Do-It-Yourself Escape Room Book: A Practical Guide to Writing Your Own Clues, Designing Puzzles, and Creating Your Own Challenges

by Paige Ellsworth Lyman

A practical guide to create your very own escape room!
Contains over 300 puzzle ideas!
*Purchase includes link and password to download one full step-by-step escape room kit.*

Now present in all fifty states, escape rooms offer a fun activity for corporate events, team training, youth groups, and all types of parties. But what if you could develop your very own escape room in the comfort of your own home?

In this fun, full-color book, Paige Ellsworth Lyman, founder of TheGameGal.com, offers a practical guide to creating your own do-it-yourself escape room.

Divided into two parts, the first half covers what an escape room is, how to develop theme and plot, how to set up a room, how to structure clues, and how to run the event. The second half provides multiple chapters of clues
and challenges to use in your escape room, including codes, ciphers, mathematics, puzzles, physical objects, and more.

This book is the perfect gift for puzzle enthusiasts looking for new challenges and families that are bored at home!

Genres: Nonfiction

192 pages, Paperback

Published March 16, 2021

Reviews

[Betina · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really strong breakdown of how to make escape rooms, especially in your own house/space.

[Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

On the surface and by its title The do-it-yourself escape room book : a practical guide to writing your own clues, designing puzzles, and creating your own challenges by Paige Ellsworth Lyman appears to be able to give you step-by-step instructions on how to develop certain game rooms but nothing could be more than the truth. This guide contains far too much text with too much to consider for my liking for a guide such as this. It does, however, have several images, including colorful photos and tips for hosting parties. What this guide does not tell you upfront is that a room and/or rooms will be required for hosting the event. If you are going to spend some cash on the book you might as well forgo the book and place it towards the actual game. The only problem is that if you are going to have an escape room for tweens or pre-tweens you may not find a game to purchase that is suitable so I can see where this book would be of some value because it gives you ideas on puzzles and connect the dot images, etc. to help make the experience enjoyable and memorable. The Appendix is also complete with providing clue-driven help such as the Morse Code and what letters reflect well in a mirror. What is missing from the hosting area is ideas on what to use for refreshments, which I believe should be themed to match the escape room party.

[Debbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the most helpful and thorough escape room book I've ever seen! It's clear about how to set things up, explores considerations like age and difficulty level and setting that were so useful to me as a newly interested escape room creator, and there are so many puzzle ideas! Although I read it cover to cover, I think this is more like a reference book, once you get past the big-idea chapters at the beginning, since the puzzle chapters are broken down into types of puzzles. You could just pick up the book, flip open to a chapter, and browse to complete your escape room concept. It even includes a download link to get a free escape room.

I'd rate this a 4.5 stars, I think, but it would be 5 stars it also included a companion chapter that walked someone through writing one (or two?) escape rooms using information and ideas from the book. After finishing the book, I had lots of ideas, but no real idea about where to start. Maybe I'm judging it too harshly, since there are some planning pages in the book, which I felt not quite ready to use.

[Rachel Heinrich · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nice overview on how to create an escape room - includes an example that works through creating puzzles to fit with a theme and how to make the “storyline” of the room simpler or more complex by modifying the puzzles and how they connect. The second part of the book goes through different types of puzzles and locks and how to create them. Overall, this book would be a great resource both for people who want to create escape room experiences at home and also those who might be looking to try this sort of thing in their jobs (librarians, youth coordinators for camps and churches, etc).

[Lablover · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great book with many ideas. It's well organized and thought out. There are a plethora of examples to use for puzzles, as well as hints to help keep things straight. I really liked the idea of a flow chart for the clues and the reminder to run through everything before having the guests/students come through the escape room. I do wish there was a little bit more information for teens. The author does do a very small section for kids. But as I said, there are great examples for puzzles, codes etc. And many hints to prevent hitches.

[Joseph · Rating 5 out of 5]

I LOVED THIS BOOK! As a fan of escape rooms (doing them and creating them) and a high school teacher who uses them in teaching I found this book to be chocked full of creative ideas and tools extending from the creation of a story narrative for a room to great ideas for building puzzles. I cannot recommend this book highly enough for anyone thinking about putting together an escape room for any purpose or audience.

[Sabrina · Rating 5 out of 5]

I used this guide to make a successful escape room for my kids. It was easy to follow and full of great ideas. It's not a hold your hand kind of book, but it provides enough guidance to feel comfortable creating your own escape room.

[Sterina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Super helpful!

[Andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great mix of general advice and specific suggestions for all areas of escape room creation, from plot and theme to structure and puzzles. I only wish it was longer and had more ideas!

[Equipment Hardy · Rating 1 out of 5]

A lot of focus on role-playing and good for surface level research, but that wasn't what I was looking for when I picked this up.

[Penniedreadful · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very helpful! Many good real life experience advice! Honestly made me want to dive into Escape Room writing with new vigor. Bravo Paige!

[Brandon Wheeler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good book not only for at home escape ideas, but for big stuff as well I think. A nifty book with lots of ideas

[Kimberly McCollum · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think this book will be very useful when I start to make DIY Escape Rooms for my classroom.