With escape room experiences, the type of puzzle solver that you are depends on a mind-boggling number of factors that could include, but are by no means limited to, your personality, your experiences, which hand you write with, your education and more!
Types of puzzles and puzzle solvers
There are so many different types of puzzles that you could be faced with when playing an escape room, your team will have to have strengths in many different areas in order to be able to perform in the best time possible.
Logic puzzle solvers
If you have a keen eye for brainteasers and crosswords then logic puzzles may be your forte. Puzzle solvers that do well with this type of challenge tend to be right-handed, therefore more left side of the brain dominant. This means that you can easily approach word and language puzzles as you are easily able to recognise where these types of patterns emerge from and fit together.
Number puzzle solvers
If you’re an analytical thinker that loves Sudoku and mathematics then your strength will be derived from your highly attuned ability to process numbers. Again, stereotypically this is a very right-handed trait that can often be found in individuals with jobs in science or facts.
Building puzzle solvers
If you liked jigsaw puzzles and building with Lego when you were a child or if you have a manual job, approaching puzzles with 3D elements that you can build could be your advantage in an escape room. This type of puzzle requires a mixture for both the ability to process three-dimensional forms from the right-hand side of the brain and the logic of the left-hand side of the brain.
Creative puzzle solvers
Not all puzzles can be worked out with logic alone. Some escape room challenges require creativity such as matching colours, drawing or making a model. People that approach these puzzles with relative ease are often left-handed. They require more power from the right, imaginative side of the brain as you will need to be able to think outside of the box and not take what you see by its face value. Creative insight has its advantages!
Story puzzle solvers
Most escape rooms have a story behind them that all of their challenges correspond with. Using the story of the room itself to work out the thought processes behind the puzzles can give you the insight that you need to crack a code or find the next clue. Looking at the wider picture is a talent that not everyone possesses so if you like to think that you’re a world view type of person then figuring out story-style puzzles may be a good challenge for you to accept.