Is your best friend’s birthday or your partner’s coming up and you don’t know what to gift them? Out of gift ideas? Why not create a homemade escape room for some good laughs?
IDEAS, TIPS, AND CHALLENGES TO CREATE A HOMEMADE ESCAPE ROOM
At Fox in a Box, we know how to make an escape room amazing, so here are ideas, tips, and challenges to build a homemade escape room that’s affordable, fun, and unforgettable.
Your friends won’t see it coming, and if you also buy a gift for the lucky one, you can hide it in the final challenge of the game. Ready to get started?
The first thing every great escape room needs is a compelling story. You’ll have to craft an interesting and intriguing narrative that makes sense and fits the space you have to «build» your game. The story you create will immerse the players and can even help you prepare a short intro act. But it doesn’t end there — you can hide story fragments throughout the game where players uncover more details about the mystery they’re solving.
The space you use depends on what’s available to you, but it’s best to make use of all available areas. Any spot can be great to hide objects, place puzzles, or set up challenges. Plus, if you have enough time and don’t mind spending a bit more, decorate the room to match the story you’ve created. This will boost the players’ immersion and take the gaming experience to the next level. Time to get creative!
Every escape room worth its salt has hidden items: puzzle pieces, keys, objects needed for certain challenges… Hide everything well. Some items should be placed in easy-to-find spots so players quickly realize there’s more to discover. But don’t hesitate to hide a few things in trickier, less obvious places. In professional escape rooms, it’s common for players to find parts of a challenge they can’t solve until the very end. This makes them think harder and gives their brains an extra workout.
You can’t think of an escape room without thinking of locks. These little devices have as many fans as they do critics. The truth is, there are tons of different types of locks: directional, numeric, letter-based, magnetic, date locks… Each type opens up loads of creative puzzle possibilities to challenge your guests. Place them on boxes, drawers, or doors and hide important items inside that will be needed for upcoming challenges. This helps you create a logical flow for the puzzle sequence.
Another very common element in escape rooms that’s quite easy to implement is darkness-related challenges. You can have players enter a completely dark room where the lights won’t turn on until they figure out how. They could play in the dark throughout, using only flashlights or similar devices. Or maybe the light they have to turn on is a blacklight bulb revealing a hidden message written on the walls with invisible ink. It’s a cheap but super impactful challenge.
Use all your aces up your sleeve! Don’t hold back, especially when it comes to technology. Using tech in escape rooms is relatively new, but everyone loves it and it usually means more unexpected challenges than locks alone. Obviously, you won’t be able to install all the circuits from professional escape rooms at home, but you probably have a computer, a TV, or a smartphone to play with. Make players turn them on, find the password, figure out the lock pattern, or find clues in the wallpaper. Technology opens up many options — get creative!
You can also stick with simpler challenges, like objects that are out of reach but visible, math problems, or encrypted texts that need to be decoded. Just because they’re simpler doesn’t mean they’re less fun or important. Not every challenge should be high difficulty or players might get frustrated. There should be easier moments where they can advance faster, keeping their energy up throughout the game and making sure no one feels left behind.
Last but definitely not least. It’s essential that you, the Game Master who makes everything run smoothly, stay perfectly organized. For this, you’ll need a good system of hints to help your players: texts, notes slipped under the door, video calls, walkie talkies… Whatever fits best with the theme of your homemade escape room. It’s also handy to print some ‘do not touch’ stickers and place them strategically, like on switches, to keep the room’s atmosphere intact. Just be careful not to overuse them and spoil the vibe you worked so hard to create.
FINAL TIP
With all these tips and challenges, you can create a fully original escape room and impress your friends.
Though if it feels like too much work, you can always come play with us at Fox in a Box. We’ll be waiting with open arms!
