For participants, the magic of the escape room depends on maintaining the illusion that you are, indeed, trapped inside a strange environment.
Even as adults, we love to play pretend. We suspend our disbelief for just long enough to imagine we are trapped explorers or people from other times.
And then we work together to free ourselves.
But what happens when a group of escape room goers gets a little too into playing pretend? It seems there is no limit to the lengths they'll go to get the heck out of there.
Redditor Curse_the_food asked:
"Escape room operators, what was the weirdest thing you've seen a group do?"
Many Redditors talked about the very gross things that happened. What is it that makes full-grown adults feel the need to spill their bodily fluids within the span of an hour?
DAILY?
"My daughter managed an escape room that had a toilet prop that moved away from the wall to reveal a hidden passage to crawl through after using clues to open it."
"Guests were informed that the toilet was inoperable. There was a note on the toilet stating not to use it. There was even a key hidden in the toilet."
"Someone peed in the toilet daily. They then had to fish the key out of their and crawl through a puddle of it to complete the game. Daily."
-- evelynesque
No Escaping a Hangover
"First clients of a morning, a player arrived wearing sunglasses inside, and ended up throwing up in the room. I made her boyfriend clean it up."
"A woman talking into an old (very obviously prop) shoe like it's a phone, hoping she'll hear clues."
"A group starting a game of ouija and waiting to hear voices instead of looking at the clues on the board. I went and shouted nonsense through their door."
Pee In All the Wrong Places
"A guy once proposed in the escape room I worked at, it was very cute, he had us put the ring in a treasure chest, and proposed on one knee when she opened the box."
"On a less nice note, I've had men pee in the corner of the room before/pee in the toilet with the door open, which was super awkward as the office is next to the toilet, at the end of a long corridor, which means I had to watch them do this whilst walking to the control room"
-- Saskyhu67
Didn't Factor That In
"A couple booked a private room in my facility and they showed up with a baby. They told me they couldn't get a babysitter so they wanted to play as the baby was in their baby carrier."
"I ended up accepting ; after all, nothing bad could happen, right ? The baby wouldn't be able to break anything in the room."
"What I did not expect is that the mother casually changed the baby diaper on the room's table, on the props."
"I threw everything away after that."
Others talked about the times that romance and relationship drama made its way into the escape room. Sometimes, pretend stress turns into real stress in a matter of seconds.
Doesn't Seem Very Comfortable
"Not exactly 'weird' but we've had several groups (couples) decide to hook up in our rooms, seemingly forgetting that every corner of the place is covered by cctv..."
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The Last Straw
"Breakups. You wouldn't believe the amount of long term relationships I've seen go to a head and become destroyed but just being in a locked room with puzzles."
-- clouds6877
Busted
"When I joined this company, they were the first in the city, and we were in an odd location that could be hard to find, so company policy was to call patrons who were 10min. late. We called this person, and it was a very agitated woman who didn't know who or what we are, and after confirming the booking name/number she snarkily told us that was her husband and we weren't something he'd be doing."
"We were polite and started to do some cleaning since we thought the booking was cancelled when the group showed up, acting jovially with the guy who booked it being very handsy with one woman. We confirmed the name on the reservation and mentioned that we just called and thought there might've been a cancellation. After confirming the number, the guy's face went white."
"We get the event started, with further PDA showing they were a couple. They win, we offer team photo. The guy did not want to participate in the photo, and had to be convinced by his entire team to jump in. Right before the flash went off, he dropped his head to hide his face. We figured out he was with his side-chick."
-- Ash_Fire
Finally, some shared the truly bizarre, unique, and hilarious memories they have from the job.
Happy Accident
"We had this group of 3, the theme was an abandoned subway station. We had some flashing lights so they would see something but I forgot to switch the flip on when bringing them to the room..."
"They never ever, turned on the lights (the button was next to the door) and spent the whole hour in almost complete darkness, only using the metro carriage headlight to check every clue they had (they were doing very well so I didn't told them to turn the lights on)."
"Then, the same group spent at least 10 minutes reassembling a skeleton, arguing which bone would go where because they thought they saw some marks on the fake bones (still in almost complete darkness), after the skeleton was back in one piece they figured out it was useless and managed to find the final code and went out in time."
"Their main feedback was 'we really liked the darkness it made it a bit difficult to navigate and read the clues but the immersion was great.' We tried the room without lights a few more times afterwards on groups we thought would not be complete idiots and made some minor changes to accommodate (like making it easier to navigate without bumping your feet everywhere)."
"The lights off became the default setting in the end."
-- meuh210
Needed a Little Nudge
"Group shows up in the dead of night, high as a kite. There was an elevator door in the room, opened by a code. They stand in a semicircle in front of the elevator for a solid 20 minutes before asking for a hint."
"I chime in through the microphone 'Have you opened the elevator yet?' Dead silence for half a minute before one of them asks 'Dude, you got an elevator in here?' "
The Man for the Job
"Not an operator but a friend of mine was telling me recently about one where the final clue to open the door was in a file on the desktop of a windows computer."
"He's a devops and security professional, so naturally he turns off this computer, boots it into safe mode, gains access to the command line, uses that to access the files on the desktop, and solves the whole room in <5 minutes. I think the group then did the whole room properly but were pretty smug about their record."
-- goshpenny
Trying to Turn the Tables
"Last group of the night, they were drunk and got frustrated so they stole a bunch of sh** our of the room, we didn't notice until they left. They emailed us with a treasure map to find where they had hidden all the pieces through downtown."
"I waited until 8am the next morning, called the cops and the cops showed up with the guy, very hungover and made him go get all the pieces. While he did that, I Google him found out what company he worked for contacted their HR and offered them a company discount. His company booked and I informed their HR department that their employee was banned from the facility."
-- Thekrishub
Still Counts?
"There was one escape room that gave us a huge keyring with a million keys early on. We'd already solved the lock it went to, but were struggling to finish the other puzzles. The key item we needed to end the game was behind a lock. So when we realized we were low on time, we had one person try every key on that ring just in case."
"Turns out one of the keys worked, but none of them were supposed to. The operator was super confused and asked us which key so he could take it off the keyring for the future. I'm pretty surprised nobody else had ever tried that."
-- fuzzlequeen
Making Themselves Right At Home
"So, I managed this room that had a decorative dungeon-like area that was behind a closed gate that was screwed shut and wasn't meant to he opened."
"So one day, a group of slightly tipsy yet overall nice and polite middle-aged men come in to play. As always I instruct them about the rules and tell them the usual "Everything that must be opened can be done so without excessive force and use of outside-tools blah, blah, blah...". The game starts and at one point they seem to be stuck and unable to find the next clue. So they start flipping everything over and generally making a huge mess (nothing unusual)."
"I turned away from the monitor for literally a couple of minutes to go to the bathroom and when I came back I see that one of them has a mini pocket-sized tool kit with him, that he's used to screw open the dungeon gate and is now trying to take apart a piece of furniture, while another one has fully undressed the mannequin that was inside of the dungeon and put on it's "bloody" robe on himself."
"Needless to say, they did not find the exit key in time and the room had to be closed for the rest of the day, due to the damage they did. They were nice enough to apologize and offer to help with cleaning the place up, however, some of the stuff they broke, couldn't be repaired as easily."
Sounds Like a Good Time
"An operator told me once about this group that was very high. They game was supposed to start with them chained to the floor and trying to find a key in their reach."
"Apparently they stayed the whole hour sitting on the floor, looking at the ceiling and laughing for no reason. When the game was over they had to be unchained by the operator. They claimed they had the best time ever XD"
-- oUNdeSi
Came Prepared
"I was in an escape room, we had gotten to the end and needed the password to a computer so we could open files on a flash drive (I don't remember why, it was something about bomb codes)."
"The laptop was a Chromebook, and since we were running out of time I rebooted it and logged in using my own Google account and got the files open. The operator told me no one had done that before so I was pretty chuffed."
-- Tajomstvo
So before you destroy a lock or pee in the corner of an escape room, remember that there is an employee watching you the entire time--and they're just trying to get through a shift.
Escape rooms are a game phenomenon that has really taken off in recent years.
Teams of players are meant to work together to find clues, and obviously, escape the room they've been locked in. All kinds of people are attracted to escape rooms, ready to take on a puzzle and even possibly enjoy a unique theme. A lot of work goes into the experience, and employees do a lot behind the scenes to ensure customers enjoy themselves.
That being said, some players prove to be too intoxicated, curious, or even too enthusiastic when they take part in a game, leading to mayhem for the escape room's employees. We got to hear about such incidents when Redditor u/nervousbeekeeper asked... "Escape room workers, what's the most absurd thing players have done?"
20. The worst kind of players
"They game was only one hour long and it was timed by us (escape room workers). There was also a clock in the player's room so they could know how much time they had left. They played for 59 minutes and when they saw they only had one minute left (they were going to lose) they said that they didn't like the game and wanted the money back and leave the place. It was stupid but our boss made us give them the money back so he wouldn't have bad reviews. Probably not the most absurd thing to do since they played for free but always wanted to express how selfish and stupid people can be sometimes."
19. Unlikely friends were made
"Had a drunk group of 4 join in with 2 sober folks they didn't know. One of the couples from the drunk group hit on me (both husband and wife), and then the drunk group ended up bonding with the sober group and going out for consolation drinks (believe it or not, they didn't escape)."
18. This poorly designed escape room
Giphy"I went to an escape room. Once. Staff told us not to move furniture or lift anything. Then they switched off the lights. We spent a miserable hour or so. Barely made it past the first room using the light from a watch before they let us out. Turns out the flashlight was under the mattress that we weren't allowed to lift in the first room. Never. Going. Back."
17. These inappropriate teens
"We had a teenage couple come in (15-ish). They had sex absolutely everywhere imaginable... Good times. Edit: there were cameras everywhere to make sure everyone is ok"
16. Check the address
"I work in London, we once had a few members of a team arrive. When quizzed on the whereabouts of the remaining members they looked surprised, they thought they were already there. Turns out the rest of the team were in another escape room down the road, getting a safety briefing for a game they didn't book. Madness."
15. This player didn't get it
"The group was split in to two, one of them started locked up in a dark prison cell with a phone (to ask for clues). Game starts, they start moving, I come back to my desk from locking the door behind me and I hear a call. Guy is telling me to call the cops because some psychopath locked them up in a cell... **** was hard to explain to him"
14. Don't just destroy things
"Went to an escape room and the last warning of the receptionist: don't touch the clock, it is not part of the game, it is just there to help set the mood and if you break it you pay for it.
There was a very nice old clock, one of those 6feet high beauties. Apparently the first thing some nutjob did when he got in the room was to knock over the clock because 'there was obviously a passageway to another room behind it' and it cost couple grand ti repair it."
13. Thief!
"A Karen tried to take things from the escape room. A book was spray painted in gold and she tried to take it. The funniest thing was that there is a camera and she didn't know that. When the owner asked did she take anything she said no. That book cost only 2 dollars."
12. That's a big accident
"Not a escape room employee but one time I accidentally pissed myself in one. I imagine the escape room employee was horrified, my friends thought it was a hilarious."
11. Brown nosers...
"I did an escape room in middle school for my friends birthday and were a bunch of 8th grade idiots so one of the workers was there with us and several of us immediately tried to be friends with her and the nephew of the guy the party was for basically became her assistant"
10. You're not really trapped, you know
"Attended a 'Saw series' themed escape room with my SO and some randoms since the room required 4-6.
We get locked in to start, chained to fixtures like the dark room scene from the movie - lights are off. As soon as the thing starts one of the randos says, 'I have a gun in case we need to shoot someone.'
I thought he was joking. We all did.
Eventually the lights turn on and he pulls out a real gun and sits it in the sink and says, 'I'm leaving the gun in the sink in case something happens to me. It's for everyone.'"
9. Hot bulbs
"I did an escape room with my family and the workers have to tell you not to lick the light bulb. This is because some guy thought if he licked the light bulb the answer would be revealed on the light bulb. The only answer he found was light bulbs are hot and can burn you."
8. Go to the bathroom before going in
"A kid I knew from school, his family owns an escape room business. The most things that happen is people trying to take things when it's clearly nailed down or nailed to the wall then he said that a little kid pissed in a bottle."
7. Printers are so unpredictable
Giphy"I did an escape room with a group of friends. At the end, you found a flash drive which was supposed to be plugged into a computer. We opened the document and there were instructions to print. We got print, and the printer gave us an 'out of ink' error. We assumed this was part of the game and started looking for a magenta cartridge. Then an employee slipped in the room, replaced the cartridge, and told us to hit print again.
Apparently it was not part of the game. They just ran out of ink."
6. I'm sure they were tempted to hand them the key
"I one had a group of drunk guys go in and they ran through their allotted hints pretty quickly. They asked for another hint and we said over the speakers that they were out of hints.
One of the guys threatened to start taking off his clothes until we gave another hint."
5. The luckiest guess
"My buddy guessed a lock's combo which gave us the final clue, but we had not found the other ones. We ending up solving the room backwards.
When the room administrator came in she had nothing else to say but 'What the **** did you guys do.'"
4. That would be the ultimate Alcatraz challenge
"Mate worked at an escape room and he told me that some guys tried to smash a hole in the wall to get out because it was an Alcatraz themed room."
3. It can't ALL be a clue
"First thing I had to learn working at an escape room: Everything, yes EVERYTHING, in the room was going to be dismantled, pulled on, or messed with in some way. Have a screwdriver in the room? Maybe there's a clue in the light switch cover. Blacklight? Must have to take it completely apart. TV for clues? Must have to unplug/change inputs. And anything not nailed down is bound to be broken"
2. Escape rooms aren't for everyone
"Had a group come in, I noticed they had been drinking a little, but seemed mostly fine. So I let them into the room and start the clock.
They were just wandering around. At the half an hour mark they were laying on the floor and rolling around. They didn't do any harm to the room. I don't remember if they even solved one puzzle. When I let them out after an hour they claimed it was fun. But they didn't really do anything? And did they remember it the next day? Idk"
1. These players with super strength
Giphy"At an escape room near me they had a group of lads on a stag do.
These guys got very drunk and during the escape room, thought they could escape via the sewers. The managed to rip out the manhole cover which was bolted down into concrete. This cover is now permanently broken as its too expensive to fix they said. Advised us to not escape via the sewers..."
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Escape Rooms are essentially those early 90s point-and-click computer games come to life. You need to possess innovation, creativity, and a lot of ingenuity to find your way out. There are only so many different ways you can figure out how to get that obviously fake phone open so you can retrieve key #3 of 14. Unfortunately, not every idea is a good idea, and many can lead to disaster.
Reddit user, u/RelevantDonkey, wanted to hear:
Redditors who've worked in escape rooms, what's the stupidest thing a person has done trying to solve the puzzle?
What's the dumbest thing you've ever seen in an escape room? Let us know!