#WhenRavenclawsWed - Escape Room Breakdown

Its been a minute since I've blogged, but I have had so many requests for this info that I decided that it deserved its own post - not just a random Facebook album. 

I recently got re-married, and we had a very fun, very nerdy wedding. We love board games and escape rooms, so I HAD to include one of my scavenger-hunt style escape games. I'll do my best to break down the puzzles, both for those who didn't get a chance to play and those who are curious about building their own games in the future. 

Puzzle #1 - Triggering the puzzle
The only reason we even had programs at the wedding was to initiate "The Game". We also included some silly things like Mad Libs, mostly to take up space and to drive home our silly and nerdy vibe. There was a crossword-style trivia puzzle about us and our families that, if solved, revealed the phrase "Inside the Lantern". Each table had a 3D Printed lantern with papercut panels in a nerdy theme. Opening the lantern revealed a QR code stuck inside the lid. Scanning that would lead our guests to a google form, which was set up to auto-pilot them through the rest of the game, complete with hints.

Puzzle #2 - Hashtags
Guests were instructed to take a selfie of their team with the clock and post on social media using our wedding hashtag and #StartTheClock. The first "official" puzzle then  had a # theme. The number of guest tables we had, the number it takes to win a game of tic-tac-toe, and the first photo officially posted with our photobooth and hashtag (which we had taken at home a week in advance to test-run our DIY photobooth and set up The Game.)

Puzzle #3 -  Hands Down
Next our victims were sent to our board game table (because yes, we had a good selection of board games available at the reception) to find a game that was "Hands Down" the best. We had a vintage copy of the game Hands Down, and inside of it was a box of miscellaneous game pieces. Tokens, dice, pencils, etc. Their clue indicated that they should count the number of each color to determine the 4-digit code to move on to the next puzzle. Its worth mentioning that the "Response validation" option on our google form is what made this possible. They couldn't move on to the next puzzle until they had the correct answer. 

Puzzle #4 - Texting the Bride
So, I did a similar puzzle at a youth retreat as a kid and I have been itching to use it in one of my own builds. Guests had to text my phone, which had an auto reply set up. I loved not having to worry about my phone all day AND it allowed me to give a subtle clue. 
[Auto Reply] Thanks for texting! I'm busy marrying the love of my life today, so I am not keeping my phone in-hand. If you need something specific, try Again Later.  
The answer was "again later" and that allowed them onto the next puzzle. 

Puzzle #5 - Refer to your program
For this puzzle we simply took two copies of our programs and cut out a single word (TARDIS) and then hid those copies in the bathrooms, in those nice little amenities baskets you often find at events. Well, realistically, those baskets were only there to serve as a nice, safe hiding spot for those programs. Some guests knew right away what the missing word was, and others needed to compare to their unaltered program, but either way, they got the word and moved on to my favorite puzzle yet. 

Puzzle #6 - High Fives!
Ok, so this one wasn't even a puzzle at all. As the bride, I had things to worry about other than The Game. But as the game designer, I really wanted to observe my guests solving, stumbling, and knowing how they were progressing! My solution was to have the guests give me or my groom a high-five and in exchange, receive a "super secret code word" (Thanks!) This was BY FAR my favorite puzzle of the evening and we both got so excited any time we got a high-five. 

Puzzle #7 - Nautilus
This was probably the most difficult puzzle of The Game. Guests had to seek out a long-play game on our Board Game Table (Nautilus, which is from my shelf-of-shame...but it's been played now... kinda... ish) And then they were given a 3-digit code to find a one-word answer that would allow them to progress. If they used hints, they would be told that they only needed the instructions for the game and that the clue was essentially an Ottendorf cipher. (Which is my favorite kind of well-known cipher). This gave them the word VICTORY and advanced them to the next puzzle.

Puzzle #8 - I Spy
We had a kids table laid out with fun things for the kiddos: kinetic sand, coloring books, puzzles, and some I-Spy pages. The clue for The Game included a digital image (in case the ones on the kids table were destroyed) and one of the the amazing I-Spy puzzles from Paper Trail Designs. They used the Star Wars I-Spy and had to count the number of C-3PO, R2D2, Yoda, and Darth Vader icons. This 4 digit code set them up for the last stage of The Game. 

Puzzle #9 - Escape the Room
This puzzle was about as close as I could come to fitting an actual escape room into a wedding venue without making any permanent changes to the venue itself. First, guests were instructed to go to the coat room and find my bright orange half-marathon jacket, and they would find the next clue in the pocket. In the pocket of that jacket was a black light attached to a realtor's lock. Now, at this point they could go in a few directions. On the realtors lock was a message in black-light ink which said "suit case". If they found the suit case (also in the coat room) it had a bright orange luggage lock which required a key. The 3-digit code for the realtor lock was written in highlighter on a sign in the coat room. So, they could unlock the realtor lock to get the key to the luggage lock, which opened the front pocket of the suitcase. There, they found the final code to finish the google form, along with some winner certificates that they could take over to our photo booth. 

As a game designer, it never fails to amaze me the different directions and red herrings people will make for themselves! We had at least one team remove the blacklight from the coat room completely. Another team found an old luggage tag on the suitcase and started trying those numbers into the locks. I had envisioned that they would turn off the light and search the room with the blacklight immediately, but that was clearly not what happened every time!

In conclusion - I had SO MUCH fun making this, and it gave me endless delight that there were pieces of The Game and puzzles hiding around the room, right under everyone's noses! We had a large number of teams who started The Game, but then stopped for any number of reasons. Many were just having fun with other things, and some complained that it had too many stages. Regardless, we made sure that nobody was bored!