Add Extra Fun To Your Escape Room Birthday Party

So, it’s time for another birthday party, and you're scratching for games to play. You could have a pinata, pin the tail on the donkey, or bob for apples... Boooorrrrrriiiinnnnggg! Plan an escape room birthday party for a truly epic, one-of-a-kind birthday celebration.

Escape rooms make an excellent party game. Escape games include all guests and create a fun-filled suspenseful activity. Players immerse themselves in the game to the point where they feel that they are inside of the game, not just playing it. The popularity of escape rooms continues to rise, meaning that many of your guests will know how much fun they can have in an escape room.

However, some of your guests may hesitate to involve themselves. They may not understand escape rooms, may not like group events or may prefer to spend their weekends trying to find the world’s largest ball of twine (it’s in Cawker City, Kansas).

Don't worry, there's still one thing you can do. I’ll show you how to set up your escape room birthday game so that everyone will love it. 

Here's the secret: If you assign roles to each player and make sure that those roles fit their personality, your friends will have an awesome time!

I'll walk you through the 'roles' that you can assign. Just know for now that the point is - you're giving each guest a 'role', like 'leader', or 'seeker', or 'quartermaster'. This will give them a task to latch onto when they're not sure what to do, and keep them involved. This way, no one feels lost or discouraged.

Let's dive in! 

The Communicator is someone who listens to everyone on the team. They will not be knee-deep in puzzle solving as they need to direct the team members to puzzles, information gathering, or other jobs as needed.

Their main job is listening to what everyone says that they have or need. Jimmy might need a 4-digit code to open a lock. He may have heard Mary say that she discovered a 4-digit sequence but has no clue how to use it. The Communicator can direct Mary to Jimmy so that the lock can be opened.

The need to gather information from all team members keeps the Communicator from becoming too bogged down in solving any one puzzle. They must pay attention to all of the puzzles. If they become too focused on one area, they could miss clues needed in other places.

Make sure the person you pick as the Communicator listens well and can direct resources. Your friend who loses track of their lives every time a “shiny thing” comes along will not make for a good Communicator. To beat the escape room birthday game, you need a strong Communicator.

Everyone likes to solve the puzzle. However, someone needs to track down the information. They need to look under the rug, in the flower pot, and in the cookie jar. They have to run down every scrap of paper. Without the information they uncover, the rest of the team will be staring at locks and twiddling their thumbs.

This person should be detail-oriented and love to hunt. Does one of your friends hit every garage sale in a 50-mile radius? This could be your Seeker. If you have a friend who never has mismatched or orphaned socks, they are definitely your Seeker.

Think carefully about this one. Until the room is scoured and every nook searched, the Seeker finds potential clues and brings them to the group to determine where they might be used. Only after completing this task can the Seeker begin to assist with puzzle solving.

The fun part? You can very easily assign multiple people as seekers.

Ok, how are you going so far? All good? If you need more help throwing your kids escape room party, check out our kids party guide here.

The Quartermaster keeps what the Seeker and other players find in the initial search of the escape room. She not only keeps the locks, strong boxes, and chip bags found by the other players, she keeps all of the clues.

The Quartermaster and the Communicator need to remain in close communication. Think of the Quartermaster as the keeper of the evidence and the Communicator as the prosecutor. If the Communicator cannot find the evidence when it is time to go to trial, he loses. The Quartermaster needs to keep track of all assets and deliver them to the Communicator and other players as needed to ensure success in this escape room birthday party fight!

Your Quartermaster should be organized. This is the friend who always has the snacks for the kids’ sports teams, or the one who emails everyone to keep them on track is perfect for this role. A little OCD goes a long way here.

My wife makes a great quartermaster. Always focused, always present, and always knows what the team has in its possession. When I get too far into the weeds with a puzzle (which happens several times a game, according to her), she is there to rescue me with the missing piece I simply could not put my hands on. As she’ll tell you, I’m a lucky man!

We know most people don’t like to read outside of Facebook. Even then, they only like posts with pictures. If I had a dollar for every cat and baby I see on Facebook, well, I wouldn’t be talking to you now. I’d be in Bora Bora with an umbrella in my drink. But I digress.

First, and most importantly, the Reader must be able to read WITHOUT moving their lips. It’s their job to read what the Seeker and others find, sort the useful from the fluff, and give the team what it needs to keep moving towards a successful escape.

This means that the Reader needs better reading comprehension skills than the average Twitter user. The Reader needs to understand the backstory to the escape room birthday game and use it to separate important clues from the red herrings.

The Reader is your friend who figures out the ending to every book halfway through (even if they listen to audiobooks rather than actually reading!). She’s in book club, has library cards from her last three addresses, and uses soccer practice to catch up on the latest mystery thriller, and never, ever reads romance novels!

This is your coordinated friend. The one who was first-team all-everything in high school and plays every adult sport offered (just ask their orthopedic surgeon). The top qualifier for the Champion is hand-eye coordination. Tell your friend the marathoner that no one needs stamina to complete an escape room birthday game!

Sometimes escape rooms pose interesting physical challenges. You have to shoot zombies with a nerf gun. You need to tiptoe through the paper mindfield. You need to walk on your hands through the living room while avoiding the heirloom lamps (unless you really want to replace those lamps).

The Champion is your safety valve. Maybe you let the Reader have the first shot at shooting the zombies, safe in the knowledge that the Champion will save the day when the Reader misses all six shots from three feet. You might want to let the Quartermaster blow herself up in the mindfield before watching the Champion sail right through. Let everyone feel included, but let the Champion take the pressure off of the rest. Everyone will have fun, and the Champion will shine!

(Making sense? If not, check out our kids escape room party guide here.)

This is a secret role. The traitor is a double agent. The traitor is 007 working for the Russians. He’s Jack Ryan working for Iran. He’s Derek Jeter working for the Miami Marlins (wait, that actually happened).

The traitor’s job is to lose the game. He sabotages the other players. He misinterprets the clues. He hides the locks. He eats all of the brownies.

The traitor wins the game if the team loses the game. His job is to prevent the escape. Only after the game will his role be revealed. If he plays it right, the team will continue to trust him and act on his suggestions. If he comes across as too heavy-handed, the team will likely figure out that he is up to no good. So, occasionally, he has to help them move forward, but not too far.

The traitor is your sarcastic, evil friend. The one with a snide comment for every situation. He should revel in being the double agent. He’s the one who tells you the sky is green and makes you believe it.

I love this role. It allows all the evil in the human heart to spill out harmlessly. As my old friend T.S. Eliot said about me, “Macavity, Macavity, there’s no one like Macavity, for he’s a fiend in feline shape, a monster of depravity.” It fits me to a T.

Be careful when assigning this role. It is not an essential role. Don’t assign it if you have too many newbies or, heaven forbid, easily offended players. But, if you have a fun-loving group with a good sense of humor and an evil enough friend to pull it off, it will make everyone’s night.

You now have all the tools to pull off the perfect escape room birthday party.

Download an awesome DIY escape room birthday game, invite some really fun friends, and assign roles to each one.

Everyone will have a blast. Your only problem is coming up with an even better birthday party next year (plan a new escape room, duh!!!)!

Make sure to check out this guide for even more kids escape room party tips!