Whether it’s your first escape room or your fiftieth, a few smart habits can make the difference between a last-second victory and staring at the clock in defeat. Here are our top tips to help you escape faster, smarter, and with far less panic. Now, obviously, all escape rooms are different, and potentially not all this advice will suit every room, but we believe that these escape room tips will work for the majority of escape rooms in the UK, but definitely Enigma Rooms.
As soon as you enter the room, spread out and search everything. You want as many eyes on as many objects as possible.
Look out for:
Locks and what type they are (number, letter, directional, key, etc.)
Props that can be moved or picked up
Items that look out of place
Any visible text, symbols, or numbers
Drawers, cupboards, and containers that can already be opened
This initial sweep helps you understand what you’re dealing with and gives your brain a mental map of the room. Even if something doesn’t make sense yet, knowing where it is can save precious time later when you suddenly realise you need it.
Escape rooms aren’t a solo sport — work together.
Most modern escape rooms are linear, meaning you can usually only solve one puzzle at a time. Trying to jump ahead often just leads to confusion, duplicated effort and wastes time.
Instead:
Solve puzzles as a group
Share ideas out loud
Let different people suggest solutions
More brains mean more perspectives, and often the solution is obvious to someone else even when you’re completely stuck.
If a lock isn’t opening and you’re sure the answer is right — that’s your cue to double-check.
Try:
Recounting or re-reading the puzzle
Swapping roles (the person who solved it uses the lock, or vice versa)
Letting someone fresh take a look
A tiny mistake can easily slip by under pressure, and a second pair of eyes often spots it instantly. We get a lot of groups lose time because of stubbornness and refusal to admit there’s a possibility they were wrong.
What do they say on public transport? If you see something, say something? Well, that works just as well in Escape Rooms.
Even if you don’t know how it fits yet, it might be the missing piece for someone else. A symbol, a colour, a word, or a strange object could trigger an idea in another teammate’s brain.
Escape rooms reward loud thinking — silence is rarely your friend.
A lot of the time saying something out loud, any idea you have, say it out loud, it can often make more sense when spoken out loud, OR, it could make it sound like complete nonsense, but at least then you’d know.
Everyone wants to escape the room without hints — we get it. But escape rooms come with time pressure, unfamiliar puzzles, and adrenaline, which means your brain doesn’t always fire on all cylinders.
If you’ve:
Tried multiple ideas
Gone in circles
Started arguing over the same puzzle
…then it’s probably time to ask for a hint.
At Enigma, hints are designed to be nudges, not answers. We’ll help confirm you’re on the right track or gently point you towards something you’ve missed — so you can keep the momentum going and enjoy the game properly.
Clutter kills progress.
Most escape rooms are linear, meaning items are usually only used once. Collecting everything is great — but only if you stay organised.
A simple trick:
One pile for items you’ve already used
One pile for items you haven’t
This prevents you from rechecking the same objects over and over and helps you quickly spot what’s still relevant.
“Think outside the box” is common advice — but sometimes people think so far outside the box that they completely miss the obvious.
Always try the simplest solution first.
If a puzzle tells you to:
Jump up and down — actually jump
Shine a torch — try it
Press something — press it
If the obvious doesn’t work, then start thinking laterally. Escape rooms are clever, but they’re not designed to trick you for the sake of it.
Don’t outsmart yourself.
You don’t need to memorise the periodic table, know obscure historical facts, or remember the national animal of Scotland (it’s a unicorn by the way… strange, right?).
Everything you need to escape is within the room.
Escape rooms are designed so that no outside knowledge is required. You won’t need specialist skills, qualifications, or job-specific experience. We often see nurses playing Ward 13 start applying real-world medical knowledge — but all Enigma rooms are built for the GP.
And no, not General Practitioner… we mean the General Public.
If a puzzle feels like it requires information you couldn’t possibly know, that’s usually a sign you’ve missed a clue somewhere. Take a step back, search again, and trust that the answer is already there waiting to be found.
Escape rooms are about logic, teamwork, communication, and staying calm under pressure. Follow these tips and you’ll not only improve your chances of escaping — you’ll enjoy the experience a whole lot more too.
And remember… if all else fails, the clock is ticking — ask for that hint 😉
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