I haven't tried these rooms yet. Not sure I want to. Highly claustrophobic. Convince me...
No touching...
"I used to work at one. I can’t tell you how many people thought that power outlets were a prop and tried to stick keys into them. Guys. There was a lamp plugged into it and a 'do not touch, not a part of the game' sticker on it. It’s not a trick, don’t do that."
brasscassette
Shackles
"A friend of mine works for an escape room and he told me one about a puzzle where the key to the next door was shackled to a desk by a combination lock. What you are supposed to do is figure out the combination for the lock from the clues around the room to free the key. What one group decided to do instead was get a guy on each corner and pick up the 150 pound desk and carry it across the room, slide the key into the lock, and then rotate the entire desk to unlock the door."
sharrrper
'Yale'
"I am not an escape room employee but I did a lot of em and talked to the employees often. One of them told me there was a simple lock (opened by a key) that had 'Yale' written on it (the name of the lock company) and a lady (not native English speaker) thought it read 'yell' and legit shouted 'OPEN!!' at it, expecting it to open."
Dorza1
searching the fountain...
"Recently went to an escape room with my co-workers. Before we started, we were explicitly warned not to touch or drink the bright blue water coming out of a fountain because it would turn our skin blue - clearly people had tried searching the fountain as part of the escape room previously and now they have to warn everyone."
babers1987
Voice of God
Whos That Voice Of God GIF by Shark WeekGiphy"I was in an escape room once where one puzzle involved some objects that needed to be manipulated inside a structure that made it very awkward."
"We were all looking at it trying to figure out how to proceed when I said 'Well, the bottom is held on with screws and I have a screwdriver in my purse, but that would probably be cheating.' Instantly the Voice of God came over the intercom 'THAT WOULD BE CHEATING!' So we didn't do that..."
Miss_Speller
Well people really do get creative at this game... don't they?
Reverse
genius GIFGiphy"Had a group of engineers who were familiar with the style of the lock effectively reverse engineer the lock. They showed us how they did it afterwards."
Snowf1ake222
Smoked...
"When I was in one they told us several times that the fire extinguisher is NOT part of the puzzle. They said it so many times, I'm 98% sure someone once used it lol."
Zirael_Swallow
"I always wait to see if they say not to disassemble smoke detectors, if they have that warning, I ask about it, and every time they will always have a story about a dumby who ignored the warning labels and disassembled the smoke detector."
cleverplaydoh
Group of 4
"There was a story on here a while ago about a guy in a group of four who took a broom from the first room because 'it had to be for something.' He said it looked too out of place to not be needed. Well he was half right. It was out of place but that's because it was the broom used by employees to clean the room."
"It was simply forgotten when they cleaned last time. The guys giving hints thought it was hilarious that this guy carried a broom through four rooms expecting it to be the key to their escape at some point. I thought that was funny as hell."
PCCoatings
Damages...
"Take in a screwdriver and dismantling furniture or taking doors off hinges... all the while we specifically tell them not to use force and that furniture is just furniture. Though I don't care cause they gotta pay the damages. Also had some groups press our panic button cause that opens all the doors (for emergency cases)."
"So they can skip puzzles and be faster. Makes zero sense to us cause they are paying for an hour of playtime and to solve puzzles, not like the prize is reduced cause you solved less in fewer minutes. Especially since our prices aren't cheap."
karmasabitterpill
Idiots
Idiot Facepalm GIFGiphy"Breaking EVERYTHING. Trying to eat or drink things they should totally not be trying to eat or drink."
Radiant-Comb9058
Perfect Pitch
"My brother and sister once did an escape room where they fell behind 45 minutes in to their one hour limit. Then my brother sat down at the piano and just played the background music that was on (he has perfect pitch). This happened to be the code to open the final door."
B1ue_zangoose
Are you crazy!?
"I did a spy thriller which had a chalk board. Trouble is, 3 of the 4 of us were scientists. A chalkboard full of equations?! Clearly this meant something. Now. In hindsight. It seems unlikely that any puzzle designer would expect you have the working knowledge to solve quadratic equations. Or that you'd need anything but the most basic of mathematical skills."
"So that was our first error. The second error was when our friend (fiancé of one of the three scientists and only non scientist of the bunch) immediately goes to erase the board with its immaculate display of complicated formulae and equations. She was immediately wrestled to the ground."
"Sheer panic. No dignity. Are you crazy!? You don't just erase someones chalkboard!!! Full blown PTSD of Uni is the play here. Lo and behold. Erasing the board revealed some unerasableble text, spelling out the clue. We felt bad for that one. She was right."
Kenobi_01
Numbers
"We were supposed to find the numbers to a padlock. My boss had guessed the answer within 5 minutes."
Th3_Accountant
"I had to do this once. In a poorly designed room, one of the padlocks needed to be open by a hint that led to a 5 letter word, but the lock only had 4 digits so the designers of the room just took the last letter off of the word and spelt it wrong. We were trying real 4 letter words and couldn't figure it out so I just started guessing and eventually got it."
ObsquatuIate
Digits
code GIFGiphy"Not an employee... but my group once was so bad that we solved the room by fully misunderstanding the concept and we ended up getting the five digit code to the lockbox via some truly failed logic that shouldn't have worked."
xeothought
Water Levels
"One of the puzzles is opened at the start of the room to reveal a large jug of water with a floating key, but the water level is too low for you to reach it. As you progress through the room you get smaller canteens to fill up the jug. Bachelor party comes in already tipsy, orders multiple drinks as they progress through the room, and at some point one of them pees into the jug to raise the water level. This is what made me leave for another job. If you ever go to an escape room, just know we're judging you for every move you make."
Xenomorph_Queen
Your UV
"I was in a room once with a puzzle that required UV light - and you did find a UV torch somewhere. Problem was, the batteries were as good as dead. Luckily I had a UV torch on me because I hadn't yet unpacked my pockets from night geocaching the previous weekend. Came out of the room, telling the employees, 'Your UV badly needs new batteries.' - 'How did you solve it then?' - 'Well, had my own...'
bbgreenie
Hey Jeff...
"Went on a team building escape room and ended up in a room with a colleague we'll call 'Jeff.' Jeff is profoundly deaf and a large part of this particular room involved listening to messages on Dictaphones that could be found in different drawers* etc."
"About ten minutes into the timer an employee burst into the room in a panic and we turned to find Jeff taking the Dictaphone apart piece by piece because he had no idea it was making any sound. He was not supposed to do that, still a top bloke."
ifthen_endif
Letters matter...
lights alphabet GIFGiphy"I don't know if it's the weirdest but we had a puzzle which involved morse code. Usually you had to use an endoscope to find the alphabet in a chest. One person in this group actually knew the whole alphabet and was able to solve it."
MrNighty
She broke the machine...
"Not an employee, but while doing a casino-themed escape room with some colleagues, the worker told us 'please do not pull the lever on the slot machine as it will break something later in the game.' The timer started and my coworker went 'well we’re obviously supposed to do that first' and pulled the lever. We were not supposed to do that first. She broke the machine."
ProfessorBeer
Even though there are a million ways to escape, I'm still gonna pass. My claustrophobia won't allow it.
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Home viewers can play along with the contestants and shout out answers in the hopes that the person they are rooting for can somehow channel your barking through the television screen.
You may not win the cash prize, but the adrenaline rush is a satisfactory equivalent for those living vicariously.
But what viewers are missing out on are the fascinating behind-the-scenes moments reserved for those who participate.
While I have not personally played on a game show or did reality TV, I have been in a live studio audience situation on various talk shows.
The excitement of being on a set is undeniably thrilling and dramatic.
Redditor u/olymp1a wondered about the experiences of former TV game show contestants and asked:
"People who have been on t.v. game shows, what are some 'behind the scenes' secrets that regular viewers don't know about?"
Those who tested their wills on shows like Wheel of Fortune, Cash Cab, and even reality dating shows answered the call with their amusing anecdotes you never would have suspected happened off-camera. Wheel Of Weight
"I was on Wheel of Fortune. You have to get there at 5 AM where you draw straws with other contestants to decide when you will film. They film the entire week of episodes in 1 day. Pat Sajak is incredibly friendly and interacted with us on every break. The wheel is HEAVY."
Lucky Passenger
"I was on Cash Cab. You can't just hail a cab in New York which turns out to be the Cash Cab. There is a vetting process, but you don't know you are going to be on the show so the reaction is genuine. Also, there is alot of awkward silence time while he is listening to the producer in his ear. There is a cameraman riding shotgun unseen on TV. The money he gives is prop money for TV. They mail you a check after the show airs. Ben Bailey was genuinely a nice guy."
A Priceless Experience
"I was in the audience at the price is right. You wait like 4+ hours just to get into the taping. They come by and give you a short interview to see if you are a good prospect to make it to contestant row. I was with a group of 4 and none of us made it. The studio audience is significantly smaller than it appears on tv. Drew Carey told jokes between filming. The set is tiny. The wheel is tiny. No secrets to reveal except that they must use some serious lenses and angles to make it appear bigger. It was a long day but it was a cool experience."
– dpchemd1
System GIFGiphyUn-aired Scenes
"They let the other girl in the Showcase Showdown (Price is Right) rebid after the audience booed her original bid (something silly low like $10,000). When it aired, they cut her original bid and showed only her second, winning bid. I lost."
"I remember seeing that in a Showcase on an episode but it was the exact opposite — she originally bid something insane like $73,000, then revised it to $40,000 or so; she was still incredibly off, as her showcase was less than $20,000. The other contestant bid $32,000 on a showcase that was less than half of that, so I think combined it was the worst Showcase I had ever watched."
– ooboh
A Generous Prize
"My teacher was on wheel of fortune Australia and he won a life supply of wd40. It turns out with average usage a can of wd40 lasts twenty years, so a life's supply is four cans."
– DobbyDun
"What an awful prize. Even if it was more than 4 cans, how is wd40 a game show prize? 'I won a car' 'I won $500' 'I won $100k' 'I won... some lubricant. And not the fun kind.'"
– cornicat
Butterfinger Trauma
"When my wife was a kid she won a lifetime supply of butterfinger candy bars. It was 2 cases. Not the cardboard flats you can buy at bulk stores but 2 actual factory crates like a grocery store would get so several hundred candy bars. She said when she first got them she felt ripped off because while it was a lot, she was only a kid so there was no way it was a 'lifetime' supply."
"She made it thru half the first case before she started giving them away to anyone that would take them. By the end of the 2nd case she was throwing them away."
"Now as an adult several decades later, she still won't eat butterfingers. So I guess it really was all the butterfingers she would ever need for the rest of her life."
The Spectator And Fudge
"Was in the audience at a Food Network taping and Iron Chef America really is a 60-minute competition. That's not fudged. The judging on the other hand takes foreeeeever."
Failing On Purpose
"Was on a MTV game show called 'fist of zen' on MTV. Basically a group of people subjected to painful and nauseating tasks for cash. We won every round but the producer asked us to purposefully 'fail' one to change things up. Despite losing one round we were still paid the full prize money."
A "Horrible Experience"
"A work colleague of mine was one of the couples in married at first sight."
"She had a horrible experience, needed counseling afterwards and is still receiving an 'appearance fee' (read hush money) even though her season aired like 5 years ago."
"Her words: unReal may as well be a documentary."
– W2ttsy
Reasoning For Counseling Explained
"Mainly emotional fall out."
"Producers would extract personal info about the people being paired up prior to the coupling and then do the opposite for dramatic tension."
"So if you had someone that had been a victim of domestic violence in the past, they'd get paired with someone with a hot temper."
"Also, producers would leak information to others to set up a stand off. So perhaps one person might say something over drinks to another in confidence. The producers then take that and plant it with another person so that over dinner it comes out and drama ensues."
"And of course out of context filming to create the character tropes: the victim, the villain, the winner, etc.
"My work colleague had an irrelevant story about a past relationship come out during a group dinner and apparently it triggered a very angry response for the person she was paired with and for the rest of the season she was goaded by him and the producers."
"They also weren't too interested in her leaving mid way through, so kept stringing both people along to get what they needed on the contracted filming period."
"Unrelated to this, but channel 9 got into huge hot water on last years season of their renovation show the block after one contestant couple broke their NDA and exposed a bunch of stuff about the sh*t editing and poor treatment of contestants."
"Interestingly enough, a lot of the triggers that caused that have disappeared from this season."
"Edit: I won't be revealing the person, season, hints about this person."
– W2ttsy
Appointing A Villain
"My cousin was one of the contestants on My Kitchen Rules. She was targeted to be the 'evil' person for the season and it ruined her career for awhile after. This was nearly 10yr ago. A lot of people I talked to said they don't believe the producer edit it to purposely target one person and she must just be a nasty person. I couldn't believe people were that naive. There was a fair bit of drama around it all, not sure if anything came of it."
The Truth About Prizes
"I was a winner on The Price is Right. After the show, you're taken into a small room where you do paperwork. Some of the items that I won onscreen (iPads, movie tickets and snacks for a year) were instead awarded as the cash equivalent (I had no say in the matter). Also, contrary to popular belief, the contestant does not have the option to request money instead of specific prizes. The only choice you have is to outright decline any of the prizes."
"Edited to add: Winners of CBS game shows are not permitted to be contestants on CBS game shows for ten years. Former Price is Right winners may still attend a taping, but a big diagonal line is drawn through their name on their name tag."
Small Sets
"Yes the Millionaire set is small, worn-out and looks shoddy up close. It's in an island of light in a corner of a dark warehouse. But onTV it looks great, glamorous and shiny."
– onzogo
Product Placement
"My wife got a tattoo on a tattoo competition show. They gave her headphones to wear while she was being tattooed, but she wasn't allowed to actually plug them in and listen to music. Pure product placement lol"
"Other than that it was a really good experience! Producers worked with her for several weeks leading up to and made sure she got a tattoo subject and style that she wanted."
Once More With Feeling
"They tell the audience to clap and cheer and they film that to edit it in during appropriate events. If we didn't cheer or clap loud enough, they had us retake it. The same goes for grimaces/negative reactions and shock/surprise."
– zee714
"Useless" Audience
"I was on 'Who wants to be a millionaire', and its all scripted. The filming took half a day for 30 minutes of film. When you win the intro round, you are taken out to get your make up on, and then they instruct you how to act when you celebrate."
"The reason the audience is so completely useless (And why you see so many press wrong on obvious answers) is because 20-30% of the audience is friends and family to the other 7 contestants who are waiting for their turn. We spent two days in the studio, and if the initial contestant loses, the others get their chance. If one contestant goes far and takes a lot of time, no one else gets a chance, so the audience tells the wrong answer on purpose."
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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Let's face it, some of us need a new hobby. Ideally, one healthier than looking at your ex's Instagram. Gaming can be that new hobby. But, getting started can be overwhelming.
There are countless games about war and shooting, and starting a google search will lead you to a rabbit hole you don't want to dive in.
So, I gathered some of the best video games for non-gamers. A bunch of games any dummy can master. If I can do it, so can you.
Portal 2
You can choose between a single-player or a multiplayer game. The goal is to get out of situations creatively by using the wormhole-creating portal gun. This version continued the original storyline but features new exciting characters and new challenges.
It's a sci-fi adventure game. What could be better?
New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe
Any adventure featuring Mario and Luigi is iconic. This Super Mario Bros. is a perfect twist on the classic. It's two games in one. Your goal is to save the Mushroom kingdom.
Trust me, it's better than board games.
Minecraft
This is a puzzle game for creative people. You get to build anything from a pile of rocks to a giant castle. There is a reason why so many are obsessed with this game. Literally anyone can play.
You can even build mini-games to play inside this game. Actually, I don't think that's true.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Everyone has been talking about this game. The characters are adorable, the animals are as cute as it gets, and it's paradise. You build your own private island from the start. You can customize everything from the home and decor to your landscape. You can also visit other players.
It's as relaxing as "The Great British Bake Off".
Super Mario Odyssey
Like I said, any Mario game is a classic. However, this is an action-adventure game in 3D. So, like all the other Mario games, but better.
You sail between worlds on an airship powered by moons. But, you still have to save Princess Peach.
Stardew Valley: Collector's Edition
This is your chance to be the farmer you always wanted to be. Turn an overgrown field into a farm with animals and crops, and has nothing to do with walking dead plants (yes, that was a Plants vs. Zombies joke).
You can improve one of your five skills: farming, mining, combat, fishing, and foraging.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
This is the ultimate outdoors exploring adventure. Plus there are new challenges for anyone who has played the previous classic Legends of Zelda games. This game is full of new creative tools and weapons you can collect.
Some reviews claim that this game alone is worth getting a new Nintendo Switch for.
Dark Souls Remastered
This role-playing game is for people with a darker sense of humor. The epic dark fantasy starts with a curse and keeps getting more and more interesting. There is a combination of fantasy, magic, weapons, and adventure. The game is so intricate that you can complete it more than once, and it will still be fun.
Cuphead
If you are a coffee fanatic imagine a game in which the main character has a mug for a head. Yes, it's that good. This game is inspired by cartoons in the 1930s, but still, it manages to be packed with adventure and suspense.
Every detail is thought through. If you are into graphic design, this will be the game for you.
Hollow Knight
Befriend cool bugs, explore new kingdoms, and fight epic battles. This game is expansive and allows you to choose between paths and enemies to fight. Trust me, it's fun.