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.