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Getting a group of friends together, paying money to be locked in a room and having to solve clues and puzzles to escape. Sounds fun right?
This is an escape room. A thematically decorated room or rooms where a group of people work together to solve clues and puzzles in order to progress and eventually escape the ‘room’ before something catastrophic happens (usually resulting in the fictional death of you all).
The escape room craze has absolutely blown up in recent years and in most major cities you will find a few of these around. If you haven’t done one yet – I highly suggest you do. They are tonnes of fun and really get your brain ticking.
BUT – Escape rooms do require around $25 – $50 to participate and you generally need 3+ people. So they are not always a viable option. But fear not, there is a tonne of board and card games that will satisfy your puzzle-solving cravings and have you thinking out of the box.
What is the Best Escape Room Board Game for Adults?
1. Escape Room in a Box: The Werewolf Experiment
I picked up a copy of this board game recently and have played it through a few times. It is by far the closest thing you can get to an actual representation of an escape room experience (without actually doing one). The puzzles and ‘gadgets’ included are what you will typically find in an authentic escape room (albeit they are a lot smaller).
The game runs for 60 – 90 mins and is suited for 2 – 8 players.
I don’t want to spoil too much but here are a few things that you can expect with the game:
The Game Has Replay Value
On the Escape Room in a Box website, you will find a section called ‘more fun stuff’, here they provide resources that allow you to repack the game with different challenges and clues and even instructions on how to rebuild the box.
This section also has a ‘Host Repack’ where you can act as a host to your friends who play the game. This comes with a ‘game master script’ so you know what to say and when.
I have played as a host few times and let me tell you – it is just as fun as actually playing the game, watching your friends struggle and rush to solve the puzzles!
YOU CAN USE AMAZON ALEXA TO HOST YOUR GAME!
Yes, you read that correctly. You can now use Alexa to host the game – much like a real escape room. She will keep time, give you hints when requested and create an intense atmosphere by playing suspenseful music.
This is a ridiculously awesome feature and is one of the first of its kind. It makes the game so much more engaging having someone else keep time and the music will have everyone rushing to finish the game in time.
Escape Room in a Box is not just a board game
I don’t want to spoil anything. But Escape Room in a Box is not just a board game. It comes with keys, locks, boxes, codes and ‘feats of STRENGTH’ that must be accomplished.
Okay, feats of strength was a bit over the top. But you can see what I am getting at. The game comes with a tonne of different and out of the box (no pun intended) challenges.
There are TWO versions of the game
2. Exit: The Game - The Abandoned Cabin
Imagine you are driving along a deserted road late at night with a group of friends. Suddenly you hear a loud bang and your car breaks down.
None of you know how to fix it, so you decide to look for shelter for the night until you can call a mechanic in the morning. Lucky for you (or unlucky) you stumble across an abandoned cabin nearby where you decide to rest.
Upon waking up the next morning you find the door locked, bars on the windows and a strange book and disc lying in the middle of the floor….
This is the premise for Exit: The Game – The Abandoned Cabin.
The game is a one hit wonder and is the perfect game for people who loves riddles.
The game consists of a deck of cards, a “mysterious disc”, a detailed booklet and few other objects.
As you progress through the game you need to use all of these things to solve puzzles in order to find a way out of the cabin that is holding you captive.
The gameplay is around 60mins to 120mins depending on when and how often you use any ‘help’ cards or how awesome you are at solving riddles. I won’t lie when my wife and I played through this game we found some of the riddles particularly challenging.
Here are what you can expect with the game:
Lots of riddles
If you enjoy solving riddles this game is for you. The riddles range from pretty easy to mind scratchingly hard.
There were times playing the game where we were utterly lost with what to do – much like a real escape room.
But the game does have a mechanic to help you if you are stuck which leads on to the next point.
The game has helper and answer cards
Riddles can be really tough. So there needs to be a way to help players who are stuck or lagging behind with clues to get them on the right track.
Exit does this by providing help cards (3 per riddle) that provide small, medium and large clues to help you solve the puzzle.
If you are still stuck by the third clue you can use the answer card.
The Game is Cheap BUT it is a One Hit Wonder
Good news – the game is cheap.
Bad news – you can only play through the game once.
This is not a bad thing. Much like an escape room in real life – you can only play through them once before you know the puzzles and how everything works.
The objects and cards in Exit: The Game – The Abandoned Cabin are meant to be broken, torn apart and used in order to solve the puzzles. This means they are discarded when you are done.
Overall it is an amazing game and it is one of the best escape room board games for adults.
There are multiple versions of the game
If you love the game and how the mechanics work there are multiple versions available:
3. Escape the Crate
Now for something completely different.
Escape the Crate is a relatively new concept that focuses on a subscription model.
It is is a collection of escape room board games/puzzles that you get sent every month – (wait for it) in a crate. How cool is that?
I will be honest and say I have not yet had a chance to try this out but looking at reviews on the web – I don’t think you will be disappointed.
The backstory of the puzzles is that E.M.I.T (Emergency Mediation in Time) – the world’s only organized time-traveling institution goes back in time and fixes issues that have occurred in the past.
The E.M.I.T caseload has exploded and they do not have enough team members to solve all the cases. This is where you come in…
You can read the entire story here.
This has got to be one of the coolest board game concepts this year. A monthly subscription? Endless replayability and the perfect fit for someone who loves escape rooms.
Heres what to expect:
Monthly subscriptions
You will receive a completely new board game each month all with different themes, puzzles and problems to solve. Currently, there are over 16 months worth of crates and they are constantly expanding these.
A variety of puzzles
Taking a look at the different crates – without spoiling too much. You can expect to receive an entire range of puzzles from letters, ciphers, riddles, tools, locks and crack codes.
The puzzles range from deciphering an alien language to solving a murder.
The stories these guys have come up with seem really unique and are sure to engage your imagination as you work through the puzzles.
4. Unlock!
Unlock! is one of the simpler escape room board games compared to the others listed above.
All you need is the cards that come with the game and the smartphone app that you can download.
It’s a really quick set up and by default the game comes with a decent amount of adventures you can work through as a team.
Just because it is simple – does not mean it is not engaging. The game is actually really fun.
Each adventure takes 60mins to play. That is the time limit you have to complete the task of the adventure you choose to complete.
The game is for 2 to 6 players and will have you working through the sixty card deck to solve clues, puzzles, riddles and combining objects to progress in the story.
The app acts as the host. It will provide hints, keep the time and confirm whether the answer you got from the puzzle is correct.
The overall goal of the game is to crack the code within 60 mins in order to escape and win.
This game has surfaced a few times during one of my weekly game nights and is a lot of fun, especially if you don’t feel like setting up a more complex game or as a filler between campaigns.
My wife and I have also recently taken it out on a date night where we played it at a bar while enjoying a beer. It was perfect.
What you can expect:
Cheap with a simple set up
As mentioned above, the game is simply a deck of cards and a phone app. This does not take away from the depth of the game or mean the puzzles are not fun or easy. The game is incredibly engaging and well worth the money in my opinion.
Multiple Adventures
The game offers replayability in the form of multiple adventures. By default it comes with three adventures to choose from:
The game also comes with a ten-card tutorial so that you can quickly familiarize yourself with how it works before diving in.
Final Thoughts
I absolutely love escape rooms and the growing trend in their popularity indicates that I am not the only one.
Board games are a brilliant way to capture the excitement and intense pressure of an escape room as well as the types of puzzles that will have you scratching your head and thinking ‘how could anyone solve this’ – But you can do it from the comfort of your own home.
I have created this list of the best escape room board games for adults to give you an idea of what I believe are the best options on the market to date.
Of course, this is not a comprehensive list. There are a tonne of others out there and the list is constantly growing.
I would love to hear about any escape room board games you have tried or any you think I should add to the list in the comments below.
2 Responses
I wanted to purchase an interesting board game to play with my friends during this quarantine. This is the reason I have been looking at the escape room board game reviews.
This is so helpful! I am definitely a board game junkie. I have been looking for fun things to do to celebrate birthdays during quarantine, and this list makes my research so much easier! Thanks a ton!!