(Part 2) Top products from r/escaperooms

If you do want to somehow lock doors without marking it up, Command Tabs are pretty amazing. They really could hold a lock latch reasonably well. To see what I'm talking about if you're not familiar with them: https://www.amazon.com/Command-Medium-Mounting-Refill-9-Strip/dp/B00J5RAR0M but you can get them at Walmart or wherever.

When I did an at home escape room (gender reveal), I did have rules that you can't have in a normal escape room, and used red tape to specifically indicate things were off limits/not to be touched.

You can also do some puzzles and escape room can't. I did the lemon juice invisible ink thing for one that need to be baked in the oven to reveal the message. (I clued that a certain paper needed to go in the oven for a certain temp/time, it wasn't totally random.) I assume you don't have a vaulted ceiling somewhere in your apartment? Nerf shooting gallery to get clues down was fun too.

Ah that's awesome people are going to love it. I would make the difficulty low, and the time limit 15-30 minutes, so you can move people in quickly and they can enjoy it, rather then feel frustrated. Also you have to think of how long it takes you to reset all the locks. (maybe ask them to put all used clues in a bucket

My suggestion for a theme would be Zombie Apocalypse, you can find decorations at any party store or on Amazon. The mission can be to save an injured classmate trapped in the other room.

My idea is make the room very dark(maybe no natural lights at all). Give everyone lanterns and/or flashlights. If the lantern has settings turn it on the lowest one. They have to figure out to turn the lantern all the way on to make it easier.

First clue should be a key hidden in a pretty obvious area. That key opens the first lock. Opening the lock gives them a cipher. Hide lamented cards with numbers or letters to a combination. On the lamented cards have dots or symbols that correspond to the cipher. Once they put the cipher and the numbers together they should be able to open their second lock.

The second lock should open a box with a flash light with a black light bulb. They will use the black light to find their next clue. Since your in a school I would recommend using student I.D. cards. Write the combination on the I.D. cards with invisible ink. This will get them through the first door.

Once they are through the first door I would have multiple puzzles to work on, maybe a crossword with your school related answers. Bold five boxes in the crossword, those boxes are the answer to the alphabetical pad lock. (if they are smart they will only find the answers needed to fill the bolded boxes and ignore the rest of the crossword)

That word lock opens a box with a piece of paper that says =12. In invisible writing on the walls are different algebraic formulas like (^ +=13), (^ x #=2), (#+^ =%). (So *=12) (^ =1) (#=2) and (%=3). So the final combination to get out would be written on the door (^ ,#,%) or (1,2,3).

Some side notes. I would only give them one black light and one dry erase board, so unorganized groups will be slowed down. Also it's cheaper.

For the "locked doors" just wrap a bike lock or and rope around the handle and explain no doors will be locked for safety reasons, but to succeed in their mission these locks have to be opened.

Explain they get three free clues. Give them a walkie talkie, so they can call you in.

To add a little more stress to the situation and add to the theme I would bang on the door periodically and make zombies sounds. This will scare some, adding anxiety and confusion, but will also make people laugh and bond.

If you have a group waiting have them come up with team names and aliases.

Create Posters that say things like "I escaped" or "I was the brains of the operation" for people to take group photos after they escape or not.


Good luck and I hope you post photos!

https://www.amazon.com/DAOKI-Sensitivity-Microphone-Detection-Arduino/dp/B00XT0PH10/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1498683713&sr=8-3&keywords=arduino+sound+sensor

Looks like this chip simply picks up volume. If it's installed within the metronome, the ticking would probably be the most prominent noise. (so other noises couldn't accidentally trigger it) Then measure the timing between peaks. And maybe have the code wait for x amount of ticks to make sure it's not triggered simply by scrolling through speeds.

And then just trigger a relay with the elecromagnet.

Hi, I am one of the owners of "The Other Tales" escape room in NJ (http://www.theothertales.com). Here are some basics.
We use a wired system, similar to this one: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00ZW63ESC ($95 as of now). It has 4 cameras - enough for 1 or 2 room setup. For microphones, you can use something like this one: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002S4G870/. I would also recommend adding HDD to the monitoring, so you can record some games. You can get one for $50 on Amazon. So, in total, the price for the monitoring system will be under $200.

Another question is, how you are going to communicate with the players? But that very much depends on the room design and tech. It can be anything - speakers, walkie-talkies, monitors that show typed texts or something as low-tech as paper notes.

Honeywell makes some great reed switches that are small, durable, and easy to hide. https://www.amazon.com/Honeywell-951WG-WH-Recessed-Magnetic-Contact/dp/B001UKY1A4

Here's a simple idea that's electrical rather than mechanical...

Buy this electromagnetic lock and this power supply and this remote controlled outlet.

The bare wires of the lock easily click into the green plug of the power supply. Then you plug that into the remote controlled outlet.

The two metal parts of the lock magnetize together when electricity is present, and come apart when there's no electricity. The remote toggles electricity on/off.

So you build a box or use an existing door, and mount the two metal parts of the lock to it to secure it.

Players find the remote elsewhere in your game. Then upon clicking the remote they unlock the electromagnetic lock. For greater effect, install a spring in the box so that the box lid flies open upon clicking the remote!

here, here

Locks you can get at Home Depot, Walmart, Lowe’s, office max.

I build my own using ESP8266 controllers - they're super cheap ($5), very reliable, built in WiFi, etc. For prototyping or learning get a dev board which has a USB port and pins for a protoboard like this one The company is coming out with a new one called ESP32 ( /r/esp32 ) soon that I will use for most everything. I keep spares so I can just pop in a new one if one fails - so far no failures. We also use Arduino Uno, Arduino Mega and Raspberry Pi.