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The Ultimate Guide to the Best Escape Room Board Games

Escape room board games bring the thrill of puzzle-solving and adventure straight to your tabletop, perfect for those who love a challenge without leaving home. Whether you’re racing against the clock to solve clues, deciphering codes with your spouse for date night, or immersing yourself in mysterious storylines solo, there’s an escape room game out there for every type of player. But with so many options available, how do you choose the right one? Let’s break down the different types to help you find the perfect fit for your next game night.

The Ultimate Guide to the Best Escape Room Board Games

See all the games in once place here on our Amazon Storefront.

Exit: The Game

The biggest and most prolific series in this genre is hands down Exit: The Room. These games are one time play cooperative games and offer players a fun and exciting experience as you work to unravel the mystery and escape before time runs out.

Each game sees players working to solve clues to unlock various combination locks that secure doors, keeping you “locked” in the current room. You’ll look through picture cards for clues and numbers; these numbers relate to cards which will give you more information to help solve each step of the game.

Each game in the Exit: The Game series is a true “One Time Play.” During each game you will alter the components irreparably — these games cannot be played again afterwards. This allows the games to truly shine and give players unique puzzles to solve and require outside the box thinking.

The games have difficulty ratings on the box which we have found to be fairly consistent with their difficulty level. If it says its easy, it’s easy, and if says it’s hard, it’s not lying!

We have yet to play one that we haven’t loved, but for a good entry point into the Exit: The Game series, we recommend starting with The Sunken Treasure or The Mysterious Museum for beginners and The Secret Lab or The Abandoned Cabin for intermediate escape artists. Our Favorite? That would be The Pharaoh’s Tomb!

Exit: The Game Advent Calendar

Each year Exit: The Game releases a new Advent Calendar and we couldn’t recommend these enough. These function similarly to the regular games, but are broken up into 24 daily riddles to solve. These are designed to be enjoyed by a wider audience and as such feature slightly easier puzzles with the occasional tricky challenge mixed in throughout the experience.

These are 10/10 and make for the perfect Advent activity. We cannot recommend them enough.

2024’s Calendar, 2023’s Calendar, 2022’s Calendar, 2021’s Calendar

See an overview (or watch us play through the whole game) of the 2022 Calendar on Instagram.

Unlock!

The next most popular (and rightly so!) escape room series is Unlock!

There are quite a few titles in this series and it has evolved over the years to settle on it’s current era where each box has three unique scenarios for players to play through . These are cooperative puzzles with a narrative driving the fun. Unlock! Combines a mix of analog gameplay with technology using a free app.

The addition of tech allows players to dive deeper into the material and partake in some fun experiences and mini games as you work through each scenario.

I’ve loved watching the Unlock series evolve over the years and find what they are doing now really exciting — I’ve yet to play a bad scenario and always look forward to the next one.

There’s no bad entry point into this series; choose whichever most excites you! Our family loved Unlock! Legendary Adventures (the Robin Hood scenario especially!) or try the scenarios inspired by board games in Unlock! Game Adventures!

Clue Escape

If you grew up playing Clue, this is a fun new way to share that world with your family! Clue Escape follows a similar frame work of most escape room games. Each game has a central storyline with a mystery that players will be trying to solve.

You will gather clues and decode puzzles using cards, pictures, and game boards that change as the game progresses. You can play through the whole game in one go or stop at the various checkpoints if you need to take a break.

This is the newest addition to the genre and we think it’s off to a strong start!

The puzzles are designed to accommodate a family and as such are a bit on the easier side, but that’s okay. This is the best option in the kid category for families with children who really want to play these mystery games, but may struggle solving the more complex clues. It’s a fun challenge that kids 8+ can play on their own.

We played through a medium difficulty level and found it to be quite easy though still enjoyable and fun, so I’d not worry one bit about the difficulty rating and just select whichever storyline excites you the most.

The Midnight Hotel had a really fun 3D element, but Robbery at the Museum is my son’s request for his next adventure!

Escape Room The Game

Escape Room the Game is the more expensive Escape Room game options and this likely comes from the clever and fun Chrono Decoder which counts down the minutes while you race to solve all the puzzles.

Each version in this series comes with multiple games to play through. And during that time you’ll be working to add the right keys in the right order to the Chrono Decoder to escape.

The Chrono Decoder does a great job of setting the mood and atmosphere and making players feel the pressure as the clock counts down. Overall the puzzles and riddles weren’t overly memorable though. If you can get it on a deal, I say go for it, otherwise, I’d much rather play through an Exit game over this.

Medical Mysteries: NYC Emergency Room

Themed around a hospital environment, Medical Mysteries: NYC Emergency Room is a unique game in the genre. Think of this game like playing through an episode of House. You’re working in the hospital and it’s your job to figure out what is causing your patience distress or discomfort. At the very least, if you can’t figure out what is ailing them, you need to help them survive the night.

Players are able to ask questions of their patient, search through their file for answers, and cleverly pay attention to the information they receive. You’ll need that knowledge to solve their medical mystery.

This game combines two game genres together: Mystery detective stories and Escape Rooms.

At it’s core, it feels more like the former but you’re racing against the clock to discover as much as you can about the patience, treat them safely, and help them survive to win. You don’t necessarily have to solve their problem, just keep them alive.

It’s a fun game and will be a great fit for those budding Doctor Detectives among you but doesn’t do anything wildly unique that sets it apart outside of the theme. If you prefer the puzzle solving over the narrative element, this is one we recommend skipping.

Currently there is only one game in the series and it comes with 4 patient cases to play through.

Escape Room Games for Kids

It’s likely that your younger kids will want to get in on the fun when they see you having a blast.

Exit: The Game Kids

It should be no surprise that the biggest name in the escape room game business also has a great option for kids! Language independent allowing your youngest to play, these kid versions of Exit: The Game have six different types of riddles and come with a decoder ring like the adult versions of the game. It’s also replayable which is great for kids.

The riddles are quite easy which is to be expected as it’s intended for kids. The box suggests ages 5-7 years old, but we’d push that back a year even. I love this as a quiet time activity; it’s great for kids to play solo or with their siblings and can be enjoyed without much adult help.

Exit: The Game Kids Jungle of Riddles has a fun animal theme that our kids enjoyed.

Unlock! Kids: Detective stories

Like the adult versions of the game, this game comes with three stories to play through, but now there is no app required.

The Unlock Kids series is entirely app free and plays out through the pictures on the cards. The stories are cute and whimsical and work great for young and old.

Read our full review (with lots of pictures) here.

Escape Box

This is a super cute activity that turns your home (or a set number of rooms that you choose) into an escape room.

You’ll hide clues around your home and have the family work together to collect them, find solutions, and solve the mystery.

This is the most unique option in the escape room genre for kids. I loved how easy it was to set this up (took maybe 5-10 minutes of effort on our part before beginning the game with the kid.) Everything you need is in the box and the guide helps you know how and where to place everything. You can make the play space as big as you want, encompassing the whole house, or keep it just to a room or two. It’s not messy or overly difficult to play.

Our kids had a blast and still talk about the game two years later! We played the Dinosaurs Escape Box, but there’s also a Pirate adventure too!