Escape room for at home: we put it to the test
17.4.2018
Translation: machine translated
Escape Room is a room that you and your friends have to break out of in a certain amount of time. To do this, you have to solve several puzzles correctly. You can now also do this from home at the kitchen table, as Escape Room is now also available as a parlour game. We have tested it.
Some of you are already familiar with the principle or have already played an escape room. Such games are offered in several cities in Switzerland. The same principle applies to the parlour game from Noris. Here, however, you don't have to break out of a room, but solve a puzzle in a certain amount of time.
What is the aim of this game?
Escape Room by Noris contains four different games. Each of these games presents a different puzzle that must be solved together in a group. The aim is to solve the puzzle before the time runs out. You have exactly one hour to do this. The included games offer different levels of difficulty, allowing you to vary the level of challenge.
To avoid going completely off the rails, you can draw clue cards at different time intervals to put you and your friends on the right track to solve the puzzle.
Who is it suitable for?
As the game involves networked thinking and some maths tasks, Escape Room is suitable for players aged 16 and over, according to the manufacturer. They recommend a group of two to five people to solve the puzzles. The game could also be solved alone, but is nowhere near as much fun as in a group.
Our internal duel
In order to test this game for its suitability, we tested it twice. Each time by a different team. This resulted in a small internal duel. Who can do it faster than the others? Five employees from Marketing competed against five employees from Product Management. A duel on two fronts, so to speak. Winning was a question of honour for both teams, as they were competing on behalf of their entire department.
The conditions were identical for both teams. However, it should be mentioned that the Product Management team members do not all have the same native language, so there was a certain language barrier. However, drawing logical conclusions and thinking in a networked way is not dependent on language. The only thing that was a little more difficult was communicating with each other.
One hour sounds like enough time at first, but various puzzles have to be solved in order to complete the mission successfully. Time flew by for both teams. There were loud discussions and ideas were exchanged, keywords and possible solutions were written on paper and time was running out. After about 20 minutes, we solved the first stage of the puzzle. At first, we thought we had already done everything. However, we soon realised that this was just the beginning. More tricky tasks and obstacles followed. Step by step is the best strategy. Don't think too much and do one thing at a time. I won't go into the specific tasks here. Otherwise I would be spoiling the whole game for you. 😀
It was exciting to see how we worked as a team. It really helped us as colleagues, as we worked hard together to find a solution. When we had solved the entire puzzle at the end, we were proud of each other and could pat each other on the back. I can therefore recommend this game with a clear conscience as a team-building measure for your job.
But who won now? Both teams had to photograph the remaining time on the decoder at the end as proof.
The winner was Team Marketing. We solved the escape room in 51 minutes. It was pretty close for Team Product Management towards the end. They had just 53 seconds left before the time would have run out.
Conclusion
The puzzles in Escape Room by Noris are exciting and fun thanks to their different levels of difficulty for different levels. It promotes team spirit enormously, as one person alone could hardly solve the puzzle. Everyone has to pull together to crack the puzzle in the allotted time.
I think the minimum age of 16 is a good choice. Some of the puzzles are extremely complex and would not be understood by younger players. If you enjoy solving tricky puzzles and want to try out a new game with your friends, I can highly recommend this parlour game.
Riding my motorbike makes me feel free, fishing brings out my inner hunter, using my camera gets me creative. I make my money messing around with toys all day.
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