Escape: The Curse of the Temple FAQ
154 questions players ask · Updated Nov 12, 2026 · Full rulebook
Set-up of the Basic Game
- How many dice does a solo player roll in Escape?
- How many magic gems does a 6-player game use at standard difficulty?
- How many magic gems does a 5-player game start with?
- Which tiles stay in the draw stack when you add the Curses or Treasures modules?
- Where does the exit tile go in a one- or two-player game?
- How many tiles should a temple have, and can you shuffle a very large random deck?
- How do you build the tile deck for the new set-up when Exit and Quest tiles are used?
- If a treasure or curse icon shows on a tile placed during set-up, what do you do?
- Can you combine the base game with every expansion and Queenie module at once?
The Temple Chambers
- Can you pass through a doorway where two tiles meet without grey steps?
- Can you reorient a new tile to avoid a doorway that clashes with a solid wall?
- Are the curse and treasure tiles different from the basic chamber tiles?
- When discovering a chamber, do you choose the exit first or draw the new tile first?
- Can a neighbouring tile block the exit doorway?
- Can you count the chambers left in the draw stack during the game?
- Is the exit tile a one-way chamber that other chambers can connect to?
- Can a solo player roll seven keys or torches for a gem room?
The Die Icons
The Actions
- After an action, must you reroll all your dice or only the ones you used?
- Must you reroll after each action, or can you keep rolling without taking an action?
- Do you have to reroll dice you set aside but have not used yet?
- Can you set aside a die you rolled and use it for a later action?
- Can you pick up dice lying on the table and roll them together with dice you are holding?
- Can you perform several actions with one roll?
- When players share a room, can they use each other's dice for any action, or only for gems and masks?
- What does it mean to spend a die in Escape?
The Actions in Detail
- When you discover a new chamber, can you look at it before choosing which doorway to place it in?
- When a player asks you to roll and flip a tile far from you, may you place it anywhere?
- Can you discover two chambers with one roll of four adventurers?
- Where must a newly discovered chamber be placed, and is the stairway required to enter?
- Does discovering a new room also move you into it?
- When moving between rooms, can you discover several rooms in one turn, and do you have to collect gems before leaving?
- Can you mix actions in any order, such as discovering rooms and working on gems in the same turn?
- When you discover a new chamber, must you enter it, and when do its curses apply?
- Do you reroll the dice you used to lift a curse?
- Can several players cooperate on a single-gem activation tile?
- Once a chamber has an activated gem, can another adventurer activate more gems there?
- Must you place a gem before you can leave a gem chamber?
- Can you keep rolling for more keys before applying the dice, to reach a larger gem activation?
- Can you activate the Turn of Fate after some players have already exited?
- Do you need the explore icons as well as the move icons to enter a room?
The Adventure Starts
The Soundtrack
End of the Game
- How is a won game scored for curses, extra gems and quest chambers?
- Do special chambers, Treasures and promo tiles change the score of a won game?
- How many points are the Mayan Calendar and Cursed gems modules worth when scoring?
- How many keys do you need to exit the temple: the number of gems or the gems plus one?
- Can players combine their keys to unlock the exit?
- Can you escape the temple before the last gong sounds?
- Do you have to be in the start chamber when the final gong sounds?
- If you must lose a die, can you give up a die showing black masks?
- Do your dice reset after the door slams?
- What happens if all your dice are black masks and nobody can reach you?
- Do black masks unlock when the door slams shut after a gong?
- What happens if the gong sounds while you are outside the starting chamber?
- When you escape the temple, can you give one of your dice to a player still inside?
- If you have fewer dice than keys needed to escape, is the game lost automatically?
- Do you automatically lose if six or more gems remain when the temple closes?
For a More Challenging Game
Supplement: The Modules "Curses" and "Treasures"
- How does the Lost Dice curse work when you play on the floor?
- Do dice lost to the Lost Dice curse return to you when the curse is lifted?
- If a die is about to fall off the table, is it lost if you catch it before it lands?
- Can a black mask die be locked on the Broken Die curse, and must it be rerolled when the curse is lifted?
- What does the Strangle Vines curse from the Fountain promo prevent?
- Does a curse still affect a player who has already escaped?
- When you draw a Trapped curse, does the player move or stay on the tile they explored from?
- Does teleporting to another room remove the Trapped curse, and what else does Trapped stop?
- Do curses affect the whole party, or only the player who drew them?
- Can other players help you lift your curse?
- How many black masks can a player under the Mask curse reroll with a golden mask?
- Does a curse that halves a gold mask die roll reduce the effect of the Gold Mask treasure?
- Can you give or trade a treasure to another player?
- Are dice lost to the Poison Curse gone for good, or can the fountain restore them?
- How long does a Large Torch stay in play, and is it removed with the room tile?
- How does the Extra Gem treasure work once you own it?
- When can you use the Healing Mask treasure, and whom does it help?
- Can a secret passage treasure be used in any chamber, not just the one where it was found?
- Can the keys shown on treasure tiles count toward the keys needed to escape?
- Do you draw a curse or treasure again when you pass back through a chamber?
- What happens if you draw a curse you already have?
- When the color-swap curse hits, do you keep your own color?
- What do the Doomed, Stand Up and Counterspell promo cards do?
- If you are dealt Lost Treasure, can you discard a treasure to cancel it, including Cancel Curse?
General
- Can a player who has already escaped re-enter the temple to rescue someone still inside?
- What carries over between campaign rounds of Escape?
- How does the Discoverer character's ability work when discovering a chamber?
- Can Escape be played solo or with two players?
- Does the Priest's teleport use up his five black masks?
- Can the Priest teleport again after arriving in a chamber with another adventurer, while all of his dice still show black masks?
- Can the Priest use both his teleport ability and his reroll ability in the same game?
- Can you give a black mask die to another player in an exchange, and can they use it?
- Can a Void Runner move to or from any room, or only rooms with open entrances?
Escape: The Curse of the Temple – Expansion 1: IllusionsExpansion
- What happens to the Chalice if its Illusion chamber disappears while you carry it?
- If an Illusion chamber on the path to the exit disappears, how do you rebuild the route?
- Is the chalice required to escape once the Treasure Room is in the temple?
- Must the chalice be carried at all times, or can you leave it and pick it up later?
- Can the Mentalist carry the chalice when teleporting?
- Does moving with the Holy Grail cost extra, and can you choose to leave it behind?
- When you flip the Soul Exchange curse, which player's token do you play, and when do the tokens swap back?
- If a Soul Exchange swap leaves a character short of the start room when the gong sounds, which player loses a die?
- Do you need a player in each linked chamber to activate the linked gems, and can all three activate at once?
- Can players in different linked chambers share dice or keys to help each other?
- Where do removed Illusion tiles go, and can the tile deck run out?
- Can a secret door be placed on the wall of a split chamber from Illusions?
- When do Illusion chambers disappear?
- Can you place a secret passage on a free side of a chamber before exploring through it?
- If you are in an illusion chamber when the countdown ends, where are you relocated, and can a Large Torch change that?
- Do you need to pay a red torch to enter the Treasure chamber, or to carry its treasure when you move?
- Does the Doomed curse duplicate the effect of another curse, such as Soul Swap?
- Can you use Module 4 (Special Chambers) together with the other modules?
- How do you set up the Illusions chambers in a game?
Escape: The Curse of the Temple – Expansion 2: QuestExpansion
- Does the Treasure Room from Illusions become a Quest chamber?
- Can a single character use both the permanent and the activatable ability in the same game, and can the pair be split up?
- Can the Explorer carry the Holy Grail with his three-times-per-game move?
- Can the Muscleman rotate any chamber, and can he rotate the Obelisk chamber?
- What happens to an Obelisk gem when the adjacent illusion chamber disappears?
- Can the Mentalist use his special move to pass through an entrance?
- What does the Muscleman tile with the same image on both sides do?
- Can a character's activated ability be shared with other players in the same room?
- How do you set up the exit for a 2-player game with Quests?
- Can players share their yellow masks to complete the Tree of Life quest?
- Can a Quest chamber be placed next to the starting chamber during setup?
- How does the ghost in the Quest expansion work?
- Can you play Queenie 5 (Quest Chambers) without the Quests expansion?
- Do you have to complete the Quest chambers before escaping?
- Do you need the first expansion to play Expansion 2: Quest?
- Can the explorer put a Quest chamber at the bottom of the pile when Modules 5 and 6 are combined?
- How do you play solo with the linked chambers?
- What happens to the character card you do not choose at set-up?
- How many quest tiles go in the stack when using three quest tokens?
Escape: The Curse of the Temple – Expansion 3: TrapsExpansion
- How many difficulty rating points are a Trap room and a Chrono Chamber worth?
- How does the moving platform move?
- What happens if the moving platform's chamber is surrounded so it has no connecting exit?
- Does the Invocation chamber force all adventurers to join you, or can you summon them later?
- Can you enter the Cliff chamber without using any dice combination, in order to help another player with golden masks?
Escape: The Curse of the Temple – Queenie 1: The PitExpansion
- Can The Pit expansion alone allow a 6-player game?
- Does The Pit add a room tile to the deck, or replace existing tiles?
- How does the Pit (Queenie 1) work?
- In The Pit, must one player roll all five black masks to activate the gems?
- Does The Pit's requirement change with two players?
- Can The Pit be used with the Curses and Treasures modules?
- Do The Pit and Doomed replace tiles when combined with Curses and Treasures?
- Can the Really Cursed curse be cured with dice, since the artwork shows keys?
- If you draw Lost Treasure while holding an Extra Gem treasure, does the gem go back to the depot?
- Can the Lost Treasure curse make you lose a secret passage you already placed on the board?