How I Transformed my Apartment into an Escape Room

I've always wanted to visit one of the many "escape room" locations. Growing up, I was always a fan of the escape room games available on the internet (remember those point-and-click puzzle games?). My wife loved those too, so it's only natural that the idea of a real life escape room intrigued us.

Living paycheck to paycheck with two children under the age of 2 has been one of the obstacles standing in our way. We've driven by plenty of escape rooms, tempted to pawn off our kids on a relative so that we can enjoy a night together. Whenever this does happen, there's always a new obstacle: we're tired, would rather catch up on a movie we'd missed out on, and then there's always the issue of money.

About a month ago, I decided to spend a total of $50 on two different escape room themed board games. If we weren't going to make it to the escape room, the escape room was coming home to us. I'd read many reviews on the games that I chose. I had even published a number of articles on a few highly-rated escape room board games, so I wasn't completely unfamiliar with what my wife and I would be getting into.

The games I bought were Escape Room: The Game and Unlock!, both which ended up being an extremely satisfying experience. Escape Room: The Game came with four different adventures, each requiring about an hour to complete. The website explains the experience better than I can:

“Take the viral social experience of Escape Rooms to the comfort of your own home and for a fraction of the cost that you would pay! Included in this game are 4 unique 60-minute escape room puzzles that will test your cranial skills. Use images, gears, words, keys, shapes, maps and more to solve the three stages within each escape room.”

While the first puzzle in the set was the easiest to figure out, there were plenty of frustrating and ultimately rewarding moments. Thankfully, my wife and I were not alone to solve them all.

Unlock! was a different experience as it required an app in order to play. While still capturing the essence of what I imagine a real escape room feels like, my wife and I enjoyed this game less than the other one. Ultimately, the traps on a dangerous island were not as engaging as a ticking time bomb.

Overall, the escape room games succeeded in giving my wife and I a tense and engaging experience that we won't forget anytime soon. For the time and money spent, I'd say it was definitely worth it. We look forward to playing more escape room adventures in the future, including the highly-rated Exit: The Game.