competition, as mentioned everyone will win or lose.
One particular draw back to these games is that they have a short shelf life. Once you play and solve the game – it’s unlikely you’ll play it again.
That being said, with such a low barrier to entry and easily digestible content – they certainly provide a wealth of fun.
We looked at implementation of theme, time to play, and difficulty when make our recommendations:
Theme:
If you were to go to a physical Escape Room, you would immediately be immersed into a room conveying a certain theme or atmosphere. The goal of the tabletop version would be to successfully convey the theme primarily through the text of the story. Though there may be other manipulative visual clues to discern as well. In regards to the theme, read the boxes carefully. A lot of these games are more or less elaborate stories. Some storylines may be mysteries or a crime scene. To be perfectly honest, some may have a storyline that would be appropriate for a younger audience.
Time to Play:
An Escape Room game is likely to be the centerpiece activity for the evening. A longer game time isn’t necessarily a detriment. So long as the game doesn’t bog down because it’s too slow or too hard to solve, we actually favor a longer play time. Most of the games will vary between 45 minutes to an hour.
Difficulty:
A bit difficult to measure, as what is difficult for me, may not be the case for you. The games should possess challenges, but not be impossible to solve. The information to solve the clues/puzzles should be able to be solved using logical deduction and not wild guesses. We favor a range of difficulty in puzzles/clues so as to cater to a wider audience.
Before we get to the games, I don’t get into the details of the game much. I can’t very well tell you about a puzzle game, but describing how to get to the solution. This will be a fly overview of the games. Light on the details, but I will try to convey how they differ from one another in design.
SO in no particular order here are the best escape room board games
Escape Room: The Game
Possessing 4 different escape rooms to choose from, this one perhaps provides the biggest bang for your buck. Using a mix of logic, creativity, and being able to focus on the smallest bits of information will be key in this game. All the games require you to input the correct key code (literally using keys) into the Chrono-Decoder. Get the correct code three times for each scenario – and you’ve escaped the room!
The timer provides a nice level of tension throughout. You can’t be willy nilly with your guesses either. You will be greeted with a very obnoxious sounding “NO” buzzer sound, and also lose a minute for each incorrect guess.
Theme: The various scenarios involved are quite different as far as theme. That can make it tough to try and mesh 4 different themes into one box. The Chrono-Decoder is a nice touch. It provides a timer and background music. It is a prop as much as it is a cool gadget. I like how it gives you a very hands-on tangible experience. There is also a handy app you can download for most phones. The app provides some additional features and theming for the various scenarios. One great little add-on is that at the conclusion of your escape, it has a nice photo filter you can use to highlight your victory.
Time to Play: Each game is more or less hardcoded at 60 minutes. It is a decent amount of time to complete each room. 60 minutes seems to be the baseline for these games. It is just the right amount of time if you and your friends got through one game quickly, you may elect to do a second game. Having that hardcoded time is nice because it gives people a clear expectation of the game length.
Difficulty: The 4 scenarios included have different levels of difficulty that it conveys upfront. That’s a great feature, especially if you wanted to unleash this on friends who haven’t had any sort of escape room experience. Likewise, if the majority of your group knows what to expect, you may opt to select the higher difficulty.
Exit: (Various Titles)
It is best to discuss all the Exit: games all at once. All the Exit games are more or less one and done. There is no way to play the game, and then later, play it again. But for right around fifteen bucks, it is tough to go wrong. All of the Exit games are small box games. Designed to be low-cost productions, they won’t pack as much pageantry and theming as the others. That said, they still pack a wallop when it comes to deciphering a fun puzzly mess.
Theme: As mentioned the game isn’t going to provide a lot of extra theming when it comes to components. That said you can enhance the mood by playing creepy music, playing in dim lighting, or playing in costume. The Exit games are one and done. Once you play through the game once, there really isn’t a way to do it again, even if you were unsuccessful. Throughout the game, you will be either tearing up pieces, writing on them, or manipulating the game in such that you won’t be able to play it again. That said – it adds a lot of tangible feel to the game.
Time to Play: Depending on which Exit game you go with you are looking at between an hour and two hours. When you elect to play an Exit game, that will probably be THE game for the night. But that’s ok – while it comes in a small box you and your fellow escape artists will definitely have your hands full. Some of the Exit games also have a solo mode – so you can start and stop the game as you see fit if you are playing alone.
Difficulty: Each Exit game will have a scale of difficulty. You should be able to find one or two to fit your group. I recommend Exit: The Abandoned Cabin. It’s a bit middle of the road and should give you a good flavor to the game style. Most of the games rely more on riddles than clues per se
Escape Room in a Box: The Werewolf Experiment
Finally a game with replay value – more on that in a bit.
The Werewolf Experiment gives you lots of different pieces to touch, feel, and manipulate. It does the best job of making you feel like you’ve driven to an actual Escape Room and walked through the front door. The puzzles, tangibles, and riddles are spot-on for what you’d see in an actual Escape Room
Theme: Yes – this box is packed full of lots of gadgets, puzzles, and manipulatives. No – you won’t feel like there is a mad scientist bearing down on you. We have to give it low marks for having the theme shine through, but we were too distracted by all the cool puzzles to care! In addition to a cool game, you can get even more features of an Escape Room experience by using the Alexa app. Now you can incorporate music, keep track of time, and even get a hint when needed. It lowers the barrier to entry even more by having a guided host through the experience.
Time to Play: This game clocks in at under two hours. This provides time to perhaps play another game of something else or call it an evening after completing it.
Difficulty: Although it has a lot of bells and whistles, this isn’t as much of a brain burner as some of the others on the list.
Special marks for The Werewolf Experiment for an extended shelf life. You can hop on over to the website and reprint any of the items you destroyed or otherwise altered during gameplay.
We are big on The Werewolf Experiment and think you will be too.
Unlock! (Insert Title)
Unlock! games take a page from the Exit: series. Use the same formula for offering an escape room, and offer it over a variety of themes and difficulties. It does an OK job but sometimes feels like the forgotten kitten in the liter that is Escape Room games.
I think if you wanted to pick a title that gave you and your group the best shot of winning – I might pick up Unlock! Squeek and Sausage. It’s a light-hearted themed game that generally gets a laugh out of most players.
Theme: The games use an app, similar to some of the games we’ve suggested already. The app will act as a host and keep track of the time and let you know the accuracy of your guesses. Correct responses will of course advance the story.
Time to Play: The goal is to Unlock the mystery in under 60 minutes. It is definitely doable. The shorter time frame allows for other games and may appeal to shorter attention spans.
Difficulty: This is going to feature the easiest puzzles in the bunch. These are all very solvable. That doesn’t mean it’s an easy walkthrough. The nice thing about the Unlock! series is like Exit:, there are plenty to choose from with degrees of difficulty throughout.
Escape room themed games have certainly gained popularity over the past 5 years. Series like Unlock! and Exit: provide a nice selection if you like the way they deliver the experience. Escape the Room has other additions as well that we believe will provide an equally immersive experience.