It’s the weekend. You and your friends are looking for something cool to do, and you finally decide to try that Escape Room you’ve heard so much about. Everyone signs up and enters the themed play area. Now, you’re ready for sixty minutes of harmless fun as you try to solve whatever mystery or puzzle that is presented to you. However, what you may not know about an escape room is that it’s much more than just an hour of disposable fun. It can actually teach important life lessons for both you and the group as a whole. It’s not just about finding that all-important key or the secret doorway while exploring the room but taking away much more to help get you through your daily life. 

Escape Rooms Need Leaders!

This is a common scenario. As soon as the escape room moderator says “GO!” all participants will scatter in all directions and start fiddling with the props, pictures, or anything else that’s not tied down. In most cases, this is a huge waste of time, with little being accomplished. For an escape room, as well as any group project in life, you need a leader. Whether it’s you or someone else, there needs to be someone who will delegate tasks and follow up to gauge progress or reevaluate and reassign if necessary. You may have it in you to be the leader, or perhaps you like to be one of the working cogs in the mission. Either way, an unorganized, leaderless team usually won’t succeed. 

Performing Under Pressure

If life was always relaxing, this wouldn’t be an issue. However, we all know that’s not the case. Stress is a natural occurrence on a daily basis for most people. In an escape room, a costumed “killer’ may be just seconds away from being released on you and the group. In life, financial difficulties, job concerns, and relationship complexities can significantly impact a person’s well-being. An escape room offers you the chance to learn to cope with stress, all the while accomplishing your intended goal(s). You’ll learn how to relax, stop panicking, and assess your situation, even if pressure is deliberately directed at you and your group. The better you handle the psycho clown or prison inmate ready to pounce, the better prepared you will be when life throws unexpected curve balls your way. 

Thinking Outside the Box

As cliched and outdated as it may sound, thinking out-of-the-box is still an approach you should regularly take in escape rooms and in life. Sometimes, the answer to whatever is not the most obvious one but rather something not initially considered. While you and your friends are trying to figure out a puzzle, and you keep going back to the same clue, you’ll continue to get nowhere. But when you drop the obvious and look to something unorthodox or overlooked, the solution may present itself. Don’t be restricted by your go-to norms, but entertain other ideas and possibilities. 

Pay Attention to Details

Sometimes, things are not as obvious as they may seem. If you only look at the big picture, you may miss some important information. The clues could very well be nearby and needed to be found for you to move on or to succeed. In life, people often jump to conclusions without considering all the pertinent data; the same can be said during your sixty minutes in the escape room. Though this tip is similar to “thinking outside the box,” it differs in the fact that the information is right in front of you, but you ignore it because your mind is steadfast that you have the only answer. 

This mindset not only wastes time but can also prevent you from succeeding in your mission, whether it’s made-up or real-life because you are essentially stubborn. To counter this, take in all the surrounding information, discard what you know is useless, and then decipher the remaining. Only then can you be nearly one hundred percent sure that you are on the right path. 

Asking for Help

Escape room participants have the option to ask for help in the form of a clue if they are stumped. This can move the game along and help people overcome a mental block. Unfortunately, in the real-life world, many of us fail to ask for help with a problem, and that can delay or prevent the path to victory. Sometimes, it’s pride; you don’t want to appear incapable, and other times, it’s simply ego or stubbornness that prevents you from asking for help. You need to understand that this is how you grow in life and hopefully learn that you don’t know everything. Asking for assistance is actually one of a leader’s best traits. Leaders should know their team member’s strengths and should not hesitate to ask the most qualified person to help in finding a solution to whatever obstacle stands in their way. 

Learn Important Skillsets

An escape room is meant for people to have fun, first and foremost. Being able to escape (pun intended) from the stress and pressure of daily life, even for only one hour, can work wonders on a person’s mindset and emotional state. However, with your moments of fun, don’t forget that under the surface of a casual game are life and team-building lessons scattered about. Learn to identify these and practice them in future games, and before you know it, you’ll have the means to accomplish most tasks, whether you’re alone or with a now-symbiotic team.