Many Singaporeans love to challenge their intelligence. After all, CNN claimed that Singapore has the world’s smartest teenagers.
Escape room games are a perfect opportunity to showcase problem-solving skills, breaking down cryptic puzzles, unearthing the meanings of hard to find clues and coming up with the most effective strategies. The smartest, most logical and perhaps most experienced team always comes on top. Right?
Wrong!
Being astute and having a smart brain are plus points. However, escape room games require more than just brainpower. Below are four skills you need to solve any escape room game.
Communication
It may sound simple. However, many people underestimate the centrality of excellent communication skills. It’s important to talk and maintain regular contact with your teammates, regardless if you are friends or strangers. The bottom line is that you are both trying to escape.
When you get inside the escape room, introduce yourself and try to create a good rapport with your teammates. Listen to their ideas, make yourself approachable and where possible try to open a good communication line between the entire team
Active Listening
Active listening is not just plainly listening, but listening with interest and enthusiastic responses. Engage your teammates actively, ask them for their opinion, ask open-ended questions and encourage them to express their thoughts. If someone wants has an idea on how to solve an issue, let she or him give it a shot. Just make sure that you operate within the rules and keep an eye on the clock.
Brainstorming
In an escape room game, there is no monopoly of ideas. Be ready to give and receive ideas in equal measure. When a team of 10 people brainstorm over the solution to a puzzle, you will get more than ten different solutions. Then you can debate and pick the best solution. In other words, the solution that is right and fits the team.
You may have individuals on your team who are timid and afraid to share their ideas while others make wild leaps and are ready to jump to conclusions and share their thoughts. What’s important is to hear out each view and get the best from each participant.
Time Management Skills
All escape room games have a constant constraint, time. Puzzles vary, and clues will be of different complexity, depending on the age and target group. However, in all escape room games, participants are expected to find the clues, solve the puzzle and find the key to getting out.
As you develop different solutions from various team members who have a variety of skills, proper time management skills are what will help you escape from the room in the shortest time possible.
To conclude, escape room games are not all about high IQ and smart answers. They are opportunities to learn how to work with teams and build these skills which are crucial in real life scenarios.
