The Escape Room - a DIY reality team event full of drama

Escape the room in 60 minutes or less

​In this fun and challenging tabletop training activity teams are locked in a room (in theory!). The doors are chained shut and there are just 60 minutes to escape! Can teams work together under time pressure to crack the code and unlock the doors?

Choose between digital and physical version. Five-Year Repeat Use Licence: This Northgate training activity comes with a five-year licence for repeat use with up to 24 participants. A licence is required for each site (or remote hub). To use with larger groups or for multiple site licences please contact us for a quote.

Participants: 12-24 (in 4 teams of 3-6 per team)
Suitable for face-to-face or virtual classroom use (two versions are supplied)
Timing: 60 minutes + debrief
Uses a computer?: Not required

To taste freedom, teams must discover the vital lock combination that releases the door. The lock combination is made up of a number of digits. Each team must find ONE of those digits so that when used together in the right order they unlock the chains.

Teams find the crucial digits by solving 8 problems. BUT - they are not all straightforward - it’s very easy to go wrong if you are not organised and paying full attention.

To ensure they solve the problems correctly, teams need to work with each other rather than competing. Wrong answers incur time penalties. Two such penalties, for example, reduce the time available from the original 60 minutes to just 50 minutes. It’s a race against time - but more haste often means less speed!

A correct solution to a problem earns teams a letter of the alphabet (although only the FIRST team with the right answer gets the letter). There are eight letters available which, when put in order with other letters teams already have at the start, spell out who locked them in the room. Teams need to know who locked them in before they can escape.

Teams’ objectives are: find the combination, discover who locked them in and build a tower that meets certain criteria or, in the virtual version, instead of building a tower, teams must solve The Courtyard Problem.

Trainer's Role

• Divide the group into four teams of 3-6 participants and set the scene, explaining that the doors to the room are 'locked and chained' (for classrooms, posters showing locked doors are provided to stick on the doors - the doors to the room are not actually locked).
• Issue the Team Briefs (and team resources for the classroom version), announce they have 60 minutes to escape.
• Observe but do not get involved - except to stand by to receive teams’ answers to the problems.
• If the solution is correct, issue that team with a letter of the alphabet. If incorrect issue a 5 minute penalty to the whole group.
• At the deadline ask each team to announce their ‘digit’ that together make up the combination. Ask “Who locked you in?” and measure team towers.
• If ALL the criteria are met, within the deadline, then teams have achieved their objective and you can release the chains on the doors! They are FREE!
• Lead a debrief on the key lessons that were thrown into relief. Lots of issues to address, all covered in the Trainer’s Notes (along with a step-by-step guide).

It’s very straightforward to run a session.

Learning objectives

• to test how well teams perform when working under pressure
• to test teams’ understanding of a complex task
• to practise organisational and time-management skills
• to highlight the value of teams interacting and sharing data with other teams (in cooperation, not rivalry)
• to test teams’ approach to problem-solving (lateral thinking).

Pack Contents

• Trainer’s Notes
• Trainer’s PowerPoint
• Trainer's Checklists
• Team Briefs
• Optional Assessment Form

Also included in hard copy pack for classroom use:

• ‘Locks & Chains’ Door Posters
• Tape Measure
• A4 Card
• Resources: Artstraws, Fibre Pens, Paper, Sticky Tape & Rulers