Game design cannibalizes ideas from past games. It’s the nature of gaming in general and we see it in tabletop games, video games, and escape rooms.
We’ve seen these 3 games turned into escape room puzzles on too many occasions to count. Sometimes we see straight implementations of the classic games; others times they are well-hidden or reimagined.
If you feel like leveling up your escape room skill, mastery of these 3 games will come in handy.
1: Simon
It’s a simple game of repeating button pushes in a particular pattern. It’s also the kind of thing that can be difficult to do as a group or under pressure.
As a kid, I’d play Simon for hours. If I’m being honest, I think I was better at it back then.
2: Mastermind
A codemaker sets a secret code and the codebreaker tries to crack it through deduction, logic, and a bit of guess work. The mechanics of this game are incredibly simple, but it has a ton of depth to it.
Somehow I never encountered Mastermind in my pre-escape room life and I’m kind of sad about that.
3: Towers of Hanoi
Towers of Hanoi is a straightforward logic challenge. There are 3 pillars and the more disks you add to it, the harder (and more interesting) it becomes.
I’ve seen some especially creative interpretations of this puzzle in escape rooms.
Not an endorsement for use in escape rooms
Each of these three puzzles has its place and its virtues. When we encounter Towers of Hanoi in an escape room such that it’s fun and make sense, that’s fantastic. That said, these classic puzzles don’t belong in every single escape room.
If you design escape rooms, please don’t read too deeply into this post. Don’t replicate these puzzles just because.
