A few seconds of complete darkness can be used as a form of misdirection that allows magic to happen in escape rooms.
Temporary Total Darkness In Escape Rooms
Category: Business
A Case For Designing More Solo Player Moments Into Escape Rooms
Solo moments are an underutilized mechanic for pushing the boundaries of escape room design. Solo moments are some portion of the game (a puzzle, a challenge, a task, a story beat, a physical space, or a setpiece, etc…) that is experienced by only one member of the team.
Actors as Puzzles in Escape Rooms
Actors can be implemented as puzzles or gates in an escape room. In this way, they become an obstacle that players must bypass in order to continue.
Available Now: The Discontinued Directional Locks Are Cheap On Amazon
Love it or hate it, Master Lock 1500iD, commonly known as the “directional lock,” has been discontinued. I have a lot of thoughts about this that I will be sharing in a future piece.
After the word got out that these locks were disappearing, they rapidly sold out on all of the common (and less common) online retailers. I know that a lot of escape room owners gobbled them up to keep their current games afloat.
So it seemed like that was the end of the 1500iD story… but it’s not dead quite yet.
Get It While You Can
Amazon has a restock on 1500iD’s.
I bought two of them, one for the aforementioned piece on directional locks… the other as a trophy of sorts. A remembrance of all of the times that a gamemaster – knowing full well how many hundreds of escape rooms I’ve played – would look me in the eye and tell me how to operate a directional lock… like a cat staring you in the eyes as he pushes your stuff off the table.
But I digress.
Whether you’re a game creator looking to stock up or a player looking for a little keepsake, I strongly recommend getting them while you still can.
Supplies won’t last.
Speaking of strong opinions…
We made a lovely pair of shirts to commemorate the life and times of the directional lock… or bemoan the existence of the thing. It’s up to you. I’m not here to tell you how to feel about a lock.
Express yourself with a Directional Lock Halo Shirt or a Directional Lock Horns Shirt.
Available in unisex and women’s cuts in most adult sizes.
They both make me smile.
And I hope that no self-respecting gamemaster will explain the operation of these locks to me while I’m wearing one of these shirts.
Get yours for a limited time over on the RECON swag shop.
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The money that we make from these helps us to grow the site and continue to add more value to the community that we love so much.
A Case For Colder Starts To Escape Room Experiences
The anticipation of an escape room can be a powerful feeling. They are mysterious adventures. Sometimes the less you know about the game, the more fun the anticipation gets.
