What's the Best Strategy to Escape a Room?
Most groups that fail to escape an escape room don't fail because the puzzles were too hard. They fail because of how they worked together — or didn't. After watching thousands of groups attempt our rooms in Dublin, our Game Masters have a clear picture of what separates the groups that escape from the ones that don't. Here's what works.
Strategy #1: Search the Room Systematically First
The first five minutes after you enter are critical. Before attempting to solve anything, search the entire room methodically. Every drawer, every shelf, every corner. Don't try to solve puzzles as you find them — just gather and call out everything first.
Why? Because escape rooms are designed so that clues from different parts of the room connect to each other. If you solve the first thing you find in isolation, you might be missing a piece that's on the other side of the room.
Strategy #2: Communicate Everything Out Loud
This is the single biggest differentiator between groups that escape and groups that don't.
When you find something — a number, a symbol, an object, a lock — say it out loud. "There's a four-digit padlock on the cabinet." "I found a key but it doesn't fit anything here." "There's a word written on the back of this painting."
Even if it means nothing to you, it often means something to someone else. Silent teams fail. Loud teams escape.
Strategy #3: Centralise Your Found Items
Designate a table or area as your "central point" and put everything you find there. Clues, objects, anything that might be relevant. This stops people from pocketing things and forgetting about them, and makes it easy for the whole group to see what's available.
When you solve something — open a lock, crack a code — move that item or note it as "done" so the group isn't re-examining it later.
Strategy #4: Don't Let Two People Work on the Same Thing
One of the most common time-wasters: two or three people huddled over the same puzzle while other parts of the room go unexplored. If someone's working on it, move on and find something else. If they're stuck and need a second set of eyes, ask — don't just crowd around.
Strategy #5: Separate Puzzle Types
Some puzzles require logic. Some require spatial thinking. Some are about pattern recognition. Notice quickly who in your group is good at what, and route puzzles accordingly. If someone solves the first code quickly, they're probably your code person. Let them run codes while someone else handles the physical mechanisms.
Don't make it formal — just notice and adapt.
Strategy #6: Ask for a Clue Before You're Desperate
The biggest waste of time in any escape room session is a group spending ten minutes in silence, stuck on the same thing, reluctant to ask for help. There's no prize for refusing hints. There is a clock.
At Incognito Escape Room in Dublin, your Game Master watches via camera and can give you a clue at any point. Ask when you've been stuck for 3–4 minutes and it's not moving. A single clue at the right moment is worth more than ten minutes of frustrated silence.
Strategy #8: Keep Track of the Time
Know where you are against the clock. This isn't about panicking when time gets short — it's about managing the group's energy and knowing when to shift from careful exploration to making decisions. If you have 15 minutes left and two unsolved puzzles, the group needs to split and work them simultaneously, not sequentially.
Your Game Master will usually call out time at certain intervals. Listen for those.
Strategy #9: Don't Force Anything
Escape rooms are designed so that everything opens when the right combination is applied. If a lock isn't opening, the combination is wrong — not the lock. If something isn't moving, don't force it. This is one of the few explicit rules in most rooms, and the reason is practical: forced mechanisms break, and a broken mechanism ends the session.
If something seems like it should open but won't, try a different combination or look for another clue.
Strategy #10: Enjoy It
Groups that approach an escape room as a serious challenge to beat tend to have less fun — and often do worse — than groups that stay relaxed and treat the whole thing as collaborative play. The best escape room sessions are ones where the group is laughing and talking constantly, not hunched and silent.
The puzzles are designed to be solvable. Trust the room, trust your team, and give yourself permission to be wrong and try again.
Ready to test your strategy? Book a room at Incognito Escape Room — Dublin's #1 rated escape room on TripAdvisor. We have six themed rooms across two city centre locations, with time slots available most days including evenings and weekends.
