Have you ever wanted to create your own escape room? Maybe you’re looking to add some creativity to an at-home date night, something to do during your quarantine (this was written during COVID-19) or a way to hide a birthday present.
You may be thinking it’s an impossible undertaking, but it’s not! And we’re here to help 🙂
If you are building your own at-home escape room, we recommend a “treasure hunt” or scavenger hunt style game. You will hide a reward at the end of the scavenger hunt and lead your player(s) to it. Along the way, the player(s) will find clues and solve puzzles using normal household items.
Need To See An Example To Wrap Your Mind Around This?
We recently created our own escape room-style scavenger hunt around our headquarters. We locked Max’s, our Marketing Manager, phone in a box and sent him on an epic search to find a key. Throughout his epic journey, he had to fire a bow and arrow, talk to a robot and open what appeared to be a sealed bag of chips. In the end, he was reunited with his phone. Watch the full video here.
P.s. Don’t be intimidated by the video element or the game guide in another room, that’s not necessary at all.
Below are a few household items you can include in your scavenger hunt along with an idea for how to build a clue around that item. You can build your whole game around these clues or add your own! We will give you some ideas as to how to personalize the game as well.
Learn more about other fun at-home, virtual escape room options here!
Examples Clues
And those are just a few examples! You could also use:
- the trashcan (tape something under the lid)
- mirror (write a message backwards that can be read when held up to a mirror)
- bed (something under the bed or in a pillowcase)
- TV remote (replace the batteries with a small clue)
- freezer or refrigerator (something hidden inside or taped to an item)
- coffee mug (hidden inside their favorite mug)
- window (taped on window or behind blinds and curtains)
Also, here are some additional tips and tricks to make this a great scavenger hunt:
- Know your players’ skillset. Don’t make the game too long or the riddles too frustrating. This should be fun!
- Be prepared to help! Have a few hints at the ready to assist your players.
- Don’t get stuck trying to build the hunt. Feel free to look for riddles online or incorporate game pieces you already have.
- Be creative! Hide codes in riddles, like replacing the number “4” for an “A” or a “3” for an “E”. Or add a theme to the hunt, ie. everything involves your last vacation together.
- Feel free to throw in a few red herrings if you think your players would enjoy the challenge.
- Keep it simple! Don’t try to reinvent the wheel. Stick to puzzles, codes, “unlocking”, and searching/finding!
- Most important: HAVE FUN!
Alright, now you’re ready! Lead your players from item to item, add some puzzles and hints and BOOM, escape room. We’d love to see your photos and ideas and even add them to this blog. Email them to Hello@TheEscapeGame.com and we will feature some of the best submissions.
We may even have to reward a few top submissions with an invitation to tour our Adventure Factory where our games are made!
