As a game master monitoring teams during their escape experience, it’s often anguishing watching teams get closer or further away from completing a puzzle. The desire to just blurt out hints is always there as an attempt to be helpful because we love seeing groups complete rooms. However, we also know that every group is different and there is team satisfaction in figuring out puzzles 100% on their own, but there also could be team frustration developing when members feel stuck. Yet many times, teams that didn’t take hints and maybe didn’t complete the escape room are just as excited as those who did take hints and completed the room.

At Ace of Escape, we do our best to take leads from the teams themselves. So teams that are looking more for successful completions are, at times, provided queues for hints to keep the teams on track. While teams looking to test the deepest and most abstract levels of their brains may not be given those same queues. Our focus is to just make sure the groups that are coming in are having fun in our rooms.

Our custom experience makes it easier for groups coming in for team-building or families with various ages looking to do something all together. So if there’s been a fear of not escaping or a fear of potential frustration preventing you or a friend from trying an escape room, we highly recommend you give one of our rooms at Ace of Escape a chance! You’ll leave focused on the fun you had and totally forget any fears in a few minutes!

See you soon at Tucson’s Ace of Escape!

Here are some great tips for a successful escape room experiences compiled by Ace of Escape:

1) Don’t travel as a pack too much. It helps to break up into pairs and have different people working different parts of the room or different puzzles. It also helps to switch it up a bit and let other teammates work on puzzles you’re not getting. But when groups stay together as a large pack for much of the game, they often find themselves running out of time, or have several members of their group just standing around observing. (UltimateLockDown.com)

2) COMMUNICATE. COMMUNICATE A LOT. AND THEN COMMUNICATE MORE. You show me a group that doesn’t come close to escaping the room, and I’ll show you a group that had a hard time sharing with each other.

All the (real) clues are connected in some way. There are 10 of you, and all of you are (hopefully) finding different clues. If you don’t talk to each other, or share what you’ve found, or put them together, your quest will be hopeless. Talk and show, and let others talk to and show you. Talk out the problem, together. Tell them what you think, and listen to what they think. Ten heads ARE better than one. (PGAVdestinations.com)

3) Mood matters
Know what correlates with success in an escape room? Your attitude. Right now you’re thinking “Surely you mean intelligence”, or “This is some feel-good, fun-is-what-matters point.” No, and no.

I see intelligent teams come through all the time, and there’s no correlation with success. Most games are built without necessary prior knowledge, so your degree in cryptography or your Grand Master Chess skills are actually putting you in danger of overthinking the puzzles.

What absolutely does correlate positively is a fun, enthusiastic attitude. Teams that get excited, into the game, always finish faster (and have more fun). They feel a rush every time a mini puzzle is solved, and run to the next one.

The only thing that correlates more negatively than apathy is alcohol — and even that is moreso due to the sobering up effect that happens about 30-40 minutes in, resulting in even worse apathy. (Lifehacker.com/au)

4) Work Fast (and Ask for Clues) at the Beginning
An hour in an escape room seems like plenty of time, and that false sense of security encourages people to dawdle early on. Bryce says that’s probably the biggest threat to the team. By the time people realize what kind of trouble they’re in, it’s usually way too late and the unsolved clues have piled up. Bryce has seen enough teams to know that “it’s easy to work fast when you have five minutes left.” That’s why he suggests starting out with a real sense of urgency.

The same thing applies to hints. Often, people will refuse to ask for their hint because they think it feels like cheating. Asking for a hint with five minutes left is like asking for a raise while you’re getting fired: it’s not going to do you any good and you’re probably going to feel a little silly. Don’t let pride get the best of you. It’s natural to want to solve the room like a true Sherlock, but teams that win act more like Columbo: they ask questions. (Groupon.com)

5) Search carefully!

Some items are carefully hidden. Look under and around for hidden objects or information. (PortlandEscapeRooms)

Looking for something new, different and exciting for your child or teenager’s birthday or sports team celebration? Try Ace of Escape’s escape rooms. Ace of Escape offers various options for kid’s birthdays. We have two different escape room options that can accommodate between 8 to 12 kids or teenagers. The rooms are modified slightly so kids enjoy the sleuthing experience as well as the thrill of victory. For kids ages 10 and under, a staff member joins the kids to help keep kids on track, but still allowing them the joy of finding and figuring things out on their own! For larger teams, the option to have competing rooms can serve up to 20 teens or kids.

We allow for extra time and provide photos. There are many local options to continue the celebration before and after nearby! Discounts for group bookings are available.

Contact us for more details or to coordinate!

Check out some reviews from our Kids and Teen Events:

“Flawless Student Ministries and The Rock Church had a great time! First class experience and great service all around! Our students are begging to do it again soon and we will!”

“Our son and his 3 friends had a great time doing the international thief room. They made it kid-appropriate and gave them kid-friendly clues to help them complete the challenges without getting too frustrated or giving up. The clues were very creative and clever, the staff super friendly and helpful and the kids had a great time!”

“Thank you so much for the great experience we had at Ace of Escapes. The teens I brought had a great experience! You guys are awesome!!”

Tucson locals and visitors alike are having a great time at Ace of Escape! Check out your team’s photos:

View More on FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/AceOfEscape/photos/?tab=album&album_id=1717187395226652

We often are asked by customers if the escape rooms will be a scary experience. Our answer is a solid “No”, but it will be totally adrenaline rushing just from the rush of solving clues and finding pieces to the puzzles. The rooms don’t have any scary surprises. Nothing will jump out at you and there’s nothing gross or scary lurking in the items unlocked!

Our escape rooms will leave you and your group talking about the adventure for hours! It’s amazing to watch how groups interact and enjoy the mystery of the rooms whether they escape or not! We welcome you to check out our Tucson Escape Rooms or contact us for any questions!

After some great feedback and customer suggestions, we are now offering customizable private event experiences. These events include:

“Kids Only” International Thief: Kids ages 8 to 14 can enjoy a tailored escape room experience in our International Thief Room. The mystery and theme remains the same, but kids are provided with a few different age appropriate clues, extra hints as needed, and an extra 5 minutes! Our first group of 12 year olds had a blast!

Glow Party in the Game Room: Another customized experience with puzzles tailored to kids 12 and up, but with a fun neon experience as the kids explore the dark room to find the answers to escape!

Team-Building Events: All three of our escape rooms are great for corporate team building, but both the International Thief and The Game Room can be customized to focus on specific teamwork needs from collaboration, to communication, to even going back to the basics of sharing all while remaining totally fun!

These events are available through our private bookings page or customers can contact us to set up specific times and discuss needs! Special discounts available for Non-Profit Organizations too!