An escape room, also known as an escape game, puzzle room, exit game, or riddle room, is a game in which a team of players discovers clues, solve puzzles, and accomplish tasks in one or more spaces to accomplish a specific goal in a limited amount of time. The goal is often to escape from the site of the game.
Each escape room is unique, with its themes, adventures, and storylines, such as Escape Room Palm Springs. However, some types of escape rooms come before all these things. For Example:
- LINEAR ESCAPE ROOMS
A linear escape room game is one in which you must solve one puzzle before moving forward to solve the next one. All the puzzles go in a specific sequence.
This kind of escape room is ideal for smaller teams since all the questions pop up at once, and nobody is left without anything to do. This is perfect for first-time game players and people who want to enjoy the escape room challenge without being totally and utterly confused.
The great thing about these rooms is that they are usually reasonably organized. The player usually can see where the gamemaster is trying to take them. Usually, only 1-2 people can open a lock at a time or solve a puzzle. So, while everyone can contribute, there can be a lot of time spent with players having nothing to do.
- NON-LINEAR ESCAPE ROOM
I’m sure you can guess by the title, but in case you can’t, I’m here to help: a non-linear escape room usually has multiple puzzles that everyone solves simultaneously. They often come together at the end of the game to form one giant, game-ending puzzle.
This room is great for experienced players and large groups. Usually, everyone has something to do, and the players are challenged on their organizational skills, communication, and pure puzzle-solving powers. At the end of the game, they combine what they’ve got to produce a giant puzzle that solves the whole game.
Large groups and expert players will both enjoy this space. Everyone usually has a job to accomplish, and the players are tested on their efficiency in planning, communicating, and solving puzzles. For companies that choose the escape room game as a team-building activity, the non-linear escape rooms are the best since they prompt the players to solve problems as a team.
- MIXED LINEAR AND NON-LINEAR
These rooms tend to have one bottleneck puzzle that reveals several more minor mysteries that all get solved to solve one more giant puzzle that will produce another set of smaller, often easier puzzles, and so on, until the game is won.
This way, you still have big overarching linear puzzles to solve in sequence but several smaller puzzles that can be divided among the team members along the way.
This is perfect for all group sizes. They are often well organized, give all players something to do, yet have a precise sequence and order.
- RED HERRING
Red herring escape rooms interestingly got their name from the red-headed foil kid in the 1980s mystery-comedy series A Pup Named Scooby-Do.
Technically, this room can be non-linear, linear, or mixed. However, this escape room’s central component is filled with tricks and ploys. Hence, it would be best to keep an eye out for anything that can divert your attention from the real problems whenever you are in one of these escape rooms.
There might be several dead ends and time wasters in the form of hints. Some players become annoyed if they choose the wrong option, while others genuinely relish the opportunity to tell the actual directions from deceptive signals. Due to its nature, large teams that struggle to agree and adopt a single course of action may find a red herring escape room quite challenging.
On the other hand, teams with excellent communication skills, patience, and expertise will surely enjoy this game.
Players must work through all room elements to determine what is or is not part of the game. Likewise, that clock on the wall with that symbol does NOTHING.
- SCAVENGER HUNT
This room, again, could technically be linear, non-linear, or mixed. However, their fundamental concept is that there are often no riddles or puzzles to solve and that they are only focused on scavenger hunting. Consequently, these escape rooms do not usually require strategy.
These rooms are exciting and have mixed reviews. Scavenger hunts are fun and part of most escape room games. But when it’s almost all scavenging, the game gets a little monotonous.
Finding specific things, finding more, and repeating this process is all you will have to do in a scavenger hunt escape room. Hunting or finding clues is included in every escape game, of course. However, hunting is not combined with problem-solving in a scavenger hunt escape room. Scavenger hunt escape rooms merely consist of discovering things and hints and require less aptitude for solving puzzles.