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Great Puzzle Room Games–From Simple to Extravagant

Puzzle rooms are a big trend in the gaming and entertainment world right now. These venues are a unique and intriguing way to spend an evening out with friends. A night of teamwork and brain challenge beats an evening of binge-watching TV hands down. 

More and more, puzzle rooms can replace more traditional work outings for an afternoon of team-building with your office mates–depending on your group dynamics, you may all leave a lot better friends, or…not. Team building in a puzzle room has a way of spotlighting both your strengths and your weaknesses as a group, but for sure you’ll have a great story for the dinner table later.

Wish you could have more puzzle room fun in your life?  We do that at Trapped Puzzle Rooms. We can now take our puzzles wherever you are for a unique twist on your favorite mind-bending games.  Book an on-site custom puzzle for you or your group and let us do all the planning and execution while you have all the fun. Curious for ideas on the where and why of puzzle parties?  We’ve got you covered. Read on to unlock success at your next private party or event.

girl trying to solve riddle of getting into a trunk

How Puzzle Rooms Work

A puzzle room involves an end goal and a series of clues or tasks that must be performed by one or more people to reach the end goal. The target could be a prize, an answer to a question, or even a key or a lever, or another way to solve room escape games. 

Typically, there is a time limit on solving the puzzle to achieve the goal, which adds a little urgency and adrenaline to the mix. No worries, nothing bad happens if you don’t solve the puzzle on the first try. We encourage you to try, try again. Puzzle solving gets easier with a little practice, we promise.

Puzzle rooms typically accommodate a specific number of people, and you can assemble a group, or in some cases be randomly paired with other puzzle room visitors to round out a group for maximum success.

2 children trying to solve a puzzle

Some  tasks you might experience when you visit a puzzle room are:

  • Hidden objects as clues
  • Unusual uses of light to illuminate clues
  • Partner tasks for building teamwork and communication. Like someone needs to turn a crank to keep the lights on while other team members are solving the clues, or being physically tethered together while trying to find the “escape” route.
  • Use of numbers or counting to piece clues together
  • “Code” breaking–using symbols and a translation key to discover clues
  • “Obvious” objects–clues hidden in plain sight 

Any task that requires a little brain power can be adapted as part of a puzzle room. The trick is to know your audience, understand their tolerance for puzzles, and to adjust the mystery so that everyone can feel successful in the end.  

If a puzzle is too hard (with small children, for example), your team may leave your event a little less than gleeful. That’s where Trapped Puzzle Room can help; we take the guesswork out of your puzzle plan to ensure everyone has a role in finding the prize or escaping the room.

Choose your event

Puzzle rooms can be created anywhere at any time. They work well for special occasions, or to beat the winter blues, or to give the kiddos a fun project on a rainy day. Puzzles are possible both indoor and outdoors. Here are some events that lend themselves easily to a puzzle-solving state of mind:

2 Children in a quest game

  • Birthdays: We’ll bring a treasure to hide in your home or outdoor location and create puzzle clues and simple teamwork tasks to lead your group to their reward.  For example, think clues hidden in balloons, enticing secrets hidden in plain sight, a time limit to create a bit of urgency, and teamwork tasks to ensure that everyone who plays, wins
  • Gender reveal parties: Solve one of our puzzle series to learn if the baby will be Jack or Jacqueline.

jig saw puzzle with the word graduation on it.

  • Graduation parties: Instead of asking your guests to sit around the graduate while he or she opens up a pile of gift cards and college dorm necessities, let us cache the loot strategically in your home. We’ll create a puzzle so your grad can show off his work ethic to find his just reward.
  • Retirement parties: Bring us out to the office to help honor your retirees this year. They can leave for the next phase of their lives, but only if they solve our puzzle. We can build in “nostalgic” tasks that showcase the elements of service, friendship, and company loyalty you’ve valued so much throughout the years.
  • Bridal showers: Kick off the evening from your home or hotel suite with a puzzle.  “Earn” your night on the town by solving a puzzle and making a ton of memories along the way.
  • Disney World or special trip reveal: You’ve seen the YouTube videos featuring parents surprising their kids with a trip to Disney, haven’t you? Blow up the fun of your surprise trip reveal by adding a puzzle to the mix. The trip “surprise-ee” solves one of our puzzles to discover their plane tickets or park passes. Give those other YouTubers a run for their money.
  • Surprise party: Your loved ones are waiting, trapped in a room ready to surprise you on your birthday, and you have to solve a puzzle to get them out. Imagine luring your spouse or best friend celebrating a big event to a venue where a puzzle awaits them.  The reward is the discovery of a ready-made party to help them celebrate their milestone!

big blue puzzle piece with the word PARTY on it.

These are just a few of the places that lend themselves easily, if not always intuitively, to puzzle rooms. We’d love to share more of the mechanics that go into puzzle planning, as well as our puzzle expertise. Give us a call today to start assembling everything you need to host an engaging, fun, and successful puzzle party for any occasion!

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