Hello everyone! Sure, escape rooms are fun (duh), but have you thought about doing them... faster?

You're smart, but are you systematic?

These three hints will help you work together as a team in an escape room, get out faster, and set records.

1. Designate Roles

Almost every group has that one person who tries to do it all... all by themselves. Have designated roles, set beforehand, for the smoothest experience. Someone who is good at looking at the big picture, but struggles to solve individual puzzles, be the "leader." They will best be able to see who would be best to work on what. Odds are, they're not going to solve most puzzles themselves. Instead, after one person gets the answer to a puzzle, the leader will know who to give it to or where to put it. Some people are good at just looking through everything and finding the keys and puzzle components. Others are good at seeing that the puzzle components match the stars in the sky. The leader's job is to smooth over conversation and make sure all the gears can work together.

2. Keep Used Keys in Locks, or in a Designated Space

In every escape room I've built or done (which is a chunky amount), you only use every key once. Once you use a key, you should remove it from the equation so your teammates do not get confused. Ideally, the leader is keeping track of who is doing what, and what has been used, but a lot of moving parts can be confusing. Keeping the keys in the locks shows that they've already been used. Putting them all in, say, a bucket also makes sense. Just make sure that the bucket isn't also a clue, and doesn't have a clue on the bottom.

3. Pace Out Using Your Hints

This is pretty simple. Don't use them all in the first five minutes. Also, don't refuse to use them when you're stuck on the same puzzle for twenty minutes. Here at Nerdscape, we allow unlimited hints, but you can only use three or less if you want to get on the leader board.

Sorry for the super long newsletter this week. I thought it would be shorter but I guess there's a lot to say about escape rooms. Who knew?

Hope to see you soon,

Rebecca