Category: Recommendations

Introduction

If you’re looking for an escape game that will accommodate a large group of players, they are few and far between.

Most escape games – in person and online – can’t support teams of more than 6 players and keep everyone actively engaged. If you’re looking for an escape game, we usually recommend dividing a large group into multiple smaller groups so that everyone gets to participate in the experience.

Each experience below takes elements from escape games and incorporates these into something a bit different. They support larger groups in different ways. Some will be better suited for your event (birthday party, team building, etc) than others.

Here are our recommendations for your group of 8+ people.

Recommendations

Boonabo Farm, Mad Genius Escape Co. – This is a multiplayer online puzzle game – somewhere between a digital escape game and a point-and-click adventure. It’s available for 8-16 people; we think 10 is perfect.

Global Dominance, Claustrophobia – This is an online, competitive, social deduction game, not an escape or even a puzzle game. We recommend 30 players (6 teams of 5 players each).

Jury Duty, Exit Productions – This is a cooperative online immersive game featuring investigation, interrogation, and a little bit of puzzling. The players function as an actual jury, so 12 people is ideal.

The Ruby Palace, Palace Games – This is a point-and-click adventure game with elements of a light puzzle hunt. It supports hundreds of players, but they’ll need to be broken into groups of 4 or so. It would work well for a corporate event.

Halloween from Home

If you’re looking to get into the Halloween spirit without leaving home, we have you covered. Here are our recommendations for online and tabletop escape games with spooky and haunted overtones.

As with real-life escape rooms, some of these games are scarier than others. There’s a broad range and individual sensibilities vary. The recommendations in this guide range from thematically creepy to overtly scary. You can click into the reviews for additional detail on the experiences.

Online Escape Games

These are the top choices from the Hivemind reviewers:

• Exorcist, Emergency Exit
• The Beast, Emergency Exit

In addition, we recommend the following games (listed in alphabetical order):

• Amsterdam Catacombs Online, Logic Locks (review of in-person experience)
• Escape.Anywhere: Before Moonrise, Escape New Haven
• Evil Dead 2, Hourglass Escapes
• Final Call, Escape One Algarve
• Horror Hotel Online, Exit Now
• Hunt for the Crimson Fang, Castle Escapes
• Monster Smash, Trapped Puzzle Rooms (reviews of other games by this company)
• My Name is Jamie, THE BASEMENT
• Night Terrors, Mystery Mansion Regina
• Project Avatar, Legendary Quests

Boxed Escape Games

• Conspiracy-19, DarkPark Games
• Escape The Room: The Cursed Dollhouse, ThinkFun
• Root of All Evil, Crack a Nut Mysteries
• Scooby-Doo: Escape from The Haunted Mansion
• The Catacombs of Horror, Exit: The Game
• The Night of The Boogeymen, Unlock!
• Witchery Spell, DarkPark Games

Other Experiences

Sign up for our 2020 Virtual Escape Jam – Spooky Edition, happening October 18. This is a full-day workshop where you’ll team up with other creators (experienced and aspiring!) to create your own virtual escape game on a spooky theme.

Back Hatch Escapes’ Mother of Frankenstein on Kickstarter. Although the game won’t be here in time for this Halloween, you can support it now and look forward to when it arrives. The Kickstarter has already funded!

If you’d like to recommend other haunted and spooky themed escape games that can be played from home, please share them by commenting on this post.