In addition to books, online games, board games and apps, the tricky escape room puzzle has also been developed and found its way into game-loving households. It’s hardly surprising that the escape room theme is appearing in so many facets – because the escape room hype continues unabated!
How does an escape room puzzle work?
As the name suggests, the first step is to solve a puzzle. Depending on your skill and the number of puzzle pieces, this can take between one and several hours. Only when the escape room puzzle has been assembled correctly can you start solving the escape room puzzles. This is because the finished picture contains the clues that players need to crack the puzzles in the story.
Ravensburger, for example, currently offers various escape room puzzles for adults, primarily with 368 or 759 pieces. However, there are also puzzles with just 99 puzzle pieces, which are particularly suitable for children, as well as those for impatient adults who want to do fewer puzzles but more puzzles. The versions with fewer individual pieces focus on solving the mission, while the editions with 795 or more pieces are aimed more at puzzle enthusiasts.
How do I start an escape room puzzle?
To get started, you should read through the story at your leisure. The next step is to put the puzzle together correctly.
When it’s finished, the puzzle looks like the picture on the packaging – with one important difference: all the clues that are important for completing the mission can of course only be found on the finished puzzle.
With most puzzles, you start at the edge. In contrast, the edge pieces of escape room puzzles are often particularly tricky to put together, as they often provide the solution to the entire story.
Which is the best escape room puzzle for adults and children? The top five from OPOLUM
Escape Room Puzzle #1: Exit Puzzle – Witch’s Kitchen
This escape room puzzle from Ravensburger is suitable for puzzle fans and puzzlers aged twelve and over. After putting together the 759 individual pieces, there are still eight tricky puzzles to solve.
The story is about being poisoned and waking up in a witch’s kitchen. To make it through the adventure alive, you now have to find the antidote in this enchanted kitchen as quickly as possible. Beautifully designed graphics and moderately difficult puzzles with an interesting ending.
Currently available for € 7.21.
Escape Room Puzzle #2: The Lonely Lighthouse
An escape room puzzle from Kosmos with 88 pieces. The number of puzzle pieces is chosen so that you don’t have to spend ages just assembling the picture and can soon get on with the puzzles.
The story is about how the lighthouse’s light signal has failed and needs to be repaired as quickly as possible, as a ship is on a collision course with the dangerous cliffs. Although it is suitable for players aged twelve and over, the puzzles are very challenging and designed more for advanced puzzlers.
Escape Room Puzzle #3: Crime puzzle – The three ??? kids – Chaos at the zoo
Also from Kosmos is this crime puzzle, which consists of 150 pieces and comes with a magnifying glass for the young detectives. Another nice extra gag is that the puzzle glows in the dark so that some clues can only be found in darkened surroundings.
The story is about someone stealing the master key and letting the animals loose in the zoo. Now, of course, there is total chaos and the animals have to be recaptured and the culprit (or culprits) identified. What is behind the whole operation, why was the chaos caused? Ideal for two to three entertaining evening hours with children aged seven and up.
Cost: € 13.10.
Escape Room Puzzle #4: Murder Mystery – Endstation Underground
Our third puzzle tip from Kosmos: A murder on the London Underground must be solved. The inspector investigating the case has been unable to complete it himself due to a family emergency and now it’s up to you to solve the murder. Both puzzling and solving the case will take at least three to four hours.
This game includes a large puzzle with 750 pieces and 5 smaller puzzles with 50 pieces each. For advanced players aged 16 and over and available from € 21.52.
Escape Room Puzzle #5: Exit Puzzle Kids – In the amusement park.
Our last tip is again from Ravensburger and is suitable for children aged nine and over. The game lasts two to three hours with puzzles and puzzle solving.
In the story in question, children are playing soccer and the ball flies through the hedge onto the site of a neighboring funfair. When the children want to retrieve the ball from the amusement park, they suddenly can’t find the hole in the hedge or any other way out. Now they have to think hard and combine their moves to somehow escape this tricky situation.
Well-spent € 8.56 to get your offspring’s ganglia – and your own – going!
From escape room puzzle to real life – off to OPOLUM
But regardless of whether you are old or young, an experienced escape room player or a rookie – nothing can replace a visit to a real escape room. Because in a real-life experience, you are there with all your senses and if you concentrate fully on the game, you won’t forget these sensory impressions for a long time. But be careful – the addictive potential of wanting to plunge into new worlds of adventure again and again is extremely high!
OPOLUM in Hamburg offers you one of the most intense escape room experiences in Europe, as actors are involved in the exciting stories, guaranteeing a particularly intense live experience with a high adrenaline rush!
