Ask Escape Review

When planning new content for this site, it was suggested, as a joke, that we do an agony uncle page. Never one to avoid running a bad gag into the ground, we decided to comply…

Dear Dean,

I’m having a crisis of confidence and really beginning to doubt myself. I recently attended an escape room experience where I didn’t find the puzzles intuitive. Am I just bad at these games? The games master was dicking around with the timer at the end of the game adding on extra minutes to make me feel like I’d won, but I think they were just being kind. Their feedback was patronising and said I was good at finding things. What should I do?

Yours,
Indignant, but sad, of Kent.

Indignant: the first thing to remember is that being good at finding things is great! Don’t ever let people tell you otherwise. There are plenty of enthusiasts and room owners that couldn’t find a cog in a drawer. You probably have one of the rarest skills among regular escapers and should be proud of that.

The second thing to remember is to always blame the game. The puzzles were unintuitive, you’re not thick. To make sure everyone understands this, it’s important that you state this quite clearly on the room’s Trip Advisor profile. This isn’t an optional step: you have to do this loudly and publicly, to ensure that no-one is left going around thinking that you’re a bit thick.

Lastly, remember that losing happens to everyone from time to time, and it’s not something to be ashamed of. That said, in this case: definitely take the win. It’s possible the game-master was adding on extra time in the end, but it’s also possible the game was so bad it just felt like you’d been in there for ninety minutes.

Contact us at dean@escapereview.co.uk or leave a comment here if you need help with a future escape related problem…