I want to run an escape game at the school festival! How to create a real-life escape game and tips

10 years as a kindergarten teacher / elementary school teacher / junior and senior high school teacher / childminderkepiko
Graduated from Kunitachi College of Music, Faculty of Music (now: Department of Music Culture and Education, Early Childhood Music Education major). In elementary school, my homeroom teacher was Jun Kusaba, a game researcher. After graduating from university, I worked as a kindergarten teacher for 10 years and as an after-school childcare instructor for 7 years, then took a position as a music teacher at an international school in Singapore. In addition to music education, I engaged in activities that introduced Japanese culture, traditional games, and recreational activities, working with many children. Later, through freelance writing, planning, and editing at Shogakukan, I met many delightful adults and experienced the joy of communicating and sharing. Drawing on the perspective cultivated in the field of education and my experience as an editor, I provide practical information with an emphasis on both input and output, mainly in areas related to music and children. My hobbies include instruments, singing, handicrafts, toys, drawing, traditional games, the outdoors, and books. My special skill is spinning-top tricks.
Editor-in-Chief, RAG MUSICHane Keisuke
Editor-in-chief of RAG MUSIC. JFC-certified fact-checker. After working in a music studio and handling wedding sound, joined the RAG MUSIC editorial team in 2016. Experienced with a variety of instruments: marching band in elementary school, clarinet in junior high school wind ensemble, and drums in a band from high school onward. Drawing on my own musical activities and the experience gained through my work, I produce daily articles, including various song introductions, features on music festivals around the country, and live reports. In music, I enjoy not only rock from Japan and abroad but, lately, a wide range of J-pop as well.

Some of you might be thinking about creating a real escape game as your school festival attraction.

It’s a game where you solve various puzzles with the goal of escaping from a locked room, and it originally started as a computer game.

Recently, real escape games—where participants are actually locked in and try to escape—have been getting a lot of attention.

If you can pull this off as a school festival exhibit, it will definitely become a hot topic, but many people probably don’t know how to make one.

So in this article, we’ll introduce how to create an escape game and tips to improve its quality!

How to Create Problems and Tips (1–10)

Problem creation is “answer × rules.”

It’s fine to use existing puzzle collections for inspiration, but since you’re creating an escape game for the school festival, you’ll probably want to come up with your own puzzles.

A useful tip for designing puzzles is to decide the answer first, then decide the rule that leads to it. For example, if the answer is “ume (plum),” and the rule is “convert katakana into kanji,” you could create a question like: “What is the saihi loved by Sugawara no Michizane?” Converting “サイヒ (saihi)” into kanji gives “花 (hana, flower),” which leads to the answer “梅 (ume, plum).” In this way, by thinking from the two angles of the desired answer and the rule to solve it, you can create a wide range of puzzles.

Raise the rankinglower

Hane Keisuke

Report a problem

Variations of puzzles (1–10)

After sharing tips on how to create puzzles, I’ll introduce various puzzle-solving variations, such as practical answer rules and problem formats.

By incorporating a range of formats and ideas, you can prevent the game from becoming monotonous and keep players engaged all the way to the end.

conversion problem

One of the most common rules for solving puzzles is the “conversion-type” method introduced under the heading “How to Create Puzzles and Tips.” You often see tasks where you convert kanji to katakana, read numbers or letters in alternate ways, or make an illustration suggest a different word—basically, transforming the prompt into something else.

If you keep your antenna up day to day, you might start noticing convertible words, like “X can also be read as Y.” By collecting such ideas regularly, you may come up with more elaborate conversions.

Raise the rankinglower

Hane Keisuke

Report a problem

Problems using examples

This is another type often seen in puzzle-solving questions: for example, “12 is red, 56 is Naha; then what is 876?” You’re given a few examples first, and you have to find the rule and answer from them.

To solve this type, you need to observe carefully and try various hypotheses.

Players will likely get absorbed in working on it.

To create this type of question, it’s a good idea to consult collections of puzzle quizzes.

By the way, the example given refers to old feature-phone text input: 1 corresponds to the A-row (a-i-u-e-o), 2 to the Ka-row, and so on.

Therefore, “876” becomes “Yamaha.”

Raise the rankinglower

Hane Keisuke

Report a problem

Jigsaw puzzle

The puzzles you have players solve in an escape game don’t have to be just quizzes.

Using a jigsaw puzzle that players physically assemble is also a great idea.

Here’s a recommended gimmick: when the puzzle is completed, it reveals a clue for the next puzzle.

For preparation, assemble a blank, pictureless jigsaw puzzle in advance and write the next clue on it.

Then, during the actual escape game, have the players put the puzzle together.

It’s a familiar jigsaw-puzzle-based idea, but it easily creates a sense of puzzle-solving, so definitely consider incorporating it.

Raise the rankinglower

Hane Keisuke

Report a problem

Crossword

Like jigsaw puzzles, crosswords are a recommended idea for preventing puzzle fatigue in escape games.

The word that appears when you complete the crossword can serve as a clue to advance to the next stage or as the password for a lock on a box containing an important item—there are many ways to adapt the puzzle depending on your creativity.

If it’s too complex, it will take too long, so it’s better to make it solvable in a short time.

Raise the rankinglower

Hane Keisuke

Report a problem

To improve the game's level of completion (1–10)

So far, we’ve introduced tips for crafting a story, how to create puzzles, and variations of riddles.

Keeping these in mind, you’ve likely created an escape game that players can really sink their teeth into.

Now, to wrap up, I’ll share some tips to further enhance the polish and completeness of your finished game.

Be sure to incorporate the following tips to refine your game even more.

Have them do a demo play.

Once your escape game is mostly complete, make sure to conduct a test play.

Have several people who weren’t involved in development try playing it multiple times and gather a variety of feedback: whether the overall difficulty is appropriate, how long it takes, and what improvements could make it more fun.

Use their input to refine the game.

Even if you can’t devote much time to testing or you lack enough testers, and thorough testing isn’t possible, be sure to conduct at least one test play to avoid unexpected issues.

Raise the rankinglower

Hane Keisuke

Report a problem

Try actually solving puzzle-solving and escape games

In this article, we’ve mainly focused on tips for creating stories and puzzles, but I’m sure many of you still feel, “I can’t come up with good ideas.” If that’s you, try playing a few escape games or solving some puzzle quizzes.

By actually experiencing them yourself, you’ll encounter ideas you can use as references and start to understand how puzzle quizzes are constructed.

Keep this in mind: when you’re stuck, try becoming the player yourself.

Raise the rankinglower

Hane Keisuke

Report a problem