Escape Your House: Spy Team
Escape Your House: Spy Team Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Contents
6 missions
- Door Lock
- Door Key
- Timer
- 78 Puzzle Cards
- 55 Answer Cards
- 6 Door Hangers
- 3 Mission Cards
- Scoring & Area Arrangement Card
Number of players: 3-6. Age: 8+. Time: 6 x 15 minutes.
Don't like reading? Watch the How To Play video on escaperoomthegame.com/en-us/spy-team.
Game Goal
The goal of the 6 Escape Your House missions is to escape your house within 15 minutes!
Preparation
Escape Your House won't be played around the table, but in the various rooms of your own house, or any other location, like a holiday accommodation, office, school, etc. Steps 1 and 2 of the preparation will only need to be done once per play location. Steps 3, 4 and 5 will take place before each mission.
1 Choose an escape door
Choose which door you'd like to escape through. This will normally be the front door, but may also be the back door.
2 Number the areas in your play location
- An area may be an entire room (or a corridor or bathroom), or
- A section of a room, like areas 2 and 3 in the example map.
Area Arrangement: Determine which 10 areas you'll be using for the game and fill in the table on the Area Arrangement card. Use a new column for each new location where you'll be playing the game.
Important considerations for selecting your areas:
- Area 1: always adjoins the escape door.
- Areas 1 to 4: will be accessible from the start of the game. Choose areas that are connected to each other and the escape door. (Example: 1. Hallway, 2. Dining room, 3. Living room, 4. Kitchen.)
- Areas 5 to 9: each receive a door hanger on the door and may only be accessed when the correct key card has been found. These areas must be accessible via areas 1, 2, 3 or 4, or via any area that is not used for the game (e.g., a corridor). (The example map shows an incorrect and a correct arrangement of Areas 6 and 7: an area behind a door-hanger area must not be reachable only through another locked area.)
- Area 10: will always just contain the Door Key. It could simply be a closed cupboard.
3 Choose a mission
Play the missions in order from 1 to 6.
4 Prepare the areas
Grab the Mission card of the mission you're about to play and check out the table. Position the designated puzzle and answer cards in each area, hang up the designated door hangers and position the Door Lock and the Door Key.
A: Position the puzzle and answer cards
- Puzzle cards (large cards) need to be placed clearly visible in the room, preferably in an elevated position like on a table, sofa or bed, but the floor is possible too. If there are several puzzle cards in an area, then position them in various corners, or at least half a meter (about a foot and a half) apart (at least 50 cm / 1.64 feet).
- Answer cards (small cards) need to be positioned in a neat row underneath their associated puzzle cards.
B: Fold the door hangers (see instructions on the back) and hang them up
- Is the area an entire room? If so, hang up the door hanger on the outside door handle.
- Is the area a section of a room? Then place the door hanger on the puzzle card, or in case of multiple puzzle cards, in between them.
TIP: You could use a chair to block off an area and leave the door hanger on the chair.
TIP: Get 3 players to go through the areas in the order of the area numbers. 1 player positions the puzzle cards, 1 player positions the associated answer cards underneath the puzzle cards and 1 player hangs up the door hangers on the doors. A fourth player could possibly position the Door Lock and Door Key. Check each other's tasks to make sure everything is in the right place.
C: Position the Door Lock
- Slide the timer inside the Door Lock, insert the Door Key into the keyhole and turn it counterclockwise by 90 degrees to open the lock.
- Slide the bar at the top upwards, hang the lock around the door handle on the inside of the escape door and push the bar back down until the lock is secure.
- Turn the lock shut, remove the Door Key from the keyhole and push the grid back up again.
D: Position the Door Key
Position the Door Key in area 10 in a spot you can easily access.
E: Take the timer
Remove the timer from the Door Lock and hand it to the youngest player who will be keeping the time for the whole group.
The Game
Start of the Game
Everyone gathers inside near the locked escape door. One of the players reads out the introductory story on the mission card. The youngest player turns on the timer by moving the ON/OFF switch on the back cover to the 'ON' position and starts the timer by pressing the button on the front. The game has started! The players now have 15 minutes to resolve all the puzzles, unlock all the areas and ultimately find the Door Key, open the Door Lock and escape.
Gameplay
1 Find all the puzzle cards in one color
In order to resolve a puzzle, you'll need all the puzzle cards of the same color (on the front). When you enter an area, you can turn the puzzle cards in this area over to face upwards and look at them. In the top left corner of the cards, there's a little icon indicating how many cards there are for this color and which number card this is. So, the card in the example is the third card out of the 4 cards you'll need to resolve the red puzzle.
If you can't find all the puzzle cards for one color, it will be very likely that further cards of that color are held in areas which are still locked by a door hanger. If so, leave the puzzle in question for the time being and look for a puzzle for which all the cards are available.
2 Resolve the puzzle to find a key card
There are two types of puzzles:
Questions: The first card contains a question; the remaining cards contain the required information. When you know the answer to this question, turn over the associated answer card underneath the puzzle card.
- If the answer is right, you'll find a key card. Take it with you.
- If the answer is wrong, you'll find a trap card. Keep this card (in your pocket) and try the question again. At the end of the game, each trap card will represent minus points.
Tasks: This card describes a task to perform. Continue with the task until you succeed and start over if you fail. Once the task has been completed, you can take the key card from underneath the puzzle card.
Do you need materials for a task which you can only find in an area that's still locked, like toilet paper? Then you can quickly go and get it without looking at any puzzle card held in the locked area. Pull the door shut again behind you.
3 Use the key card to unlock a new area
Insert the retrieved key card into the door hanger of the same color to unlock the door hanger and to access the associated area. Now you have access to new puzzle cards and answer cards.
4 Repeat
Repeat gameplay steps 1, 2 and 3 until all 6 key cards have been found, all door hangers have been unlocked and the Door Key has been found.
5 Unlock the Door Lock
Insert the timer into the Door Lock to unlock the keyhole. Next, insert the Door Key into the hole and turn it counterclockwise by 90 degrees. The timer stops and the Door Lock will now be unlocked. Open the door and step outside. The mission is complete!
Rules
There are some important rules for you to observe during the game:
- Puzzle cards should never be taken out of the area they are found in.
- Puzzle cards may only be looked at by players who are in the area the cards are in. A player may therefore not show a card to a player in another area.
- A puzzle may only be resolved when all cards in that puzzle's color have been found.
- The Door Lock may only be opened when all the door hangers have been unlocked.
- You're not allowed to make notes in any way.
- Rooms that are locked by a door hanger can only be accessed when the door hanger has been unlocked. Only then may the puzzle cards in these areas be looked at and resolved.
- Only cards showing the print symbol in the top right corner may be written on, torn, cut into or get wet, etc., as they can be replaced afterwards.
You can walk freely between any rooms which are not locked by a door hanger and look at all the puzzle cards held in there. Information shown on puzzle cards may be communicated between your team by talking/shouting to each other or by walking over and back between puzzle cards while the puzzle cards remain in their areas.
Scoring
Did you manage to escape? Then you've successfully completed the mission! Did you manage to do so within the time allowed? Then you've done brilliantly!
If you'd like to know exactly how well you did, or wish to compare your score with other teams, then use the table on the scoring card to calculate your score.
Example: The Jones Team escaped with 5 players and had 2:43 minutes left on the clock. They picked up 3 trap cards. They get +3 points for escaping with 5 players, +6 points for escaping within the time allowed, +5 points for the time left (5 x half a minute), and -2 x 3 = -6 points for the 3 trap cards they picked up. Their score will therefore be: +3 +6 +5 -6 = 8 points.
Tidying away
After completing the game, make sure to pack away all the used puzzle and answer cards. Check on the mission card table how many cards of either type have been used to make sure you've found them all. Put the answer cards back in the correct order in the stack of answer cards.
Will you be playing another mission straight away? Then you may leave the door hangers and the Door Lock in place.
Passing on the game
Would you like to pass the game onto someone else after completing the game? Then create full sets of cards again for missions 1, 3, 4 and 6 by using the 4 spare cards from the bottom of the stack of puzzle cards.
If the game is played again, new spare cards and area arrangement & scoring table cards can be printed off the website: escaperoomthegame.com/en-us/escape-your-house/spy-team