Printable Escape Kit

• If you don’t want any setup or rules to explain. Most escape kits only include a very simply introduction, with a story and a “this is what you’re looking for”. Then you can immediately play.
• If you love puzzling, then escape kits have more puzzles, bigger puzzles and more creative puzzles than anything else.
• If you want a group activity/experience. The beauty of these kits is that you can work together in groups as small or large as you want. Many escape kits have different puzzles that you can solve in parallel, and many pieces that you can explore to find that one missing clue.
• If you are low on cash. Printable escape kits are obviously much cheaper than going to a physical escape room. No need to drive anywhere or plan anything.
• If you love mystery, theme and narrative. An escape kit can provide mysteries and thematic story much better than, say, a dry novel or an abstract puzzle book. If you can find an escape kit with a theme/look that someone likes (e.g. “dinosaurs”), they will likely adore playing that experience.

• Escape Kits are very much an experience of “you get out what you put in”. The puzzles are not obvious. You need to put in some effort, try some possible approaches and fail, to get that satisfying solution. If most of the group are unwilling to do that, the experience falls flat.
• There can be issues with people “dominating” the problem solving. Some people want to do everything (their way)—others don’t get to do anything at all. This can be solved by splitting into small groups and designing the escape room properly, but the issue will never go away completely.
• Similarly, large age differences can be a problem. Older people simply have skills, knowledge and experience that will puzzles obvious to them … whereas a kid might really struggle with it. If your group is very mixed like that, most escape kits won’t be a great fit.

You always get a PDF file. When extracted, it usually contains,

• Introduction Sheet: this explains the puzzle setup, the start of the story, and anything else to know beforehand.
• Answer Sheet: tips, hints and answers to the puzzles in case you’re stuck. This is usually obfuscated to prevent accidentally reading them.
• Puzzle Material: these can be standalone puzzles, or general material of which you have to figure out where to use it.
• Bonus Material: sometimes, there are fun bonuses like a “reward” for escaping, or just some fun thematic elements to place around the table.

On very large escape rooms this might be split into multiple PDFs inside a ZIP file.

I remember coming home one day from school. My mother had bought this “escape room board game” (by EXIT I believe) at a sale. Out of nowhere, without prompting, without anyone asking for it. And she suggested we play, right now, as everyone returned home from school.

That afternoon was a lot of fun. It was my first introduction to these experiences—and the first time for my siblings—and we all immediately asked if she happened to buy a second one too.

It took me a while to realize that I could … make these myself! I literally have the exact skill set needed for it.

It took even longer before I actually started doing so. That happened when I realized how much easier it was to get people to try an escape experience, as opposed to getting them to play a board game (or video game). The difference was night and day.

I just dropped my Christmas escape room (yes, that was the first one I made) on the table, explained the general idea for 1 minute, and everyone got going. Two hours later, they all had a lot of fun and with a smile they finally realized the big twist on the final puzzle.

Compare that to trying to explain the rules of a board game to 8 impatient people at once ;)

Since that day, I’ve had many ideas for escape kits and try to make at least a few big ones each year. Seeing how much better they worked for specific groups and situations gave enough motivation for doing so.