Highlight Letters

Hide a message in a note by highlighting letters that spell out a secret code. The basic contents of the note itself just give some information about the plot. But some of the letters in the note are clearly highlighted and spell out a secret message or code.

Consider the following ominous note that players find.

Note the bold highlighting of some of the letters. If we write these out, we get “ten four nine”. This could be the combination for one of the locks in the room: 1049.

The highlighting can be anything that distinguishes letters from others. In this example the letters for the code are darker than those around them. Other cues, such as color or background could be used. What is important is that the highlighted letters are easily distinguished from the other letters.

Because the highlighting is meant to be clear, this type of puzzle is usually easy to solve. This is a good introductory puzzle for novice players. See the other forms of hidden messages for more subtle ways of hiding codes.

Capital Letters

Instead of highlighting letters using a change in font, another way to hide a message in a note is to use capitol letters.

The note is fairly normal, but the capitol letters do not follow correct grammar rules. Instead, the entire message is in lowercase except capitol letters that spell out the secret message.

Collecting the capitol letters, you get S E V E N S I X T E E N T H R E E. Splitting the words, the code is seven sixteen three (7163).

Numbers for Letters

A numeric code is easy to hide in a message by replacing some of the letters in the message with numbers. Several letters look similar to one of the numeric digits, so they can be subtly replaced.

In the above message there are 5 numbers, which list out the code 38045.

Hiding a code like this is easy, especially when using all caps in the message. The following table, adapted from leet, provides some suggested substitutions.

When substituting a number digit for a letter, it is important to be able to distinguish the two. Otherwise, it will be impossible for the players to solve the puzzle. You may need to add distinguishing features. For example, a zero is indistinguishable from an “O”, so you will need to add a slash to the zero (i.e. Ø).

This puzzle tends to be easy to solve. A variation to make this more challenging for experienced players is to spell out one of the digits instead of using this substitution. Here is a message I once used.

The players quickly found the code 037. But that did not fit any of the locks. The difficult part of the puzzle is to recognize that the word “one” is part of the message. Inserting a “one” into the digits, you get the proper code 0137.

Number Words

A numeric code can be hidden in a message by writing a message that has numbers as part of it. Here is an example.

On reading this note carefully, you will notice that there are three numbers that are part of it, taking the place of words: 3, 2, and 16. Concatenating these numbers together we get the code 3216.

In the previous message, the numbers are highlighted by representing them numerically. For an extra challenge, write out the numbers as words.

Rotated Letters

Spell out a secret word by rotating or flipping letters. Most of the letters will be normal, but some will be placed in a weird orientation.

In the message above, an observant reader needs to see that there are 5 letters upside down. They spell out “cream”, which could be a secret password.

Using rotated or mirrored letters can be tricky. You need to make sure to use letters with enough asymmetry to be able to tell the transformed letters from normal ones. Letters like “o”, “x”, and “l” will be difficult to see.

Because letter options are often limited, another way to use rotated/flipped letters is simply change one letter of words to include in the secret.

In this message, there are upside-down letters in the words thirteen, one, and two, revealing the code 1312.

One way to create rotated letters is to use special characters of flipped letters, which can be copied from special Unicode characters. But a more versatile way to do it is to rotate or flip images of characters in an image editor.

Misspellings

Hopefully, as you create notes and other material for your escape room, you are doing some proofreading to ensure that the language is correct. But, sometimes you can intentionally introduce mistakes to highlight words that add up to a secret message. One simple such mistake is a misspelling of a word.

Look closely at this note and you will see that there are exactly 3 misspelled words: loook undr chairrs (look under chairs), which gives a clue on where to find an important item.

Make sure that your misspellings are egregious (that is, easy to spot) but also unmistakable for the word they are supposed to represent. Players need to be able to pick out the words but still be able to understand them. Keep in mind the reading level of players. Young children or English-as-a-second-language players are likely to have more trouble with a puzzle like this.

Code-Word Lookup

For the code-word lookup puzzle, players need to put together two clues. The first clue is the message itself. But the message alone does not have any real meaning. To get the meaning, the players need to put the message together with a second clue containing a list of code words and their meaning (which may just be a digit for a numeric password).

Here is an example I have used. The players find an old diary with the following entry.

This message alone does not provide anything of value. However, in another box the players find this page from a scientific psychology paper.

Most of the text of this “paper” is nonsense. The important part is the enumerated lists provided. To solve the puzzle, the players have to match words in the diary message to the listed words in the paper and use the associated numbers to build the passcode. (The message inappropriately capitalizes these words to help players make this connection and pick out the appropriate words.) The words to pick out are “Day”, “Lips”, “Eyebrows”, and “Knife”, which correspond to the digits 4, 4, 8, and 2, respectively. Thus, the passcode is 4482.

A variant of this method is the crossword lookup where instead of providing the code-word lookup in a list, it is hidden in a crossword puzzle.

Alphabetic Substitution

A very simple way to make a cipher is to create a table that substitutes each letter with another letter. The table is simple. Make two rows of letters: the first row with the letters in order and the second row with the letters in a different order.

One common way of creating such a table is to simply rotate the letters for the second row. (This specific type of alphabetic substitution is known as Caesar cipher.) Here is an example of rotating by 5 letters.

When creating the encrypted text, look up each letter in the bottom row and replace it with the letter in the top row. You end up with text like this:

Now, when players find this message and the cipher table, they can do the reverse lookup and reveal the clear text.

You can choose any character mapping you like. For simplicity, you might try the ROT13 system, which has the letters rotated 13 places.

The convenience of the ROT13 cipher is that the table works both ways. Letter “A” transforms to “N” and letter “N” transforms back to “A”. Likewise, “B” transforms to “O” and vice versa, and so on. This property makes it less likely to make a mistake when encoding or decoding.

Another cipher with the same property can be formed by reversing the order of the letters.

You can, of course, randomize the letters in any order that you wish. But unless you think the players will guess the common cipher, that is likely more trouble than it is worth.

One final note. Simple alphabetic substitution ciphers are known to be breakable without the cipher table. In fact, newspapers often feature “Cryptogram” puzzles that challenge readers to decode a quote encoded with a random alphabetic substitution cipher. However, that should not be a problem as it will likely be easier and more fun for players to solve by finding the decoding table and using that. (If you are really worried about it, make sure players find the decoding table first.)

On the other hand, you could force players to break the substitution cipher without a table. But, frankly, this does not make for a good escape room puzzle. Solving a cryptogram is time consuming and very difficult if you do not have much experience with them. If you are into cryptograms, it is a lot easier to get your fix with a puzzle book than to design a whole escape room.

Symbol Substitution

The alphabetic substitution cipher replaces one letter for another letter. But who says that the encrypted message has to use the same letters or numbers as the plain text message? You can use completely different symbols for the encoded message: hieroglyphics, Braille, emojis, constellations, or anything else you can think of.

A symbol substitution works the as alphatbetic subtitution, just with symbols. Here is a simple cipher example using symbols based on zodiac signs.

A message is a sequence of these symbols. It may contain punctuation (as long as it will not be mistaken for symbols).

And the decoding happens by finding each symbol in the table and replacing it with the associated letter.

One of the nice things about using a symbol substitution cipher is that the symbols can be unique and be used across multiple puzzles. Rather than give the table directly, a seprate puzzle, like symbol algebra. And rather than give a message of symbols outright, the symbols and order can be extracted from another puzzle, like the grid lookup.

Pigpen Cipher

The pigpen cipher is a simple and well-known substitution cipher that uses lined grids to define unique symbols for each letter in the alphabet. There are several variants of the pigpen cipher, but a common substitution table looks like this.

Each letter in the pigpen cipher is defined by the border of its region. For example, E is in the middle of the grid, surrounded by borders, so it is represented by a square. B, above it, has an open border on the top, so it is represented by a box with an open top.

Ultimately, this leaves a code that looks like this.

    ,

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

.

Using the pigpen cipher above, the shapes can be matched to letters that spell out this secret message.

Because the pigpen cipher is quite well-known, there is a good chance that players will already be familiar with it and will be able to decode a message without a provided substitution table. Thus, consider providing the decoding table before providing the message.

Morse Code

Morse code is the famous encoding of letters using a sequence of “dots” and “dashes.” This code is useful to send a message using a mode of communication that can only transmit on and off. The signal is turned on momentarily for a dot and a little longer for a dash.

Morse code was originally used to transmit messages over an electric telegraph in which a sender closed a circuit on one end to activate a clicker on the other end. But Morse code can also be communicated with beeps of sound or flashes of light.

Here is a table for the international Morse code.

Although some people have memorized Morse code, most have not. So, you should always provide the Morse code table unless you are very sure that the players have memorized it.

Although you could provide a Morse code message on a piece of paper drawn in circles and lines, the fun part of Morse code is to hide it in a beeping or flashing item. This can be trickier to create than a simple printed message or image. A straightforward way to provide a Morse code message is to create an audio or video file that can be played on any number of devices.

A fun thing to do with a Morse code message is to hide it in some unrelated sight our sound. Spell the Morse code message in car horn honking, a dog barking, or any other theme-appropriate repetitive sound. Or maybe that flashing light on a buoy or satellite has a flashing pattern.

Players inexperienced with interpreting Morse code are likely to find the task difficult. Therefore, it is best to keep the message short (one or two words at most) and to give the code out slowly.

Braille

Braille is an alphabet designed to be read by touch rather than sight. A “letter” in Braille is represented by a matrix of dots 2 wide and 3 high. Braille is typically written by embossing paper or another material to create some combination of bumps in this 2x3 pattern. This makes it possible to interpret the letters by feeling the bumps with a finger pad.

One way to force players to read a Braille message without looking at it is to paste the embossed Braille inside of a closed box with a hole. To read the message, players must reach a hand in through the hole and feel for the message.

Although not the original point, Braille messages can also be read visually. To make this more challenging, hide the Braille letters in objects or images that naturally have grids. Here is an example of hiding a Braille message in the windows of a skyline.

The image looks like ordinary drawing of buildings. But a closer look reveals that all the windows are grouped in 2x3 grids like Braille letters are. The lit windows encode in each of these grids a Braille letter, spelling out “I Spy”.

Crossword Lookup

The crossword lookup is a 2-part puzzle. In the first part the players solve a crossword puzzle. The crossword puzzle should be easy because really it is just a distraction. In the second part, the players have to realize that the words in the crossword answers match a sequence of objects or words elsewhere in the room. The players can then replace the words with the number of the word in the crossword to get a number code. (This is much like the code-word lookup puzzle except the word lookup is less obvious.)

Here is an example of how this puzzle might work. We could start with providing this crossword.

Players need to solve this puzzle. Here is the completed crossword.

Again, the crossword should be easy to complete. You can provide some answers before you start to help.

At first, solving the crossword does not seem to have helped. But, the second part of the puzzle is a sequence of items. For example, this shelf of animal figurines.

On this shelf are 4 animals in the following order: dolphin, rabbit, dragon, and seal. The trick is to recognize that these words are also in the crossword. As with any crossword, each word has a number associated with it. In this case, dolphin is clue 3, rabbit is clue 1, dragon is clue 2, and seal is clue 6. Doing the word-number substitution we get the code 3126, which can be used on a combination lock to open a box or room.

Note that you will probably need to create your own crossword to implement this puzzle with words that match what you are matching them to. Because the crossword is meant to be simple, creating it should also be simple. To help, you should be able to find several sites to create a puzzle from words that you provide with a simple internet search.

Horizontal Fill In

In the horizontal fill in puzzle, players must fill in a list of words based on clues and information about the escape room. When filled out, a vertical column reveals a code word. This puzzle is similar to a crossword lookup except the players are not expected to solve the clues with prior knowledge. Instead, items in the room provide hints on the proper words.

The horizontal fill in puzzle starts with a piece of paper with a grid with a clue along each row. One of the columns will have a bold box. Here is an example of a horizontal fill in.

Given only this grid, there is no reasonable way the players can be expected to fill it in. But as they explore the room, they will find innocuous items that hint at the answers. One such item could be a business card like the following.

The players might not know what a sommelier is, but the description at the bottom should lead them to know that “Fortunato” is the “wine expert” of the first line.

Likewise, there might be a portrait like the following on the wall.

The players need to make the connection that the “general” in the picture fits the clue for the second line in the puzzle.

Once players find all the items around the room and make the connection to the puzzle, they can complete the puzzle and get a result like this.

With the puzzle filled out, we can read a code word in the vertical column with a bold outline: RAVEN.

Symbol Algebra

A symbol substitution cipher replaces a set of symbols/images/icons with letters or numbers. But to ad a challenge to the puzzle, don’t simply give the players the lookup. Make them work for it.

Hide a conversion from symbol to number in a simple math problem. This takes the form of solving algebra, but with pictures instead of letters for the variables. Here is a simple example.

Note that this problem is straightforward to solve. You don’t need a technique like Gaussian elimination. The system is easily solved from the top down.

The first line has 3 🍗 equal 12. Thus, 🍗 must be 4. The second line has 🍗 + 🥖 + 🥖 = 20. Thus, 2 🥖 sum to 16, and consequently 🥖 is 8. By the third line, it is clear that 🍮 must be 1. From there, it is easy to get that 🧀 is 2, and by the fifth line 🥗 3.

OK. The players have solved the puzzle. Now what? These values are not useful until coupled with another clue. This could be coupled with any puzzle that involves listing symbols in a certain order such as grid lookup. Here is a simple example using a code-word lookup with a clue containing a list of food for a meal.

To completely solve this puzzle, the players have to (1) solve the algebra, (2) notice that the images used for symbols in the math are referenced in the menu, and (3) list the numbers associated with each food symbol in the menu’s order: 82341.

Word Find

A word find is a simple puzzle with a grid of letters and a list of words hidden in the grid. Players need to find the sequence of letters in the grid matching each word and encircle them.

The trick it to recognize that the bands around the words themselves form a pattern to reveal a code.

Here is an example of a word find.

As with any word find, the target words are difficult to spot. With some searching, the words can be found as follows.

Looking carefully, we can see the marks are arranged in the pattern of a 4-digit code: 4710.

Nonogram

A nonogram (also known as a picture cross) is a grid of squares with a list of numbers along a horizontal and vertical axes. The object of the puzzle is to fill in squares to reveal an image.

The numbers on the axes each dictate a group of squares that need to be filled in. For example, if a row has the numbers “2 3 1”, then that row has a group of 2 consecutive squares filled, followed by 1 or more empty squares followed by 3 squares filled, followed by 1 or more empty squares followed by 1 filled square. There could be empty squares on either end.

Here is an example of a nonogram puzzle.

The secret to solving a nonogram puzzle is to find places where squares must be filled in. In the previous example with a 9x9 grid, two of the columns has “6 2”. Because the two blocks plus the minimum separator of one square takes up a total of 9 squares, there is only one way to fill in those columns. You can also sometimes deduce squares in rows or columns that are not totally full. For example, the topmost row has a “6”. Regardless of where this block is placed in the row, the middle three rows must be filled. Because there is also a “1”, two more squares to the left must be filled. As deductions are made, mark squares that both must be and cannot be filled.

The previous puzzle can only be filled as follows, revealing a lock code.

When you make a nonogram, it is best to go back and attempt to solve it. It is possible to make a nonogram that does not have a unique solution. I find it is a bit easier to make a solvable nonogram by filling out the background and making the digits the negative space.

Grid Lookup

This puzzle starts with an image that has a grid on it. The image is often a map or floor plan, but could really be anything. The important part is that a letter (or number) is assigned to each horizontal and vertical location of the grid.

The second part of this puzzle is a clue that suggests pairs of letters (or numbers).

The puzzle is solved by recognizing that the pairs can be used in reference to the rows and columns of the grid. In this example, the pair B-L references the map row labeled B and the map column labeled L. The grid block corresponding to this row and column has a 5 in it. Repeating with the remaining pairs, we get grid cells with the numbers 4, 6, and 5, respectively. This gives us an overall code of 5464.

The puzzle formed in this way is fairly straightforward. To make the puzzle more challenging, make the pairs of letters less obvious. You can do this by providing a list of two word phrases. The phrases alone do not make sense. The trick is that the first letter of each word refers to a row or location in the grid. For example, consider the list below.

The first letters of each line are B-L, F-N, C-M, and D-I, which provide the same lookup as before.

Invisible Ink

A simple way to hide a message is to write it in invisible ink. For a few dollars you can get a pen that writes in ink that is hard to see but reacts to ultraviolet (UV) light.

The other part you will need for this puzzle is a UV light, also known as a black light.

The black light is given to the players, and the players have to shine it on the correct object. Words written on objects will be invisible until players reveal it with the black light.

Invisible ink pens are sold with different colors. I recommend using “yellow” invisible ink pens. Other colors I tried were slightly visible under normal light, which made them unusable for the puzzle.

You may have to experiment a bit on what you can write on. For example, I find I cannot write on a printed image because the pen will smear the printer’s ink just enough to see it. Different types of paper may work better than others. That said, give the ink a little time to dry before deciding it is too visible.

Paper Segment Display

The decoder device in this puzzle is a piece of paper with holes cut into it that form some or all of the bars in a seven-segment display.

In my example here, I have cut only 6 of the 7 segments as the none of the numbers in the code I am using need that segment.

The other part of this puzzle is the coded pattern.

Neither piece of the puzzle makes sense on its own. But when the template is placed on top of the coded pattern in the correct positions, numbers are revealed.

As can be seen in this example, the correct code is 3594.

When creating the coded pattern make sure there are enough cues for players to know how to align the decoder template on the pattern. The decoder must be placed precisely to reveal the correct number. In the example here, you will see that there are boxes to show where to place the decoder and an arrow to define which way is up on the paper.

The patterns for this example are posted here.

The example here has one decoder number that has to be moved to multiple locations to reveal all the numbers. An alternate approach could be to create a template decoder that has holes for all the numbers together. This would mean that placing the decoder in one spot reveals all numbers. A fun change to this puzzle would be to have the holes in the decoder form one set of numbers, but when applied to the code pattern, a different number is revealed.

Reflected Code

This puzzle starts with a printed series of digits that could potentially be used with a combination lock.

This code, however, does not open any lock. The trick is that players have to use a mirror to see the reflection of the digits. The reflected image has the correct code.

When selecting numbers for the code, make sure that each digit makes sense in both the original printing and in the mirror image. For example, the reflection of 7 does not form a digit, so you cannot use that one.

Likewise, make sure the font used for the digits reflect well. For example, the digits 2 and 5 can make nice reflections of each other, but many fonts have enough asymmetry to make the reflection not resemble the digit well. For the example above, I drew the digits myself to make sure they reflected well. Drawing digits using a seven-segment display template works well.

When setting up this puzzle, consider mounting the code on a wall (with instructions for players to not remove it from the wall). Because you are using digits that reflect well, they will also look correct upside down. Problems with orientation can be avoided if the code is mounted on a wall in a fixed orientation. To make the puzzle more interesting, consider also mounting the mirror on an opposite wall so players have to orient themselves to get the code reflected in the mirror.

Unfair Hiding Places

Discovering a clue in a fun, unexpected place can be very rewarding. However, it is extremely frustrating to get stuck because you are missing an important clue and cannot move forward. Before thinking about where to place items, it is best to first consider where they should not be hidden. Here we will consider the best practices when placing items in the room.

These, of course, are only suggestions that I try to follow when placing items. If you and your players like difficult Easter egg hunts and want to make that part of the games, you can hide things in more difficult places. But it is important that eventually players will be able to find all the items and identify what is and is not part of the game.

Establish bounds

When making a DIY escape room in your home, not every object and space that you use for day-to-day life will be part of the game. When setting up the escape room, make it clear from the beginning what is part of the game and what is not.

Likely, you will not be using every room in your home for your escape room. Make sure it is clear to the players which rooms they will be using. This can be done by making simple barriers such as closing doors or hanging sheets. Alternately, you can simply tell the players which rooms will be in bounds.

You probably don’t have empty rooms in your house just waiting to build an escape room. (I don’t.) There might be shelves or cabinets that hold books, knickknacks, crockery, etc. It is best to keep these separate from the game, especially if they don’t match the theme of the game. Once again, you can cover up these items with a sheet or just let players know to ignore those items.

Don’t encourage players to tear apart the room

One of the reasons to make clear where objects might be is to discourage players from ransacking the room. You don’t need the hassle of players pulling cushions off of a couch, removing sheets off of a bed, upturning chairs, or otherwise moving furniture around. In addition to being a pain to clean up afterwards, such actions could interfere with the game itself.

Thus, avoid hiding objects in places that are not in open spaces or obvious containers (like drawers, cabinets, or boxes). Don’t shove objects under a couch or in its cushions. Don’t hide things in sheets or under a mattress. If a clue could be hidden in any nook or cranny, players will need to pull the place apart to find them.

Players should be able to easily reach objects

You don’t want players climbing over furniture to reach things. That will just encourage players to move furniture around, which you don’t want, or hurt themselves climbing over furniture, which you also don’t want. Thus, don’t place anything on top of furniture or shelves that are out of reach of players. That way you can inform players at the start that they won’t need to climb to reach anything and remind them if they attempt it.

Likewise, it’s not great to have players crawling underneath tables, chairs, or beds (unless that is specifically part of the puzzle). I usually avoid hiding things underneath furniture.

Make it clear which objects are part of the game

As players inspect objects in the game, it should be clear which ones are part of the game and will be used to solve puzzles. Granted, not every object will be part of a puzzle. There will likely be props or other items that serve no specific purpose. But there should be a limited amount of items players need to deal with. It’s not fair to make players go through a hundred books or other objects on shelves with no clues about which ones are important.

Breaking the rules as part of a puzzle

As stated at the beginning, the suggestions here are not unbreakable rules. It is up to you to choose how difficult finding objects needs to be. That said, these suggestions can also be broken if there is another clue, such as a message or map, to lead players to find the object. In that case, the challenge is not finding the object but solving the puzzle that leads to the object. You can place an object out of reach if there is a tool to reach it. I have also suggested avoiding having players crawl over or under objects. But, of course, this does not apply if you want to add physical tasks, perhaps as part of the theme, that players need to complete.

Underneath

A simple hiding place is a message underneath another object. The object can be a simple prop such as a plate or cup. For example, your escape room might have this normal place setting.

The players are expected to search around for clues. Simply lifting up the objects reveals a hidden clue.

This is a simple puzzle that encourages players to interact with the objects in the room. Players usually find the clue simply by picking up and examining objects. The clue gets revealed secondhand as players move things around.

The hiding place works best when hidden underneath a prop that is not otherwise needed. The prop should be easy to move and is easy to handle.

Underside

Place a clue on the bottom side of an object. This puzzle works similarly to placing a clue underneath an object except that the clue is stuck to the underside.

The fun part about this puzzle is that sometimes players will pick up an object to look underneath it, but miss the note that is stuck to the underside.

In the example from the previous puzzle, the players might check underneath the plates in a place setting, but find nothing.

The players may check several times before looking at the bottom of the plate where the real clue is.

Tea Light Message

In this puzzle, the players are presented with what appears to be an ordinary tea light candle.

The candle is lit for the players, and for a while it is just a normal candle like any other prop. But if the players happen to look back at the candle later, they might notice something forming in the wax.

Later, the candle’s wax becomes completely clear, and the message is clearly visible.

This challenge does not require the players to solve anything. Rather this is a hidden item that is difficult to find even though it is clearly placed among the game items. It is difficult because when the players first start the game, the message cannot be seen and, after an initial glance, the players may not take a close enough look again. Plus, it is just a fun effect.

This puzzle is created by deconstructing a tea light candle and placing a paper with the message drawn on it underneath the wax. Start with a fresh tea light (with uncolored wax) and pop the wax out of its metal bowl.

Next, cut out a piece of paper in a circle that can fit at the bottom of the metal bowl. Plain white copy paper works well. (The paper will not burn as long as you don’t let the candle burn all the way out, and you will have plenty of time before that.) You can use wax to trace out the shape.

After tracing the circle, cut out the paper and write the message on the paper. Place the paper against the wax with the message pressed against the wax and then place the wax, wick, and message back in the metal bowl with the message on the bottom.

The tea light candle is now ready to be lit.

Note that in the pictures above, I’ve taken out the wick, fed the wick through a hole in the paper, and placed the paper between the wax and the base of the wick. In the tea lights I was using, the wick was not attached to the wax (before it was lit). In other tea lights, the wax is already melted to the wick. If this is the case, you probably won’t be able to remove the wick without breaking it. In this case, you can probably just put the paper under both wax and wick. Just make sure none of the message is underneath the wick base.

I recommend testing this before using it in your escape room. The main thing to get right is making sure the timing works well. When I first built mine, I found that it took between 1 hr and 1 1/2 hr to fully see the writing on the paper. This is too long as your escape room will probably finish in this time.

I worked around this problem by lighting the candle before the escape room and waiting the 1 - 1 1/2 hr to see the message and then blow the candle out. When the candle cools down, the wax will become opaque again and the message will be obscured. When I lit it again for the escape room, it now only took about 30 minutes to become clear. You might be able to quicken the time by removing some of the wax instead, but it will likely be hard to do precisely.

At any rate, there will be a long delay between when the candle is lit and when the message is visible. As such, it is probably not fair to make the players light the candles as part of the puzzle. First, players have no way of knowing if their actions are helping solve the puzzle. Second, a puzzle that requires players to wait around for 30 minutes will not be very fun. Instead, light the candle as players enter the room. It works best to make this part of the escape room scenario (for example like the ghost chasers escape room).

Maps

In this puzzle, an important object is hidden somewhere players are not expected find. To find the object, players first need to get a map that will lead them to the correct place.

The map is of the escape room that the players are in. The map does not have to be detailed, but it should have enough landmarks for players to orient the map and find the location it is pointing to. Here is a simple map I once used to lead players to find a key hidden in the window drapes.

Follow Path

In this simple puzzle, players are given a drawn maze with a clear start and finish. Embedded within the maze are numbers or letters.

To solve this puzzle, players must follow the path from start to finish. Standard maze rules apply: no crossing lines, no back tracking. The maze should have a single, well defined path. One path leads from start to finish with all other turns leading to dead ends. This path from start to finish will pass through a sequence of numbers/letters.

The sequence of numbers/letters forms the code. In this example, the code is ENTER.

You can construct the maze yourself, but there exist many free maze generators online that will easily construct one for you.

Maze Directions

This puzzle involves a simple maze. The maze should be relatively small and only have right-angled turns. Here is an example.

The path from start to finish involves moving in straight lines to the left, right, up, or down directions.

The directions used to solve this maze are used in combination with a directional lock. The lock is moved in the same directions as the path used to solve the maze.

So, in this example, the correct path goes right, up, left, up, left, down, right. The directional lock is moved in these directions to open it.

Although the maze could specify the start and finish directly as in the example above, the puzzle can be worked into a room by adding multiple labels of different locations. Here is an example of using the previous maze as an interconnection of rooms.

In this case, there needs to be a hint to direct players from the “office space” to “manufacturing.” The directions they take for that are entered into the directional lock.

Map Trace

This puzzle first involves a map. The map can be mounted on the wall or made available in a box. The map can be of real or imaginary places. It can be global or for a local area. It does not matter but the location and scale should match the theme of the escape room.

For the example below, I am using a digital world map provided by the UN. This map likely has more detail than is easily printed for use by players. For a world map, consider using a commercially printed map. You might already have a large-format world map in your house. Or perhaps you have a globe. Or you might even have a board game with a convenient map printed on its board such as Risk or Pandemic.

The second clue of this puzzle involves a collection of locations on this map. The players might find multiple airline tickets with the following departures and destinations. (They are shown in a table here for brevity, but it will be more interesting to provide each of these transfers on their own card.)

An optional third component of this puzzle is a hint for the proper order of the locations. In this example, the connections of the departures to arrivals trace out a path. Another clue could be to assign a date to each location or order by some property of the locations (such as population). If players are expected to reorder them, it is best to provide each location on a separate card to make sorting easier. For a simpler puzzle, simply provide the list of locations in the proper order.

Given the clue above, the order in which the locations were visited are as follows.

Once the players have determined the proper order of locations, they have to trace out the path on the provided map.

A key feature of this path is that each segment goes primarily in a cardinal direction: north, south, east, or west. In this example, the path goes south, east, north, east, north, west.

This sequence of directions is finally used to open a directional lock with the directions corresponding to the directions on the map. In this case, the lock opens up with the code down, right, up, right, up, left.

Literal Code

One of the most fun ways to hide a secret message is to literally write out the message, but place it in a context that suggests a different meaning to the word. Take, for example, this note that players might find.

At first glance, this appears to be a useless piece of information. It just says that an access code is wrong, but it doesn’t say what the wrong or right code is.

On second glance, well, it still doesn’t help.

The trick to this puzzle is to realize that the words can be interpreted in another way. The message literally tells you that the access code is wrong. The word “wrong” is used to open a combination lock or some other access code. This leap in interpretation is difficult to make but seems so obvious in retrospect.

This hidden in plain sight code can be formulated in many ways. The main point is that the code word serves another function in the sentence it is in. There should also be at least one other distracting sentence. Here is another example.

Watch the players flail as they try to make sense of the first sentence without the letter P. Then hear them groan when they figure out the password is simply “that”. (“that” with all P’s removed is “that”.)

Red Herring

Red herring is an English idiom that refers to a clue that is misleading or distracting. The phrase is often used within the context of a mystery story where the detective collects many clues, some of which turn out to be irrelevant. Red herrings help prevent the solution of a mystery from being obvious before the reveal.

Red herrings are much less important in an escape room than in a mystery story. Most escape rooms do not have red herrings, and you should not feel obligated to add them. However, I enjoy throwing in a red herring or two to throw players off guard.

I typically make the red herrings simple clues and puzzles. As an example, a clue might be a typed letter with the following return address at top.

My family has done enough escape rooms to pay attention to numbers placed within written material. So, I expect them to try these numbers in locks around the room. But they won’t work (snicker).

All that said, you don’t want players to get too wrapped around trying to make red herrings work. To this end, it is best to provide a cue that something is a red herring. I’ve established with my family that when I use the phrase “red herring,” it signals that it will not help investigating further. In the previous example, note that the street name is “Red Herring.” In another example, in one room I had a decoy QR code (distracting from the real QR code players needed to construct).

The page has a hidden message text at the bottom:

The message uses both capital letters and highlight letters, making it easy to see and decode. The message is “red herring,” which is a signal for players to stop looking.

Of course, you could use a different signal for a red herring. You could instead say “just kidding,” place a 😜, or Rickroll the players. Whatever you choose, place it on red herring but never on legitimate clues.

Pointless Form

Online forms are a convenient mechanism to incorporate into puzzles. Enter the correct code to get the information needed for the next box or room. As soon as players see a form, they will inevitably look for clues for the right answers to get past the form.

But here is the trick of the puzzle. There is no answer to the form. Instead, players must see a link in a subtle part of the page to take them to the “right” page.

Here is a straightforward example of a (fake) online login form. The username is filled out and the players “obviously” need to find the correct password.

Players may try to guess the password or infer it from clues, but none will work. The page will just say that the password is invalid.

In fact, the users are never expected to find a password. The trick is to notice there is a link at the bottom of the form to reset the password. The players just need to find and click this link to get to the solvable form.

This example was created with online Google tools. The form itself is a simple Google form with a validation that fails for most anything. Unfortunately, you cannot place the “reset password” link directly in a Google form. Instead, I had to use a Google site in which I embedded the form and added the link below.

Jigsaw Holes

In this puzzle, players are given pieces of a jigsaw puzzle to complete. The jigsaw is missing pieces, and the holes of the missing pieces form numbers.

This puzzle uses a standard jigsaw puzzle set. A 300-piece puzzle is a good size to make it work. Constructing a jigsaw puzzle this size takes too long for the pace of an escape room, so a mostly completed puzzle should be provided.

Throughout the game, players are given puzzle pieces that can be assembled in the jigsaw. When all the pieces are correctly placed, a code is revealed.

For a fun addition to the puzzle, split the pieces into two sets. The first set reveals one set of numbers, which are a red herring. The second set of pieces fills more of the holes to reveal different numbers. For example, the numbers above could be further filled in with a different set of numbers.

This puzzle is more time consuming than difficult. It is a good puzzle to have to occupy players that may be uncomfortable with solving more unique puzzles. It is also a puzzle that all players can work together on.

That said, it will take time for players to find the placement for the jigsaw puzzle pieces they are given. As such, I recommend providing the initial partially assembled in the first room and provide at least the first set of pieces well before the code is needed.

Most assembled jigsaw puzzles arrange the pieces roughly in a grid. This will make it straightforward to construct digits as holes in the jigsaw. Any digit can be constructed in a 3x5 area of puzzle.

If possible, pick a distinct color for each region of each digit (something that is not done well in the example above). This will help players construct the jigsaw faster, which is good as construction of the jigsaw puzzle takes much longer than a typical escape room puzzle.

Magnet Fishing

This puzzle starts with a simple to construct tool: a magnet tied to the end of a string.

The weight of the magnet allows it to be easily lowered into spaces.

The second part of the puzzle involves a container with a small opening. Inside the container is a key or some other small metal object that is needed to continue in the room. In the following example, I am using a vase with a narrow opening that prevents players from reaching the contained key with their hand.

To retrieve the key, the players must lower the magnet into the container, get it to stick to the key, and lift the magnet back up with the string. Overall, this is an easy puzzle but still satisfying, making it good for players of any age or skill level.

When setting up this puzzle, make it clear that players should not pick up the container or attempt to pour out the key. What I did in the example above is to put water in the vase with the key and leave a note that makes it clear that players should not touch or spill the liquid.

Be careful. This is a highly corrosive acid. In retrospect, maybe I should not have left such a dangerous substance laying around the lab.

DO NOT TOUCH! DO NOT SPILL!

Stick Word Grid

This puzzle arranges the letters of a message in a grid. The words read, naturally enough,¹ from left to right. However, the grid is written on sticks or other skinny objects oriented vertically so the message can only be read when the items reform the grid.

The puzzle starts with the players finding a collection of sticks with letters on them. They may all be provided together or, for an added challenge, distributed among multiple boxes to keep the players guessing when they have them all. Unarranged, the sticks look like a hodgepodge of letters.

In the easiest form of this puzzle, at the top of each stick is a highlighted letter that is used as a key to arrange the sticks in the appropriate order. The word can be anything recognizable, but it is helpful to have it related to the objects being used or the location they are found.

With the sticks in the correct order, the letters can be read tor form words: LOOK UNDER CHAIRS.

For a bit of an extra challenge, you can leave out the key word at the top. Players should still be able to arrange the sticks to form the actual words.

To make this puzzle really challenging, have the sticks arranged unevenly. Provide a clue that suggests a sequence of letters (each uniquely listed). The players have to find not only the order but also the vertical positions. In this example, a separate clue gives a sequence of elements (Vanadium, Indium, Carbon, Iodine, and Cobalt). With the help of a periodic table, these element symbols (V, In, C, I, Co) are found on these sticks and lined.

Now in the proper orientation, the letters of these elemental symbols form a message.

Groovy Blocks

This puzzle starts with a collection of blocks. The blocks have some grooves cut into opposing ends.

Players will probably quickly realize that although there are several different patterns, some of the patterns line up. Players will probably try to line up the blocks to make the grooves continuous, but this will not work for more than a pair of blocks.

The trick to this puzzle is that the blocks need to be stacked vertically rather than arranged horizontally. When stacked, the groove patterns can be matched up. More importantly, the holes formed by the grooves form a pattern of numbers.

Looking at the side of the blocks, the code is 8347.

This code was chosen because it results in a different groove pattern between each pair of blocks, and none of the patterns are palindromes. This means that there is only one way to arrange the blocks where all the patterns match. Also, viewing the numbers upside down or inverted does not show all proper numbers, so there is only one way to interpret the numbers from the side.

Solving the groovy blocks puzzle can be tricky and might take the players some time. I recommend providing the groovy blocks well before their code is used so that the players have other puzzles to work on while they figure this out.

The groovy blocks in the examples above were created with a 3D printer. If you have a 3D printer, you can use this STL file.

If you don’t have a 3D printer, there are other ways to make matching grooves. One way is to use a table saw if you have one. Cut up a 2x4 into equal blocks of an appropriate length. Then set the blade low so that the wood can be passed over the blade to cut a groove but not all the way through the wood. Set the fence to guide a block to cut the groove the appropriate distance from the end of a block. Keep the fence in place to cut each groove that matches opposing blocks.

You can use this pattern to guide the placement of the fence and where to cut the blocks.

If you don’t have a way to make precise grooves in blocks, an alternate approach would be to draw lines instead of grooves. Use a square tool and a pen to draw lines perpendicular to the edge of the block. Hold two blocks together to make sure that the lines match up. Make sure the lines spill over the edges so that the locations, and hence numbers, can be seen when the blocks are stacked correctly.

Cup Cryptex

A cryptex is a device that contains a sequence of cylinders with letters on them. The cylinders are rotated to form words and unlock the device.

Don’t happen to have a cryptex lying around your house? No problem. You can easily fabricate one with a few Styrofoam cups. The point of using Styrofoam cups is to use some that have thick lips so that when they are stacked, a region of the cup is still visible.

The cup cryptex is created by writing letters around the lips of the cups. The letters should be spaced evenly around the lip. When the cups are stacked (in the correct order), the cups can be rotated to form words.

A typical cryptex device will unlock and open with the correct code. A cup cryptex will obviously not do that. Instead, the players will arrange the letters to form a key word presented to them, and elsewhere that arrangement will show the code word(s) they need.

A cryptex often has 26 letters on each cylinder. Your cup cryptex does not need that. Instead, you will probably have 4 to 6 letters per cup/cylinder. When arranged correctly, each row will form a word.

You may or may not provide the order in which the cups should be stacked. If the order is not provided, make sure that there is enough context to reasonably figure out the order based on the words formed.

Jigsaw QR

Print a QR code, and then cut the code into pieces.

To solve the puzzle, the players have to place the pieces to form a square and the correct QR code to scan and get the next clue.

The shape of the pieces does not matter a lot. However, it is better if they are constructed such that there is only one way to form them back into a square. They should also each contain a critical part of the QR code so that the code cannot be scanned without all of the pieces. Lots of shapes can satisfy these conditions, but here is a pattern that works well.¹

The players will have to place the pieces precisely to read the code properly. To facilitate this, print a reasonably large code (about 4in/10cm). It also helps to print on a heavy weight paper.

QR Fold In

This puzzle presents the players with a piece of paper with pieces of QR code printed on it. The codes cannot be properly scanned on the flat paper.

The trick is to fold the paper to bring the pieces of QR code together. I suggest using a simple fold reminiscent of Mad Fold-Ins (also known as an origami pleat fold).

Creating a fold-in image is not difficult. Simply cut the image in half and separate the two pieces by some distance perpendicular to the cut.

The folds have to be pretty precise to be properly scanned. To help, you can provide a little overlap in the QR pieces and guiding lines on where to fold and align the two pieces.

Figuring out and doing one fold is pretty easy. If you want to add an extra challenge, you can make a second fold in a different direction. This can be done by cutting the image for a fold in one direction, and then treating the entire result as an image and cut in a different direction. (Note that the players will have to fold in the opposite order you cut the images to create it.)

Here is an example that requires a horizontal fold and then a little more tricky diagonal fold.

QR Cube

Turn a 3D rotating cube puzzle, like a Rubik’s Cube, into a key for your escape room by gluing a QR code to one of its faces. Mix up the puzzle, and then have the players unscramble the QR code to proceed.

To be clear, solving Rubik’s Cube puzzles is tricky, and it is unreasonable to expect players to solve the entire puzzle. But solving one face of the cube is much easier, and someone not familiar with the puzzle should be able to put together a QR code on one side.

This puzzle is easy to make, but there are a few things to keep in mind.

First, although the most common form of puzzle is made of 3x3x3 bricks, consider getting a 2x2x2 puzzle like the one pictured above. This will be a bit less time consuming for players, particularly those not experienced with Rubik’s Cube. More importantly, the 3x3x3 puzzle has a square in the middle of each space that can be arbitrarily rotated in the solved face. Rotating the middle section might break the QR code, and it is hard to understand the correct orientation in a QR code.

Second, speaking of the orientation, it is possible to get all the correct colors on the same face but in the wrong position. If this happens with the QR code, the orientation will be wrong and it will not scan. Although not pictured here, consider superimposing a second, more recognizable image on the QR code, like demonstrated below, to help players orient the squares correctly.

Third, remember that the alignment of the QR code pieces have to be fairly precise to scan correctly. To help this, print the QR code to a heavy weight paper to help it hold its shape as the puzzle is spun. Also, to make sure the orientation is correct, glue the code on first and then cut it in place. Put a dab of rubber cement on each square of the face and press the QR code to the cube. Then take a sharp knife and cut the paper along the seams of the cube.

Fold Back QR

This QR construction involves a single piece of paper. It has half of a QR code on each side and (optionally) a QR code in the middle.

The middle (full) QR is a decoy. If players scan it, it just leads to a red herring.

The real clue is the other QR code, which is divided in half and placed at opposite ends of the paper. The left half of the QR code is on the right side of the paper and the right side of the QR is on the left side of the image.

To solve the puzzle, players must fold the page backward to bring the two ends together on the opposite side.

On the other side, players must line up the edges of the QR code.

To make the QR alignment possible, the ends of the paper need to be trimmed right to the QR code. Also note that to make the code work players need to be precise about the alignment. Thus, make sure there are enough cues (like the bounding box shown here) to get the alignment correct.

Hook Pulley

To make a simple gravity-driven device, screw a hook into the ceiling and feed string through it.

The string on one side of the hook will be attached to an object that will be hanging off the hook. This object will either be out of reach or will be covering something important.

Extend one end of the string toward a fixed object in the room that it can be tied to. But don’t tie it directly to that object. Connect the string to the shackle of a padlock with a second string attached to the fixed object.

To solve the puzzle, the players must unlock the padlock and remove it from the strings. When they do, the hanging object will fall to the ground and reveal the next clue.

A doorknob on a closed door makes a good fixed object to tie the lock-end part of the string. Of course, the door needs to stay closed until all hook-pulley locks are removed. If opening this door is part of the escape room, you should make solving the puzzle to open the door dependent on clues revealed from these locks attached to it.

The hanging object that falls should be heavy enough to pull the string through any hooks. If the hanging object is very light, the friction of the string will keep it suspended. That said, don’t hang something too heavy. You could run the risk of pulling the hook off the ceiling, damaging something it falls on, or hurting a player. Also, to prevent hurting anyone, hang the object somewhere players are unlikely to be standing such as against a wall or over a table. To get the hanging object in the right place, you will often need two hooks, one where the object hangs and one by where the padlock is anchored, and the string is extended between these two hooks.

The falling object should provide the next clue to advance the game. You can be creative with the object that falls; make the action part of the plot of the room. For example, if the plot of your room includes a helicopter crash, hang a model helicopter with a clue inside. When the puzzle is solved, the helicopter dramatically falls. (You can make it out of something like Lego to have it dramatically break as well.)

When using strings, it’s good to remind players that unknotting the string is against the rules. That ruins the fun of solving the puzzle. Also, when hanging things from the ceiling, let players know not to attempt to pull items hanging from the ceiling. In addition to circumventing the puzzle, it can yank the hooks out of the ceiling.

Hanging Boss

An engaging story for an escape room will have the players working together to overcome an imperative adversity. This might involve defeating a particular person or beast. This hanging boss provides a method to reveal and then defeat the “boss.”

Game Play

The hanging boss starts mounted on the ceiling. It should be unrecognizable and out of reach. If players try to interact with it directly, remind them not to pull things off the ceiling.

The hanging boss actually serves the function of two boxes, each with its own puzzle and each revealed with a lock on a hook pulley. The first lock drops the tail end of the boss. The boss will become unfurled and hang from a second string from the ceiling. The boss can be a figurine (such as a Halloween decoration), a cardboard cutout, or some other physical representation.

When the boss is revealed, a clue is also presented. It could be an item dropped when the tail of the boss is lowered, or it could be written on the boss so that it is only visible once the boss is revealed.

The second and final lock on a second hook pulley drops the entire boss to the floor, signifying its defeat. Now that the boss is on the floor, the players can access a clue mounted to the top.

Setup

The setup of the hanging boss is done in the reverse order that it is solved. Its head is first hung in place, and then the bottom is pulled up to the ceiling.

The first step is to mount the contents of the second “box” on the boss’s head. An easy way to do this is to punch a hole in an envelope and place the clue(s) inside of the envelope. Feed a string through the hole in the envelope and tie it to the boss’s head.

From here, loop the string around a hook pulley in the ceiling and suspend the boss by connecting the other end of the string to a fixed object in the room through a padlock. (See the hook pulley puzzle for more details on setting up the figure so that it can be dropped once the padlock is opened.)

Once the boss is hanging in place, tie a second string to the bottom of it. If the boss is made of fabric, it can help to attach a safety pin to the fabric and tie the string to the pin. Then, feed the string through a hook pulley, pull the entire boss up to the ceiling. Mount it to a fixed object through a second padlock. Make sure the strings for the head and tail do not get tangled with each other. Once the boss is in place, place any items for the first “box” on top or rolled inside. They should stay in place until the tail is dropped, at which time the items should fall to the floor.

Sketch Directions

In this puzzle, players are given a simple object to sketch. A drawing is given with a particular direction to draw each line or curve of the sketch. For example, you could provide the following figure to demonstrate how to write out the word “HELLO” (perhaps for children just learning how to write).

To solve this puzzle, players must mimic the drawing directions in a directional lock. For example, to “draw” the H, the players enter down-down-right into the directional lock. Two “write” the entirety of this word, players enter down-down-right-down-right-right-right-down-right-down-right-left.

Another way to set up this puzzle is to have a template showing the directions for all letters, and then instruct players to “write” out a word. This level of indirection will make the puzzle harder.

The previous example used letters, but this puzzle could work with any symbol. For example, here is a symbol with directions associated with it.

This example would require the directions right-down-left-right. To make the puzzle a little more challenging, you can provide multiple symbols and provide hints on which one to use.

When creating these diagrams, make sure that directions are given for each curve. Also make sure that the directions are clearly left, right, up, or down. Do not use diagonal if that is not supported by the physical lock. You will see in these examples that diagonal lines still have an arrow in a horizontal or vertical direction.