How do your teams perform under pressure? Escape Room 2 - Breakout! is ideally suited for any team to demonstrate some key teamwork lessons while having fun! A tough team challenge to find an eight-digit combination, beat an alarm system and breakout!
NOTE: Compared to Escape Room [1], this game is intended to offer more inter-team competition, requiring less cooperation.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
- Work on a complex task with multiple sub-tasks
- Encourage collaboration
- Stimulate creativity and problem-solving
- Test team skills (under pressure)
- Give a fun and memorable experience
TEAM ACTIVITY - HOW IT WORKS
Teams are "locked" in the training room with a number of wall posters, locked boxes, Japanese Puzzle Boxes and other puzzles and clues. They have 75 minutes to escape the room. In order to exit the single door to the room, teams need three things:
- 800 points
- Solution to the T-puzzle
- 8-digit code
Points are obtained from solving 12 problems, each worth 100 points. The T-puzzle has to be solved and then the 8-digit code. By solving the various puzzles around the room teams can – with a little ingenuity – find the eight numbers. But first they must unravel the secret of the Japanese Puzzle Box that contains a key to one of the locked boxes, which in turn contains further clues. Then of course, there's the coded hints sheet and the alarm to disable. No pressure then!
There are 6 steps to opening the Japanese Puzzle Box. Instructions of course are available – but not in a straightforward way. Where would be the fun in that?
It seldom occurs to teams that once the door is breached, they can all escape, so a team could decide to let other teams do all the work and then walk out after them. Or all teams could split the tasks and pool their points and resources to ensure they meet the deadline. Strangely, this never occurs to groups who are so intent on competition they don't see the forest for the trees.
Teams can buy a ‘hints' sheet if they want to be sure of getting some of the more difficult problems correct. Unfortunately, the hint sheet costs 200 points and is in code. Still, the decoder is on the walls of the room – if teams can recognize it!
And when all three objectives are met there is still the buzzwire, to 'disable the alarm'!
PACK CONTENTS
- Trainer's Notes
- Team Briefs
- A3 Posters
- Buzzwire and batteries
- Cashboxes
- Japanese Puzzle Boxes
- T Puzzles
- Jump Puzzles
- Dice Puzzles
- Hints Cards
- Clockfaces
- Team Resources (card, scissors, rulers)
FACILITATOR'S ROLE
Full guidance is supplied in Trainer's Notes, including:
- Before the session begins various items are distributed around the room.
- Introduce the activity either verbally or with the Powerpoint.
- Issue each team with a Team Brief, a Japanese Puzzle Box, Clockface, Answer sheet, white card, scissors, and ruler.
- Announce the start of the activity: from this point teams have 75 minutes to escape
- Observe but don't get involved.
- If any team or teams come to you ready to escape, check the following:
- their point score (800 minimum required)
- their solution to the T-puzzle
- the 8-digit code (correct numbers in the right order)
- If all the above are correct, take the group to the buzzwire to 'disable the alarm'. Three buzzes and the attempt has failed.
- Conduct the debrief
PARTICIPANTS
3-24 (1-4 teams of 3-6 per team) - Perfect for staff at any level; No computer required
TIME
75 minutes + debrief
Escape Room 2 - Breakout! is designed by Northgate Training Activities for face-to-face training. It is supplied as a hard copy pack and the digital files are supplied via the Northgate Trainerhub.
It comes with a five-year licence for repeat use with up to 24 participants per training session within the license-holding organization.
