The COVID-19 pandemic lockdown has many of us all feeling like we’re trapped in a perpetual Escape room, or really, inescapable room. Well, we’ve thought of a remedy for anyone feeling a little bit trapped: busting out of an online escape room.
As you’re unraveling clues and wearing the shoes of a bank robber or treasure hunter, you’ll forget all about those tiny problems—what virtual game to play tonight, for example—that seemed so big about an hour ago.
Some of you may be scratching your heads about now. An online escape room? Don’t you have to be trapped in a room, like a real room, to escape it? Usually, yes. But thanks to the wonders of modern technology and a slew of innovators adapting entertainment options in the wake of the novel coronavirus, Virtual Escape rooms have arrived to save the bored, the claustrophobic, and the cabin-feverish among us.
An online escape room is a compilation of clues, challenges, puzzles, and visuals delivered online and designed to inspire remote players to use the theater of the mind to imagine escaping a room or situation.
Like their real-life counterparts, virtual escape rooms encourage problem-solving and team building, but they also come along with their own unique benefits. An online escape room can help players develop group problem-solving and listening skills and also build better communication skills for remote collaborations.
Are you ready to help your friends, family, and co-workers escape reality? Keep reading for all the secrets.
Online Escape Room Themes For Team Building
1) Treasure Hunter Virtual Escape Room Theme
Unleash the treasure hunter in you! We’ve all day dreamt of discovering a vast fortune of gold. What happens when the walls of the hidden temple start to crumble and you have to escape? This theme will have you and your escape room team members adventuring from the comfort of your desk chair.
Pro-tip: Luckily for you and your treasure-hunting team, The Escape Game has devised an online escape room adventure that you will not soon forget. Fortune favors the bold. Will it favor you? Start your hunt here.
2) Harry Potter Virtual Escape Room Theme
As they say on their website, the Peters Township Public Library in McMurray, Pennsylvania had little idea their Hogwarts Digital Escape Room would be played by 225,000 people in just two weeks.
We’re not surprised. Harry Potter is a perfect theme for a virtual escape room. Bust out your dress robes, pour yourself a butterbeer, and make this theme your own.
3) Murder Mystery Virtual Escape Room Theme
If sky-high interest in true crime shows is any indication, people can’t resist the chance to couch-solve a crime. That’s why a murder mystery, the ultimate crime, makes a captivating escape room theme.
Pro-tip: Can’t get enough murder mysteries? Outback Team Building has you covered with a Virtual Clue Murder Mystery. This enthralling team building activity wasn’t just adapted for online formats; it was designed with remote teams in mind. Outback makes it easy to gather your crime squad virtually to examine clues, Sherlock a variety of scenarios, and ultimately catch a killer. Start solving today.
4) Breaking Bad Virtual Escape Room Theme
Get in the mindset of everyone’s favorite anti-hero, Walter White, to escape from a devious drug lord’s basement or steal a file from a crime boss’s palatial mansion.
Costumes will be easy for this theme; everyone can wear yellow onesies.
5) Fantasy Virtual Escape Room Theme
Escape from an enchanted forest, repel from the tower of a dragon-guarded castle, or steal an ancient spell from a wizard’s own bedchamber. A fantasy escape room theme gets your guests’ imaginations churning like no other.
6) Zombie Virtual Escape Room Theme
Cater to the Walking Dead fans in your group with a zombie escape room theme. Go with this idea, and you won’t just have to escape an imaginary room; you’ll have to escape it without becoming zombie food.
Pro-tip: Plan an event that goes off without a hitch by making the escape accomplishments a series of online team-building games instead of a series of clues. Use your imagination to come up with an escape room scenario and Let’s Roam will handle all the details of the captivating virtual games. Each completed game, including charades and trivia, will get you and your team closer to escape. Start plotting your escape.
7) Bank Heist Virtual Escape Room Theme
You and your team have cracked into the big one, the white whale you’ve hunted all your bank-robbing days, the vault at Buckley’s Bank. You’ve grabbed only one bag of those legendary sapphires when the triple-walled vault door buries you, and your treasure, alive. Can you escape with your life and your loot?
8) Space Exploration Virtual Escape Room Theme
An escape room in space comes along with high stakes. Will you escape your enemy’s craft only to float away into a zero gravity void, shoot into a black hole, or stumble into the eight fuzzy arms of an overzealous alien?
9) Escape from New York / Los Angeles Virtual Escape Room Theme
Base your great escape on one of the John Carpenter classics, Escape from New York or Escape from L.A. Create a high-stakes adventure with just enough reality to be thrilling and chilling.
10) Mystery Novel Escape Room Theme
If you’re a fan of the classic mystery novel, then theme your escape room around your absolute favorite. Whether you like Nancy Drew or Sherlock Holmes, you’ll find plenty of inspiration in even just one synopsis.
Online Escape Room Games For Team Building
11) The Escape Game
The ultimate escape room company, The Escape Game has mastered the virtual version to make you feel the thrill of escape without ever leaving your own home. The Escape Game can accommodate large groups of up to 500, and they’ll empower you to investigate a physical room by using a human game guide—wearing a live camera—as your eyes and ears.
What makes their rooms the best virtual escape rooms? The feeling that you’re not playing an online game. You’ll feel as though you’re actually hunting for gold, swimming among ancient ruins, breaking out of an infamous prison, and so much more.
12) Treasure Mountain
Few online experiences achieve the complete immersion of Treasure Mountain. Stunning graphics create a realistic mountain environment—the environment you’ll scour to be the first to escape with a legendary treasure that has been hidden for 300 years.
13) Expedition Escape
One of Expedition Escape’s online adventures, Houdini’s Last Mystery, will have you channeling the ultimate magical escape artist himself to solve puzzles and flee a spooky museum.
14) The Go Game
Collaborate (and/or collude) with your expert event host at the Go Game to turn your remote team building event into an escape game adventure. Have your host introduce each traditional game and challenge by announcing the escape stakes. (The only way you can unlock this carved mahogany door is by having everyone guess correctly what you’re trying to draw. Go!)
15) Escape the Crate
Guess what? Escape rooms now come in a box for your adventuring convenience. Get a monthly box packed with everything you need to have all the puzzling, code-cracking, mystery-solving fun of an on-site room. Just get your box, pop into a Zoom meeting, and work through the clues to swashbuckle your way off a pirate ship and so much more.
16) Trapped in the Web
Are you an online escape artist or is this your first time? Trapped in the Web has an appropriately leveled challenge for all players. Blast through text-based clues supplemented by immersive videos to bust yourself out of school, find your way off an empty cruise ship, or escape a space station with oxygen to spare.
Online Escape Room Ideas For Team Building
17) Avatar the Last Airbender Elemental Escape Game
Fans of the Avatar series will love this free online game that has players helping their favorite characters escape from a Fire Nation prison.
18) DIY Escape Room
If you have no budget for your escape or if you just really want to do a 100% personalized experience, then the DIY route might be for you. To create your own escape room, simply:
- Create a narrative to encompass your escape and help your players imagine a room or scenario
- Develop a series of puzzles and riddles players must crack
- Bring everyone together on an online video platform to collaborate, solve, and escape
Find even more tips and tricks for hosting your own virtual escape room from National Citizen Service Trust.
19) The Room from Fireproof Games
Combine the graphics you love from your favorite video games with the fun of an escape room and you’ve got The Room. Search the room to slowly unravel a delicious mystery.
20) Minecraft Escape Room
Fans of Minecraft and maybe even newbs will enjoy this online escape room created by a youth services librarian at the Regency Park Library in New Port Richey, Florida.
21) Mad Experiments Escape Room
One of most immersive team-focused escape room games available, Mad Experiments will have you interacting with clues and uncovering secrets as you romp through an opulent mansion.
22) The House of Da Vinci from BlueBrain Games
This escape room experience has you solving online puzzles you could imagine Leonardo da Vinci himself sketching up. A narrated story adds extra immersion.
23) Faraway Puzzle Escape
Better than your favorite board games, this puzzling escape room will have you sifting through ancient ruins for any clues that might help you escape.
How To Host An Online Escape Room For Work
1) Choose your escape room. Select from the themes, paid ideas, and virtual escape experiences above, or opt for a completely DIY experience.
2) Set a time limit to add even more stakes to your already exciting game.
3) Select your virtual gathering venue, usually a video conference call service, where all your players can meet to discuss the clues and puzzles you’ve set.
Some virtual event venue options include:
- Zoom
- Skype
- Houseparty
- Facetime (Apple)
- Google Hangouts
4) Recruit your A team.
5) Send Snacks. Send a surprise SnackNation snack box to give your team all the energy they need to escape your room and live happily ever after.
6) Get a costume ready and encourage everyone to do the same.
7) Send reminders and tutorials on the day of the event. Virtual events can be easy to forget about since they don’t involve travel time. Make your guests’ lives easier by sending event reminders several hours before you plan to make your escape.
People Also Ask These Questions About An Online Escape Room
Q: How do you create an online escape room?
- A: Create an online escape room by:
- Developing a story that helps players imagine escaping a room or situation
- Inventing a series of puzzles or riddles players must crack in order to escape
- Bringing everyone together on an online video platform to collaborate, solve, and escape
- Get more tips for creating or hosting an online escape room in this guide.
Q: How do online escape rooms work?
- A: Online escape rooms work by incorporating a mix of clues, challenges, puzzles, and visuals that help players vividly imagine escaping a room or situation.
Q: How do you play a virtual escape room?
- A: You play a virtual escape room by interacting with an online environment to find and solve clues that build and ultimately lead to you escaping or resolving the challenging scenario at hand. Find a variety of virtual escape rooms to try in this post.
Q: How to create a virtual escape room with Google forms?
- A: Create a virtual escape room with Google forms by adding clues and challenges you’ve created into the form as a survey. You can even set up surveys so players receive special keys or codes as they complete challenges, slowly progressing until they make their escape.
Q: What are the best virtual escape rooms to try with my team?
- A: The best virtual escape rooms to try with your team include a Harry Potter virtual escape, Treasure Mountain, and the Escape Game’s online offerings. Check out this roundup to find a complete list of virtual escape rooms to try.
Q: What are the benefits of an online escape room for team building?
- A: The benefits of an online escape room for team building include sharpening cooperation and listening skills, developing group problem-solving capabilities, and refining your communication skills. Get all these benefits by finding an online escape room to try now.
Q: Can an online escape room be used for work?
- A: An online escape room can be used for work. These virtual experiences are perfect for working on team building and problem solving skills. Plus, they help your coworkers or employees form lasting memories of adventure.
Q: Where can I sign up for a virtual escape room experience?
- A: Sign up for a virtual escape room experience with the Escape Game or Expedition Escape. Find out more about participating in the adventures they offer in this blog post.
Q: How many participants can play an online escape room?
- A: Up to 500 people can play an online escape room if you work with a premium vendor, such as the Escape Game.
Q: Where can I learn more about virtual escape rooms?
- A: You can learn more about virtual escape rooms by reading this guide on escape room themes, services, ideas, and hosting tips.
The post 23 Online Escape Room Ideas For Professional Puzzle Solvers appeared first on SnackNation.
