33 of the Funniest Things People Did in an Escape Room

One escape room had to ban screwdrivers
33 of the Funniest Things People Did in an Escape Room

Escape rooms have a simple premise: escaping. Not surprisingly then, they’re all designed so that they are in fact escapable, meaning employees won’t place visitors in an impossible situation no matter how much they deserve it. Unfortunately, many patrons think escape-room employees are pulling a fast one on them and end up going way harder than necessary — just ask the person who literally jumped out of a window. They did successfully escape on a technicality, but at what cost? 

Anyway, employees have shared some of the funniest things they’ve seen customers do to solve the puzzle, and a lot of these tales should as a stark (and helpful) reminder that there are cameras in the escape rooms.

AgentJin . 6y The guy gave some rules to us when we were doing the room. The first rule he gave us was Please keep your clothes on. ... 10.5k
Chaosaraptor . 4y I've learned not to make the final stage a lock with a key, because damn if I haven't met some of the best lockpicks in the state. ... 2.7k
Tcmmi . 6y Employee here. One group gave up after 5 minutes, and decided to drink alcohol rest of the game. They paid 120€ for the game ... 10k
MrNighty . 1 1y I don't know if it's the weirdest but we had a puzzle which involved morse code. Usually you had to use an endoscope to find the alphabet in a chest. One person in this group actually knew the whole alphabet and was able to solve it. ... 1.9k
Blueaznx3 . . 6y Just started working at escape the room and we have rules about not jumping out the windows and not sticking keys into wall sockets because it has all happened before. ... 13.2k
. 6y It was only a one-off escape room I designed for a university society event, but one guy was so desperate to find clues he tried to disassemble the wooden casing around a radiator. It scared me because I didn't own the room we were doing this in, so I could have been on serious trouble. ... 7.4k
Party_Shark_ . . 6y I don't work at Escape the Room, I work at Breakout Games, but it's the same deal. I had a couple in a handcuffed/blindfolded room start feeling each other up until I said over the microphone Just a reminder that I can see you guys from 4 cameras in the room, if you need any hints let me know!
MrKerk 6y I saw a man eat a magnet. There are rubber snakes in the room and one has a magnet in its mouth. Не thought he should do as the snake did. Не offered it back, but we told him once he found it he could keep it. ... 195
Dank_Pickles . 6y We give people a box for them to bring in, so they can store their belongings while they play. One time, about halfway in, an inquisitive older man started going through their own stuff. Не pulled out a purse and shouts guys guys, I found some... this is our stuff isn't it It was hilarious. ... 19.3k
Bluewhite618 . 6y We use to have a giant banana as a mascot and once we had a group of kids that were intoxicated and the one of the guys in the room started crying so we decided to let him hold it. So the guy cuddled with it on the ground and fell asleep about 10 minutes into the game. Had the time of his life ... 212
Dorza1 . 1y I am not an escape room employee but I did a lot of em and talked to the employees often. One of them told me there was a simple lock (opened by a key) that had Yale written on it (the name of the lock company) and a lady (not native English speaker) thought it read yell and legit shouted OPEN!! at it, expecting it to open. ... 3.6k
darwin57 . 6y Did a space stationed themed room. We got paired with a mother and her adult sons. The sons did just fine but mom was clueless. There was a prop fire extinguisher on the wall that she was CERTAIN had to be for something. For an hour she wandered around aimlessly carrying a fire extinguisher. ... 8.6k
sharrrper . 1y A friend of mine works for an escape room and he told me one about a puzzle where the key to the next door was shackled to a desk by a combination lock. What you are supposed to do is figure out the combination for the lock from the clues around the room to free the key. What one group decided to do instead was get a guy on each corner and pick up the 150 pound desk and carry it across the room, slide the key into the lock, and then rotate the entire desk to
magnolious . 6y Actually work in an escape room but this one happened to my colleague. We have this false door who leads to a wall which is to make people believe that's the way the came in (they're blindfolded at first). One guy was so happy that he found the last key in a record time, that when he opened the door, he slammed his head so hard that the group in the next room got scared. ... 373
LarleneLumpkin 5y I went to one last year and the organisers were giving us the rules beforehand, including things like don't pull up the carpet, don't dismantle any electric devices etc. We were laughing that people would even think of doing that and then they told us that wasn't the worse of it. The rooms were in an old tenament building with fireplaces. Apparently one guy in the past was positive there was a clue hidden behind the old, boarded up fire place so he managed to break through and climb up the shaft all before staff could intervene. They
. 6y At our establishment we have a room called Jailbreak with a fake door towards the very end (it's covered with plywood). this girl takes one look at it and says jail...break.... and charges the door full force and breaks through. ... 25.8k
Xenomorph_Queen 1y One of the puzzles is opened at the start of the room to reveal a large jug of water with a floating key, but the water level is too low for you to reach it. As you progress through the room you get smaller canteens to fill up the jug. Bachelor party comes in already tipsy, orders multiple drinks as they progress through the room, and at some point one of them pisses into the jug to raise the water level. This is what made me leave for another job. If you ever go to an escape room,
breathe_intheair . 6y Escape Room employee here, we have a game that has wooden floors and guests regularly try to pull up the nailed down floorboards with a hammer that's in the room, thinking they'll find clues. Also one time I asked the group if they had ever played an escape game before, and an elderly gentleman responded one time my wife tied me up and gagged me. Does that count? His friends thought it was hilarious, but the high school couple that was obviously on a first date they were paired up with did not find it as funny.
hussain300 6y Actual escape room employee here! The weirdest thing I saw was a young couple, in our hardest room (they asked for our hardest), who when they couldn't solve our puzzles took off their shoes and just sat down and talked. When I would send them hints (to get them to start playing again), the lady would call me a commie. It was weird. For example: the lady would pick up a red clue paper that goes with a pyramid puzzle. They would stare at it, then put it to the side. I type in a hint the red
hamsterv60 . 4y There was a group of people who was doing a space themed Escape Room. In one of the rooms, there was an astronaut suit which was supposed to just serve as a prop. But one of the members thought that it might be needed to solve one of the rooms. So he ended up traversing through the entire escape room while wearing an astronaut suit. And no it wasn't needed to solve anything.
phunkjnky . 1y I had some friends enter an escape room that as part of the puzzle, had a numeric keypad on the wall to let them out. Upon entering, my friend thought it would be hilarious to randomly press some buttons. Не stumbled upon the correct code, and they were out in under a minute, and no he has no idea what buttons he pressed. ... 605
mackenzicles . 4y We had a code hidden on a thermochromatic mug. There was also a teabag, a kettle and a paper clue saying to make a cup of tea. Had a group get stuck because they thought it was joking and never made the tea. ... 3.9k
AnArmedPenguin . 6 6y Someone cleared all the boxes and locks off of a table in the corner, laid down on it, and went to sleep until the group escaped. ... 24.2k
Snowf1ake222 . 1y Had a group of engineers who were familiar with the style of the lock effectively reverse engineer the lock. They showed us how they did it afterwards. ... 15.4k
hittingtheground . ! 5y The room had electronic components, so there were electric wires that were tied down but looped around the room. One Friday night, someone tried licking them, just in case. ... 2.3k
WildyMegaWolf 6y For some reason people like to put the flashlight that one of our rooms has in their mouth when they know they aren't the only ones who have used them. Some people put them between their legs, in the crack of their ass as a joke, and not to mention just roll around the ground a majority of the time. Besides that I've seen relationships almost fall apart. One couple insisted on going into our most challenging room just the two of them, and we let them know this was probably not going to be a good idea
Kitten4life 5y There was a VERY pregnant lady in the group. We asked her if she was at risk of going into labor at any time, but she said she was fine. We let her in. The entire group was getting upset because they weren't doing well. They were in the hardest room we have, it's always a big deal if you make it out. They kept asking me for the code they needed to escape, and I had to keep telling them I couldn't say what it was. They had to discover it. So pregnant lady took out the
puntini 5y I can answer this! One of our rooms has a bed in it with white sheets. There was this group who was in the room working on the last puzzle, a logic puzzle. There's a sheet of paper in the room that's full of facts about a murder that you're trying to solve. The group wasn't quite getting the puzzle so I typed up The white sheet of paper in room three will be a lot of help. So the group runs into the room and starts tearing all the white sheets off the bed and I type
lovelleigh 6y I own an escape room and I once guided couple into one of our more moody ambiance room and they told me we would totally base a sex dungeon off this vibe. See, you even have a desk in here to get started! Also you see people's true parenting skills. My favorite quote is from a lovely family that went into a room and 5 minutes in the father gathered his overeager children and told them you're being assholes. We're in a huge tech area and we get a lot of corporate groups with some very important people.
CPTSaltyDog . 4y While doing an escape room the bottom drawer was locked and one of the members of our party of randoms were trying a long time to try and open it. The top drawer wasnt locked so I just pulled it all the way out. Then I reached in the drawer to grab the item. Apparently that's not the solution but the property owners running the game for us got a kick out of it. ... 1.5k
RayRay223 6y People have tried to climb through the ceiling tiles on multiple occasions. We now have to mention in the pre- game spiel that it's not necessary to climb through the ceiling tiles. My job often reminds me of this scene in the office. People laugh at the things we mention, but anything we mention that you don't have to do has probably been attempted before. One of my co-workers said that a group started getting really destructive in the room, to the point where they literally threw the computer on the floor to see if something was hidden
euuuuuuu 5y Once a group disassembled a portable AC unit hoping to find a key. There wasn't any key. From that moment screwdriver were forbidden. But the best team I remember was the first team that ever played. We made a big, enormous, GIGANTIC mistake: we forgot the entire detailed instructions inside the room, right at the entrance on a table. They found it immediately, they started reading it, they clearly saw that every combination, every puzzle, every piece of history and every piece of furniture but they didn't realize it was the complete walkthrough, and in some unknown way
Intenseltalian 6y Escape room employee here. In one of our rooms, we have an actor pose as a spy, and the people in the room had to solve a case to figure out who the traitor was. After they finished the puzzles, it turns out the traitor was actually the spy the actor was playing. The spy then pulls an obviously prop gun (orange tip and whatnot), and the group has to diffuse a fake bomb. One of the groups that did this room was a police squad that was doing this to bond. When the actor pulled the fake
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