You are an escape room lover, or one of your friends is? Live games are your passion and you could talk about it over and over again? We listed some ideas which you might find interesting to purchase as a present for birthdays or Christmas gift!
There are those small things, which every escape fan will like. Some of them you might find in escape room games, others may be just to steel your time and challenge you. What is common about all of them is that you will have to think a bit to reveal some secret.
1. Cryptex
The most common ones are a replicas of an original cryptex from the movie Da Vinci Code. Thank God the ones you can buy do not contain any secret liquid which destroys the message placed inside while you force it to open :P You can set your own password (between 5 and 6 letters - depends of the cryptex you purchase). It really looks very impressive, it’s packed beautifully and for sure it’s something special to all escape room fans. In addition it’s pretty solid so it won’t break when it falls. The only disadvantage – there is not really a lot of place inside. The size is around 8cm x 2.5cm diameter, for a larger version and 6,5x2,5cm for a smaller one. It’s not a lot, but you just need to be creative and find out what to put inside. Prices start from around 50€.
A little fun fact for those of you who saw this little thing in a famous movie: when you purchase your Cryptex, the default code is “apple”.
2. Puzzle Boxes (also known as IQ boxes)
Mostly they are made out of wood. The idea of the puzzle boxes is that you have different steps which you need to follow to reveal the secrets inside. So by pulling or pushing different parts of the box you can open it. The diverse is big. You can find boxes with one step only, and much more complicated with 2,3 and more. Probably the most common is the one below:
There are 2 small drawers inside. The puzzle is not that easy, so for someone who has never seen any of those boxes, it will take some time to figure out how to open it. The size of that box is 15,5x7,4x4cm. One drawer is a bit bigger than the other one. It’s enough place to hide a key or other small item. It’s rather solid. You can buy Puzzle Boxes from around 9€
3. Puzzle/trick locks
Similar idea like the boxes but this time it’s about opening a lock but the key is not the only answer.
There are some hidden mechanisms inside, which you need to find out how to trigger to fully open the lock. Again, you can choose between different difficulty levels. Some of the locks are simple and include only one step, others are multi-steps. It can take hours to succeed... Before you become too frustrated and throw one of those locks out of your window - check YouTube. YouTube knows everything :) Except the simple ones, you probably won’t find this kind of locks in Escape Rooms. So you can give it as a puzzle for playing, or use it as a lock for a box with another gift inside. The prices for trick locks start from 12€
4. Directional lock
Nothing new for escape room fans, as you can find those kinds of locks very often in escape rooms. That is however still a very cool and pretty cheap gift. Use it to lock a box, make a riddle where you have to find out some directions and it will be a very appreciated surprise. We do not recommend the electronic ones. We had rather bad experience with them. The standard, manual ones are working much better. You can set your own combination. Make sure to follow the steps while resetting the lock EXACTLY. Once you mess it up, it might never open again... We would not recommend to use them outdoor, as well as expecting to be burglar-resistance, those lock are easy to pick. Directional lock is a cost of around 8€.
5. Escape room board game
Those games allow you to bring home a bit of excitement of an escape room. Escape board games are mostly dedicated for smaller groups, between 2-6 players, from 12+. The aim is to solve a variety of puzzles, collect codes, use decoders. Some games can be very complex and contain a lot of different elements. Unfortunately each game (or scenario, if the game includes more) can be played only one time. Board games cost from 15€.
We dedicated the Escape Board Games a whole article, which you will find here.
6. Others
Ohhhh yes, there are a lot of other puzzles somehow related to escape rooms which you can purchase. Rope puzzles, bottle puzzles, metal puzzles etc, where you will have to find a unique solution to succeed.
This kind of logical and motoric puzzles can be quite a challenge, so choose wisely and do not always take the most difficult one, as you don't want the gifted person to get frustrated. It is great and much fun to hide small gifts, like money, inside of those items, so that you first need to solve them to get your reward.
All of the listed products you will find on amazon or ebay.
7. Escape room Voucher for Open The Door in Vienna
Last, but not least! Here is where the real adventure starts! Invite your friends or family to an exciting hour at Open The Door, Escape Room in Vienna. Here you will find all the information you need.
