A Peek Behind Behind the Scenes of being a Gamemaster: Funniest Escape Room Stories
By: Alex Guadagno
When you’re a gamemaster in an escape room, anything can happen and you learn to expect the unexpected. Unlike a typical vocation or in an office setting where you see the same people day after day, an escape room job introduces you to tons of new experiences and people on a daily basis. We’ve racked up some of the funniest escape room stories from game masters across the industry – some of them are just down right hilarious!
What Makes Escape Room Groups Memorable
Each group that does an escape room at Trap Door is completely different from the last one. Whether you’re a seasoned player or an escape-room noob, each group has their own vibe. If a group turns out to be frightened of the escape room, plans a special surprise for one member in the group, or takes a distinctive approach to finding a clue, every escape room group has their own personality and is unique and memorable in their own way.
The Makings of the Funniest Escape Room Stories
Before we get into the funny, you may be asking: what is an escape room gamemaster? The gamemaster’s job is essentially to guide your team towards your escape but also to enhance your enjoyment of the whole experience. They are your link, your escort, chaperon, and game guru. The gamemaster provides important instructions, opening videos and important names and clues that you’ll want to remember for later on in the game. Sometimes they may even double as a live actor that is a key factor in the gameplay.
Gamemasters' Role
Gamemasters will provide the basic rules of what to do in an escape room and also tell you the room’s story. You’ll want to listen up – this is the origin story for your escape experience. The gamemaster will tell you exactly: What you are doing there; What your objective is; What to look for; and most importantly – What NOT to do.
The Gamemasters’ Role in the Funniest Escape Room Stories
Now that you know who the gamemasters are, it makes sense why and how they have access to the funniest escape room stories. Escape rooms have shown the behind the scenes side of this inherently fun job via social media, like Breakout Games and The Escape Game, by sharing gamemasters’ funniest escape room stories.
Trap Door’s Funniest Escape Room Stories
We asked the game masters at Trap Door to share the funniest, wackiest, most unforgettable stories they have seen and overheard while working as gamemaster. The stories they shared will make you laugh or even cringe! Read on to find out some of the silliest, funniest, most absurd things that have happened to our gamemasters (and some of our other employees) here at Trap Door and other escape rooms around the world.
The Blame Game
We feel bad for you, buddy, but an escape room is not responsible for any dating misfires – sometimes showing off is just not the right move.
“One time, while running Bogeyman (when it was still in Red Bank), I had a group of guys come in before going out drinking on a Friday night. They were okay, they won the game, had a good time. But the funny part came the next day; one of those guys came back to play again. This time, it was just him and a date. He tried to impress his date by showing off how smart and able to solve puzzles he was, but it backfired. The girl blew up on him while they were in Jack’s room, saying things like, ‘You’re not letting me do anything, I’m not having any fun,’ etc. Me and the other GM that night were losing it laughing.” – Josh W., Trap Door Gamemaster (Red Bank)
Certified Chicken
No matter how tough you are, you can’t fight your way out of an escape room!
“During training on Bogeyman, while a family plays, and right before the first scare, one of the teenagers goes, “I’M A CERTIFIED WHITEBELT!” but then spent the rest of their time with their hoodie tied shut around their face!’ – Alex D., Trap Door Gamemaster (Poconos)
An Eye-Opening Experience
A friendly reminder: Please do not poke our Yeti’s eye holes or you could end up in a sticky situation!
“We had a girl get her finger stuck in the Yeti’s eye holes in Red Bank and had to run to Walgreens and get lubricant to get her finger out, which took an hour to achieve.” – Kyle P., Trap Door Gamemaster (Red Bank)
Any Haunts for Hire?
The real answer is “We don’t know for sure!” But you can definitely come visit and find out for yourself!
“I’m not a game master, but I’ll never get over the time that a guy called and his first question was, ‘Are your games haunted?’ And he seemed genuinely sad when I said no.” – Isabella F., Trap Door Reservation Agent
The Funniest Escape Room Stories from Around the World
Our gamemasters have plenty of great stories, but we opened up the conversation to escape rooms around the world. We scoured the internet for other stories from escape room gamemasters and aficionados to hear what they have to say and gathered our favorites.
Giving New Meaning to “Speed Dating”
‘Honestly, the weird stuff I see usually has less to do with actually solving the puzzles and more to do with human interaction. My favorite was the guy who ran through a room super quick, no clues, just him and a woman. The whole time he was saying to the woman, “OMG wow that surprised me!” “Oh, you are SO clever for solving that! I never would have thought of that!” Buttering her up, etc. They finish, they leave, and my manager tells me that she [the manager] ran the guy through the same room the previous weekend with a different lady. What a dating tactic…’ -@etaven
Remember to Reset the Game Before Each Group!
‘My family did an escape room and there was a room with a phone that connected to three other rooms, the doors only [opened] when you dialed the right numbers on the phone and so my sister just walked up and pressed redial and the last door opened. We have the record of 7.5 minutes to complete the room.’ -@CinnamonSong
Things That Go ‘Bump!’ in the Ceiling
‘A friend of mine runs an escape room and told me this story. A group was in a room that just so happened to have a drop ceiling. You know, the ones with the tiles you can lift up on and I guess go inside if you need to? Well that’s what this group decided to do. The employee kept hearing weird thumps and bumps so he went in to check on everything and found two people up inside the ceiling. There was nothing in the ceiling. I’ve done that room and there is no indication that you should go into the ceiling. Why would they think that was an ok thing to do? The escape room company has now added “don’t go in the ceiling” to their pre-game rules/safety spiel.’ -@Parallel-Falchion
Dressed to Impress
‘There was a group of people who [were] doing a space-themed Escape Room. In one of the rooms, there was an astronaut suit which was supposed to just serve as a prop. But one of the members thought that it might be needed to solve one of the rooms. So he ended up traversing through the entire escape room while wearing an astronaut suit. And no, it wasn’t needed to solve anything.’ -@hamsterv60
Magnetizing Luck
‘My brother and I once got out of a room by taking a magnet from the previous puzzle and using it to lift a key out of a small opening in a locked box. There were six of us and nobody could figure out the last clue so we improvised. Got out with three minutes to spare.’ -@quokkaaah
Brute Strength Not Required
‘Someone honestly believed that throwing himself at the door counts as solving the riddle. Since that fateful day I tell every group that it is not necessary to throw yourself at doors.’ -@Belugaro
Conclusion
Like I said earlier, these are just a few of our favorite funniest escape room stories. If you have more, be sure to share!
Trap Door Escape Company
Trap Door Escape Room has 4 locations: 3180 Route 611 in Bartonsville, PA in the Poconos; 60 White St. in Red Bank, NJ; 34A Speedwell Ave. in Morristown, NJ: and 77 Wind Creek Blvd in Bethlehem, PA. The Red Bank location was the first of the 4 locations, opening in the fall of 2015. Morristown followed in the summer of 2017, and Bartonsville opened during the holiday season of 2018. Wind Creek is currently undergoing construction and will be opening in September 2022.
History
The idea came to Tone Purzycki back in 2011 after he wrote a screenplay that developed into a live-streaming game. The game revolved around an actor trapped in a situation and the audience had to solve puzzles to figure out where he was trapped. The “Find Me Event” had more than 1,000 people playing over the course of several hours. After the success of several other streaming events, the idea of an escape room was born.
Location
Each location has different rooms from which to choose. Our Morristown location is home to Day of the Dead, Witch Hunt, and The Greatest Freakshow. In Bartonsville, you’ll find Cure Z, F5 Tornado Escape, Fear the Bogeyman, Mad Hatter’s Tea Party, We’re All Mad Here, and Prisoner Z. In Red Bank we currently have Everest – our first 2 story escape room. Ripper of London is also available at this location. Our pirate themed games will soon be open at Wind Creek.
Trap Door Escape Room also offers team building, streaming events, and birthday parties. For more information on any of our games, prices, and locations, explore our website or call 570-234-3366