Types of puzzles in a puzzle room.

I have gone for about 9 escape rooms from different companies now. There are several categories that puzzles fall into. There can and is usually overlap between categories.

A.1) Search
The simplest and sometimes the most boring types of puzzles are those that need you to find -something- that is taped to a wall, under a box, behind a cabinet or something like that. I won't even call these puzzles.
Some examples would be hidden keys, hidden clues, etc.

While these are the most necessary puzzles to have (since escape rooms ARE about finding clues), I don't like it when they form the crux of a particular stage (e.g. need to find an obscure hidden object to unlock next lock).

Rather, having easy-to-locate but difficult to figure out HOW to use it type Search puzzles are probably the best and most fulfilling (since you feel like you're using your brains primarily to solve, not your ability to play hide and seek with hidden objects)


Tips for New Puzzle Solvers: Have 1 (or 2) dedicated 'Seekers' who have keen eyes to search everywhere for any useful clues once you begin or when moving to a new zone. It's not just a matter of looking, you may have to interact with the environment (e.g. touch or pull or push something to reveal something hidden, etc).

A.2) Search and Combine
These are an extension of Search type puzzles, where you have to find more than 1 object and use them together to get past something.

To use a fictional example so as not to spoil any of the existing puzzles (You will figure out what this means when you see it), a Search and Combine can be something like I found Object A, and I find Object B, I need to use them together to get more clues. Xcape has quite a few of such puzzles, and The Escape Artist has utilized some of such puzzles in their Prinsep Street branch.

B) Riddle
Riddles are straightforward (but not necessarily easy) - they are simply an IQ-like puzzle on a piece of paper (or papers) that requires you to solve something on them. They can be in the form of logic puzzles, math-like puzzles, or literal riddles. These are arguably The Escape Artist's specialty - they have more riddles than other escape companies and their riddles are good and challenging. Their original branch (Bukit Timah) with only singular rooms utilized mostly Riddle puzzles.

These are usually fun, but having too many is also detrimental as if puzzle-goers are stuck at a particular riddle it can be frustrating (more so than being stuck at the next category of puzzles).

Tips for New Puzzle Solvers: Keep track of every clue you see that you have not used. You may have to come back to it in a subsequent area. If there is no obvious method to solve the Riddle, it's probably a Multi-staged Riddle and you need to utilize a clue from somewhere else.

C) Multi-staged Riddle
This category is slightly different from the previous one. Normal Riddle puzzles can be solved by just looking at deducing from the piece of paper that the puzzle is on. Multistaged Riddle puzzles require you to find clues from elsewhere (can be same area, or maybe previous areas) to solve it.

These are arguably one of the more fun categories, as it feels more challenging when it really isn't, and is just about knowing you have to use a particular object (should not be too randomly connected) to solve the main puzzle.
Later puzzles in a room are usually multistaged puzzles as they require you to go back to something you've seen earlier to get clues to solve them.


Tips for New Puzzle Solvers: Keep track of every clue you see that you have not used. You may have to come back to it in a subsequent area.

D) Props-based Puzzles
This involves special locks (not all locks are number or key locks! :)) or special puzzle boxes or other props that you have to figure out how to use. I won't elaborate so as not to spoil the surprise and fun of figuring out how to open a particular lock. There are some very creative locks out there :)

These are very fun to have, but of course, should not be repeated across rooms as the novelty wears off immediately.

Tips for New Puzzle Solvers: Veteran puzzle solvers will have no problem recognizing particular locks, but first time solvers just need to figure out how a particular lock works.