Pro Tips on "How to Escape A Remote/Online Escape Room?"

Since last March, we started playing remote (online) escape rooms (with live avatar) from companies all over the world. As of today, we've played close to 200 of them from countries like USA, Hungary, Malta, Brazil, UK, Japan, Portugal, Italy, Australia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Canada, Ukraine, Croatia, Russia, Greece, Poland, France, Austria, Lithuania, Cyprus, Ireland, Spain, Slovenia, Germany, Switzerland, Finland and Singapore. It's so nice to be able to see the different takes on puzzle ideas and room designs.

The concept of having a GM (sometimes even the owners themselves) as avatar where they will be to our eyes and hands in front of a camera was born during this pandemic period since Escape Rooms weren't allow to open. Even now when escape rooms are allow to open to the public, we are still seeing some companies continue to offer the remote option to customers. It really opened doors for enthusiasts who would probably never be able to travel to their location in their whole life time to be able to play their games online. I still get questions from our readers who's never tried an online escape room before on how these are played and if I have any tips for them. Hopefully these pro tips below will get you prepared and successfully escape every one of them in the future!

Pro Tip 1 - Prepare Your Tech "Tools": If you've never played an online escape game before, make sure you read the email instructions carefully and prepare what you'll need in advance. Most companies will be using either Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Meetup, Jitsi or some other video conferencing platform to host the game, You should download the software and test out the camera and microphone ahead of time. A lot of the games have sound effects and some may even have audio puzzles so it's best to wear headsets during the game play. If you don't have headsets, be mindful of other players on your team and "mute" and "unmute" yourself during the game whenever there's audio components. If you are fancy and have dual monitors, it's definitely an advantage during most of these games as they are often paired with an inventory system. It's a lot easier for you to have Zoom on one screen and the inventory system on the other.

Pro Tip 2 - Assign Roles: This one might be tricky and tough to follow pending on the team you're playing with. Sometimes its really difficult to hear the avatar or vise versa when all the players are talking at the same time. It would be great if there's a designated searcher and the person who ultimately calls out the codes once decided by the group. But usually everyone would like to contribute so it's hard to manage to keep those rules rigid. This technique is definitely useful if you're going to try to aim for the leaderboard,

Pro Tip 3 - Inform Your Avatar: Since your avatar doesn't know what type of players you and your team are (beginners or enthusiasts that gave played hundreds of escape games), it's best to let them know how you would like to play the game prior to the start. This could avoid confusion or frustration later on as some players might feel like the avatar is doing too much on their own or too slow for their team's speed (i.e. If we informed the avatar to check the first drawer, it would be great if the he/she could also check on the bottom drawer without our instructions).

Pro Tip 4 - Automate The Search: Even though you have a team of players joining you on Zoom, there's only one avatar. You may discover puzzles that you can solve simultaneously but there's still only one pair of hands that will be able to act on your instructions. Instead of having the avatar run around the room and multiple players all shouting different things for him/her to do at the same time, it's best to just inform them to search the room from left to right (or vise versa) in an automated fashion. You'll save a lot of time that you can use towards solving puzzles and the search will be more thorough as you won't forget any areas. If the avatar found items in the previous room and you've just opened up a new space, have them carry the items with them. Chances are you'll be using it in there so this will also save some time.

Pro Tip 5 - Settle on a Strategy: After the start of the game, you'll probably realize if the puzzles are linear or nonlinear. If the game provided ways where players are able to solve various puzzles separately (this is rare as it's quite difficult to do from the online format but we've seen some really good implementations from a few of the companies), then you might want to choose the "divide and conquer" route where one person searches and the others solve puzzles. Some teams like to do things together which is totally a legit strategy for these online type of escape games.

Pro Tip 6 - Take Notes: Even if the game provided you with an inventory system where you'll see images of items being collected or taken away after you've used them, it's still a good habit to take notes throughout the game. If you see a lock, write down how many digits or letters you'll need. This will help you associate which clue goes with which lock later on. If you see 4 picture frames and you have a 4 digit lock then there must be some correlation there. You'll also be able to check back on what you haven't used in the room with this method.

Pro Tip 7 - Don't be a Virtual Puzzle "Hogger" - Just like in a real life escape room, if you saw something in the room that others haven't, make sure to share the information. There's no benefit in keeping things to yourself. Communication is the key to success. If there is an interactive puzzle that you can't seem to solve, let your teammates have a go at it. Don't let the game be held up by your stubbornness.

Pro Tip 8 - Avatar Assistance: Many players are stubborn about asking hints but with online games sometimes it's necessary. I actually don't consider these as hints but merely as "confirmations" so definitely use them and don't let your self get stuck for over 5 minutes as time goes by pretty quickly for these online games especially if you're not keeping track. For instance, if there's a hidden panel in a drawer and I'm not there in person, I won't be able to know that it actually moves. I would have to rely on the avatar to "tell" (inspect for) me as I would've never been able to discover this over the camera on my own. There are also times when audio doesn't come through clearly and we have to ask the avatar to repeat the information even if it is a message that actually gave us a code to open a lock. Sometimes the clue written on the paper is unclear so you'll need to ask the avatar to confirm if it is a 6 or a 9. It's important for you to ask them to interact with the things in the room as there are items that might not seem like it could be pushed or pulled or turned so make sure to try everything.

Lastly, this is just a reminder that these are escape rooms that you would be able to play in real life. You should assume that a key or a code should only be used once unless you're told otherwise. All the basic rules of no climbing, two finger rule or doing dangerous things still apply so don't instruct your avatar to do something you wouldn't do.

In a way, the inventory system and the avatar actually makes escaping easier since there's more organization and guidance. The avatar sometimes would subconsciously give you hints through their camera view on places you haven't explored or where to put a certain item. The inventory system will organize the items you've collected and remove them after you've used them for a certain puzzle. In real life you'll need to figure all of these things out yourself. If you just started playing escape rooms, these online games could give you some great pointers and training to get you ready for the real life action. We love them because we have been able to escape every one of these rooms and it's definitely helped improve our escape rate! We'll never stop playing these as long as the companies still offer them. My favorite part about playing these games online is the fact that we are able to enjoy them with friends from all over the world and be able to meet the creators face to face over Zoom! Hopefully you find this blog useful and let us know if your escape rate has gone up because of this!

If you are interested in trying a remote/online escape room, check out some awesome ones that have won our Bullseye Award!

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