We are asked that question a lot! The answer is: you decide. Rating an escape room is very subjective – what’s hard for some is not for others.
It really comes down to what kind of thinker you are. An escape room is a game of cognitive thinking, teamwork, patience and strategy. It is not based on IQ. We’ve had MENSA students struggle with a game and a girl scout troop escaped the same game with 2 hints and 12 minutes left.
Our games are designed to be solved by a team of 4 (average) adults (with at least 5 games experience) using 3 hints in 1 hour. Of those teams, 35% will escape.
The majority of escape room players are first timers or have played up to 3 games. So, most games will be difficult for them as they don’t have much to compare the rating to. Games that I thought were difficult, my teammates thought were ridiculously easy.
There is no industry standard for rating an escape rooms difficulty. We do know that the average number of puzzles per game is 14. Our games have a minimum of 20 – does that make our games more difficult? Maybe, maybe not. Again, it’s up to your team working together, following the clues you’re given and asking for hints when stuck. If there are 20 puzzles and you have 60 minutes, that means every 3 minutes you should be opening a lock. Hint, our games are not linear which means you should break your team up and solve puzzles simultaneously.
Asking for hints is your key to success. And at Think it Out you can have as many as you want/need. This is why we say “You Decide” the difficulty level. Some teams play the game by limiting their hints to 3, while others will ask for a hint as soon as they find the next puzzle. It all depends on your teams goals – finish the game no matter what or we’re gonna solve this on our own!
We want our teams to finish the game – no matter if your team is a group of Escape Room virgins or veterans, using no hints or asking for every hint we got! Our gamemasters are on your team and are always laughing with you, never at you. Our goal is to make sure your team has a fun night out experiencing the joy of the “Ah’Ha!” moments when you solve a puzzle with or without help.