How to play

An escape room you play in a group chat. The link, the lobby, your card, one box, codes, hints, and the way out.

A group chat that's an escape room

Your friends are in the chat. The room is in the chat. Get out before the clock runs out.

There is no map, no inventory screen and no video call. A game master tells the story in cards. You and your friends talk in bubbles underneath, and you act by typing what you do in the same box. Up to 6 people play from one link on their own phones, or you play alone with two AI teammates.

Before the clock starts

  1. One person starts a room. Tap Start a room, pick a difficulty, put in a first name, and pay once. Easy runs up to 15 minutes; Medium and Hard run up to 45.
  2. Text the link. Friends open it in their phone's browser, type a name, and appear in the lobby. No app, no sign-up.
  3. Start when everyone is in. The host taps Start. The game master sets the scene, every phone gets its private card, and the clock starts on its own two minutes later unless the host starts it sooner. Use those two minutes to read your cards to each other.

Your card is the point

Each of you holds facts the others need. Read your card. Say what's on it. Nobody solves a lock alone.

Your card is private: a role, a clue, a piece of a code. The cellar keypad might need a year from one card and two digits from another, and no single phone holds the whole thing. My clues, at the top of the screen, keeps your card and everything you have found. If a friend has to leave, their notes slide to someone who stayed, so the room is never stuck on an empty seat.

One box. Say or do anything.

Type what you do or say, like "look under the mat" or "enter 4152 on the keypad". The game master reads it.

Talk and actions go in the same box. "Who has the year?" is talk, and your friends answer. "Look under the mat" is an action, and the room answers. A message to a friend by name stays talk. The two chips above the box, Look around and the thing in front of you, are shortcuts for the most common actions.

Codes, keys and wrong guesses

Locks open two ways: a code, or a key you found. The game decides every lock in plain code, so a right code always opens and a wrong one never does. A wrong code costs 30 seconds on Easy and Medium and 60 on Hard. Three misses on the same lock jam it for 30 seconds. Guessing is the slow way through.

When a lock opens, the game master names whose cards held the pieces, so the friend who read out the key fact gets the credit.

Hints

Tap the bulb. Each puzzle has a ladder of three hints, and the sheet lists the puzzle you are stuck on first. The first hint points you at it, the second narrows it, and the third gives the answer. On Medium the third hint is there any time. On Hard it waits until ten minutes are left. Escape with a third hint and your result says Escaped with help.

What the AI does, and does not do

The game master is an AI, and every card it writes carries an AI label. It narrates. It reads what you type and turns it into a move. It never opens a lock or decides whether you are right. Code decides if you're right. The AI never sees the answers as yours to be talked out of, and it cannot be argued into opening anything.

Playing solo, your two AI teammates each hold a card, the same as a human player would. Ask them what is on it and they tell you, and only that. They're AI, not people, and they say so. Ask one if it is a person and it answers honestly.

The way out

Open the last door before the clock runs out and you have escaped. The results screen shows your time, your locks and your awards, and an escape card with the team's names on it that is yours to post. Run out of time and you see the same screen with what you opened and what you missed. Either way, the next room is one tap away.

Good to know

Start a room

Up to 6 friends from one link, or solo with AI teammates. No app. 18 and up.