How to Choose the Right Escape Room Theme for Your Group
Escape rooms are great for family, friends, and co-workers. They combine entertainment, collaboration, and challenges in a fun way. Picking a good escape room theme is one of the most important parts of the process, as there are lots of options to choose from.
All escape rooms incorporate a thinking challenge, but the theme that is selected builds the framework of the experience. This is how the group interacts and plays the game. This sets the mood of the escape room. What may be an exciting room for one group may be a challenging room for another group.
Choosing the right theme for the escape room builds the most memorable experience. You want to incorporate the most important parts to the process. What are the most important parts of the experience? Let's break down the theme parts of the escape room. This will help you decide which one builds the best experience.
Know Your Team
This is the most important part of building your experience. You want to know all of the participants of the game.
You can answer some of these questions to help build the room:
Is it all one group, family, co-workers, friends?
Are there any kids or seniors in the room?
What adults will be participating?
Do you know if any of your contestants have playing experience?
A group with kids may enjoy a treasure hunt. A group of all adults with lots of experience may enjoy a mystery with a crime and challenging details.
The more you know about your group, the more options you will have.
Match the Experience Level
Some rooms target new players, while others cater to regulars. Check your group’s experience before choosing a room.
First-time players should typically stick to rooms built around beginner themes. They introduce basic room etiquette and teamwork and provide a learning experience without causing frustration.
Conversely, advanced players are likely to enjoy a room with a complex and multi-layered storyline, deep puzzles, and extra hidden clues.
The right room choice makes the experience fun and fulfilling.
Choose a Theme Everyone Will Enjoy
Escape rooms come in a wide variety of themes. Here are just a few examples:
Detective mystery
Prison escape
Treasure hunt
Horror
Fantasy
History
Spy
Science fiction
Think about what your group does and enjoys outside of escape rooms. If your group enjoys detective films, solving a murder mystery is a natural choice. If your group enjoys a good treasure hunt, an adventure is probably the best choice.
The more the themes resonate with your group, the more fun the escape room will be.
Decide How Scary You Want the Experience to Be
A common mistake is to book a horror-themed escape room without checking your group’s comfort level with scary situations.
Some horror-themed escape rooms incorporate ominous lighting, sound cues, and suspense. Some even utilize live actors. Some people enjoy the thrill of the horror rooms, while many people find the experience to be more stressful than fun.
Check with everyone in the group to make sure the whole group has the same level of comfort with horror.
If horror is not the theme, consider mystery, detective, or adventure themes that provide excitement, but don’t rely on the element of fear.
How Many People Are in Your Group?
Escape rooms are designed for different numbers of participants.
Rooms designed for a group of six to eight can feel too difficult for a group of two, and larger rooms can lead to too many participants and not enough tasks.
Average group size is something you should definitely consider.
You want an escape room experience that keeps the entire group engaged and active the whole time.
What is the Challenge Level?
Each escape room has a challenge level.
This will give you an idea if the puzzles will be too easy, just the right amount of challenge, or too difficult.
Difficult rooms can be fun, but may lead to frustration if your group is not on the skilled side of the spectrum.
You want a good challenge that will promote teamwork and keep the group from being too stuck.
What Other Experiences are Offered?
The traditional view of escape rooms is that they are only about solving puzzles to find keys and locks. Many escape rooms offer more than just the typical style.
A mixture of design elements is an important feature of an escape room. These include:
Good storytelling
Good design
Elements that engage participants
Logical elements
Good flow
Good quality sound and lighting
The best escape rooms cover all these design elements and make players feel like they are in a different world rather than making them feel like they are solving a bunch of puzzles.
When looking at escape room reviews or descriptions, look at the comments on the design and how immersive the experience is.
Think About the Occasion
The reason for getting a group of people together and going to the escape room influences your choice of design. For instance:
Birthday themes are good for adventurous themes
Family themes are good for fun, light-hearted themes
Work themes are good for rooms that create and aid puzzle and goal room collaboration
Friend themes are good for competitions
Couple themes are good for small, light story rooms
Designing along these suggestions creates good memories.
Read Reviews Before Booking
Escape room reviews give good descriptions of the experience from the perspective of a previous participant. To get the best understanding, focus on the descriptions of the:
Puzzles
Story
Staff
Room condition
Enjoyment
Difficulty
Descriptions help you know more than what is in the escape room title. If a lot of reviews say the room is frightening or very hard, you can be prepared before you book.
Think About Teamwork
Escape rooms are all about teamwork and collaboration. Some rooms even make players break off into separate groups, while others require the room to be worked on in its entirety. If your goal is to make the group work together and participate, choose a room that makes people work together.
The most engaging escape rooms allow for each group member to partake in the activity.
Inquire Before You Reserve
Do you have concerns about which escape room you should take your group to? Don’t hesitate to contact the escape room.
Most of the time, knowledgeable staff will help you pick the appropriate escape room if you tell them about your group’s:
Size
Ages
Interests
Experience
What kind of fun you are after
Any special event you may be having
Choose the appropriate escape room after just a few minutes on the phone with the escape room.
Concentrate on the Experience
Rooms are meant to be escaped from, but the majority of the time, first-timers are the most focused on escaping.
The enjoyment of the escape room comes from the experience, and the time spent in the room with the group is appreciated.
Collaborating as a unit, relishing the little achievements, and working through the challenges with the group usually are the most memorable moments.
Most groups usually leave with good experiences, even if they don’t escape the room.
The room escape experience is about what the group enjoys and how comfortable you all are, not necessarily about what the most sought-after room is.
You should think about what everyone playing enjoys, how experienced they are and what kind of room they are comfortable with. You can customize your experience by checking what the reviews say, how difficult the room is and speaking with the escape room staff.
At The Hidden Hour, we bring your team together with unique and exciting designs for our escape rooms that harness your skills of teamwork, curiosity, and fun! Great for every event, from family fun days, team building days, and birthdays, we have the perfect themed escape room for a fun-filled adventure!
