Escape the Game: How to make puzzle and escape rooms

by Adam Clare, Samet Choudhury (Illustrator)

Updated and expanded! Now includes an example puzzle and template you can use in your escape games!

Good escape rooms are made by thinking of the player experience first. Escape the Game covers all aspects of creating your escape room from scratch. The book is meant to inspire designers to think holistically and to think about their escape rooms as more than the sum of their parts. If you are thinking of opening an escape game or are wondering what goes on behind-the-scenes at an escape game this book is for you. Escape the Game addresses the most common questions that people have about designing, making, and running escape rooms. In the book you will There are more than 2,600 real escape games in 60 countries with more opening every month. How will you make yours stand out? Find out how you can stay on trend and make puzzles that really engage players! Escape the Game examines ways that you can make puzzle and puzzle paths that will give players a positive experience. It will encourage you to think about the puzzles as they fit into team dynamics and how you should have a diversity of puzzles. By thinking critically about your escape room and designing it accordingly, you can increase the chances that players will want to return. How will you make sure your escape room is profitable? Get the inside scoop on what previous escape room owners wish they knew before they started. Escape the Game goes beyond just examining design issues to cover the business issues which concern escape room creators. The book will get you thinking about all the costs that go into running a successful escape room. Getting people to come to your room is one challenge, ensuring that you make money from their visits is a whole other challenge. Stop making poor design decisions The book exists due to so many poorly thought out escape rooms. Poor planning can lead to escape rooms that make major, but easily fixed, game design mistakes. Learn how about how to avoid making these critical errors.

176 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 9, 2015

About the author

Adam Clare is the Lead Game Designer at Wero Creative where he makes video and escape games. He is a Professor of Game Design at Sheridan College. He has worked on escape rooms in multiple countries, and wrote the book Escape the Game about designing escape rooms and puzzles.

In 2016 he wrote The Unofficial Pokemon GO Tracker’s Guide: Finding the Rarest Pokemon and Strangest PokeStops on the Planet. Adam has worked on games for nearly every platform from digital to the real world, from VR to AR.

You can follow his research and find his games at RealityIsaGame.

Reviews

[Aubrey Farnsworth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Breadth over depth, Clare covers everything from lingo to player experience to how to run an escape room business. I really wish he had someone proofread his work. The writing mistakes and numerous and terribly distracting. The book doesn't use a seriffed font, so it's visually difficult to read despite its ginormous manual-style page design. Seriously, the lack of editing on here hurts my heart. I just want to fix it!
All that aside, the author is quite knowledgable about his subject, even giving information on international trends. Did you know there's a WWI escape room in Belgium? Asian escape rooms are designed for players to lose?
It's a good reference read. But please. For the love of the book. Proofread and edit before the next print.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

#EscapeTheGame by #AdamClareMEd
..
I was hopeful that this would be about how to best set up and structure the actual puzzles of an Escape Room, and that, coming from someone in Edu- more about the educational potential. Really this should be titled "so you've never heard of an Escape Room, but you want to open a business." There is a disappointing lack of precision here- the generalization was easily accessible information. I'm glad I checked this out at my library, because free.

[H · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this to try to expand my knowledge of creating escape rooms. While this book may offer some insights into those just starting, the latter part of the books is geared toward more a commercial venue than a non-profit or educational environment.

It could verily use an editor! While the content is good, the formatting leaves a bit to be desired; I wanted to get a red pen and start making changes, but I couldn't because it was a library book.

[David Sebek · Rating 5 out of 5]

What also stands out about his book is the ease with which you can reach out and confer with Adam about your escape room. He has been very helpful in helping structure our games.

[Rhett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good content. Needs an editor though.

[TheGrandInquisitor · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ok. Just ok.