Escape Rooms Explained: How They Work And How To Pick One

An escape room is a game where a small team solves a chain of puzzles under time pressure. The classic version locks you in a themed room for sixty minutes. The outdoor version does the same thing across a city centre, with the streets as the room. Both rely on the same mechanic: find something, work out what it means, use it to open the next thing.

This is a plain guide to how they work and how to choose one, including the parts most booking pages leave out.

How an escape room works

You arrive, get a short briefing and a story, and then the clock starts. Inside, puzzles are usually chained: a combination found in one place opens a box somewhere else, which contains the clue for the next step. Most rooms have a hint system, either a screen on the wall or a games master watching, and using hints is normal rather than a failure.

Sixty minutes is the standard. Success rates vary hugely by room, and a room that almost everyone escapes is not badly designed; it's designed for a different audience than the one that nearly nobody escapes.

Indoor and outdoor: the real differences

Indoor rooms

A fixed, decorated space with physical props, locks and often electronics. The atmosphere is the main draw: lighting, sound and set design do a lot of work. The limits are practical - a fixed time slot, a room that fits a set number of people, and a booking you can't move on the day.

Outdoor and city escape games

The puzzles are tied to real buildings, statues and inscriptions, and you walk between them. There is no room to book, so no fixed start time and no maximum of six in a small space. You lose the set design and gain daylight, air and a city you actually see. It also scales: five teams can play the same route at once, which an indoor room cannot do.

How to pick one for your group

Group size. Four to six people is the sweet spot for both formats. With eight in one indoor room, two people will spend the hour holding a coat. Larger groups should split into teams; outdoors that's easy, indoors it means booking two rooms.

Difficulty. If half your group has never done one, pick something described as beginner-friendly. A hard room with first-timers means an hour of standing around waiting for the two experienced players to solve it.

Theme. Horror rooms with actors are a genuinely different experience from a puzzle room. Check before booking whether anyone in the group would hate being frightened, because someone usually would and won't say so in a group chat.

Time available. An indoor room takes about ninety minutes including briefing and photos. An outdoor route is two to two and a half hours but can be paused for coffee.

The things worth checking beforehand

Claustrophobia and locked doors. Reputable venues never actually lock you in - the door opens from the inside and you can leave at any time. If that matters to someone in your group, ask directly, and if the answer isn't a clear yes, choose an outdoor game instead.

Accessibility. Many indoor rooms have crawl spaces, low doorways or stairs. Outdoor routes are flat walks but cover a few kilometres. Both are worth checking rather than assuming.

Language. Puzzles built on wordplay don't translate. If the group is mixed, check which languages the game is actually available in.

Children. Most indoor rooms set a minimum age, often around ten, and younger children need an adult on the team who is genuinely playing.

What makes a good session

Say your ideas out loud, even the ones that sound stupid. Most failed rooms fail because three people were each quietly working on the same lock. Put found items in one place so nobody re-searches a drawer for the fifth time. And take the hints - the game isn't graded, and a room finished with three hints is more fun than a room not finished with none.

Where a city escape game fits

If you want the puzzle-solving without the fixed slot, the small room, or the booking you can't move, an outdoor version does the same job. Teams of four to six follow a route through the centre, solving puzzles attached to what's in front of them.

You can see which cities have routes and pick one nearby. The page on how the game works covers the format in a couple of minutes if you've only done indoor rooms before.

For bigger groups, where several teams play at once, there's a setup for companies and groups.

Frequently asked questions

How long does an escape room take?

Indoor rooms are usually sixty minutes plus briefing, so allow ninety in total. Outdoor city routes take two to two and a half hours.

How many people do you need?

Four to six works best. Two is possible but hard; more than six in one indoor room means someone is standing still.

Are you actually locked in?

No. Legitimate venues keep the door openable from the inside at all times, and you can leave whenever you want.

Do you need experience?

No. Rooms are rated by difficulty, and beginner rooms assume you've never done one. Hints exist for exactly this reason.

What age are they suitable for?

Indoor rooms usually set a minimum around ten. Outdoor games suit children from about eight upwards when playing with adults.

What happens if you don't escape in time?

Nothing. The games master explains the remaining puzzles, which is often the best part, and outdoor routes simply have no cut-off at all.

In short

Pick the difficulty for the least experienced person in the group, keep teams to six, ask about claustrophobia and accessibility before booking, and use the hints. If you'd rather play outdoors than in a room, we've written more about the outdoor escape room format.

Not sure which format suits your group? Ask us through the contact page and we'll say honestly whether ours is the right fit.