An escape room at home, with zero prep

The problem with the usual DIY escape rooms

Running an escape room at home usually means an evening of prep: printing, hiding envelopes, memorizing the solutions. The organizer doesn’t really play, they host. Store-bought kits cut down the work, but there is still cutting out, setting up, and an atmosphere that depends on dim lighting and everyone’s goodwill.

The fun of an escape room comes down to a few things: searching, doubting, shouting when you find the code. Everything else can go.

What you need at home

• A shared screen: a laptop connected to the TV (HDMI cable or screen mirroring), a phone mirrored to the TV (AirPlay on iPhone, Smart View or Cast on Android), or a laptop on its own.
• One phone per player, with an up-to-date browser. No app to install.
• A regular internet connection, and sound for the atmosphere.

Nothing to print, nothing extra to buy. Full details on gear and how a game unfolds is on the how it works page.

How an at-home escape room works

• You open the game on the big screen. A QR code and a game code appear.
• Everyone joins on their phone. You pick a name and get a role and tools: UV light, magnifying glass, tuning fork.
• The story begins. A video locks the team inside the Saint-Clair Museum at night. Marcel, the guard, talks you through it via the cameras.
• You search the rooms. The phone becomes a flashlight that lights up the room on the TV. The documents you find arrive on the phones, each player getting their own.
• You pool everything. You read aloud, show a document to everyone on the TV, try a code. The door opens, or it doesn’t.

For the full walkthrough, read our guide on how to set up an escape room at home with no prep.

What sets the mood

The living room stays the living room, so the screen carries the atmosphere: video scenes with Marcel, the night guard, 3D rooms to explore by flashlight, music that builds as time runs down, and a guard commenting on your finds over the radio. Turn off the lights, turn up the sound, and the museum fills the whole room. The game used here is After Hours at the Museum.

An escape room at home for adults

For adults, an escape room at home makes a change from the usual board games. Everyone gets a role and documents the others can’t see, and nobody solves the case alone. Puzzles get talked through out loud, and the wildest theories are welcome.

Who it's for: families, friends, birthdays

With the family, for an evening where screens bring people together instead of pulling them apart. With friends, instead of the usual game night standby. For a birthday, as the main event of the party. The game is for 1 to 4 players, and anyone extra can help search from the couch.

Free escape room at home: the first room is on us

The first room is free, for your whole team, with no account and no credit card. The full game is a one-time purchase, €9.99 (launch price until October 31, then €12.99), made by whoever starts the game, and it stays in their account for every future night. The other players pay nothing. A physical escape room usually charges per person: here, a single purchase covers the whole team. It is all spelled out on the pricing page.

Not all in the same place?

The same game also works with everyone at home: each player watches the video on their own screen, and you talk on your usual call app. It's explained on the virtual escape room page.