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.