Escape the Great and Spacious Building – Escape Room

By Bekah

I’ve seen a lot of interest in escape rooms… so I thought I’d share what we did for our combined activity last night. We had an “Escape the Great and Spacious Building” themed room.

The kids gathered in the foyer and received instructions, then we sent them to the cultural hall, where there were clues set up all over (and some distractions). Basically, they needed to solve 8 clues that would give them

1) advice to avoid being trapped in the GSB (ie, study the scriptures daily) and

2) an number that would eventually be turned into a letter that was part of the word ‘Redeemer.’

Once they figured out that word, they could go through the exit, grab onto the iron rod, and cross the hall into the YW room, where there were “white, desirable, sweet, fruity” refreshments (vanilla yogurt parfaits and strawberry shortcake) waiting for them under the tree of life.

We asked ward members for any lockable boxes, tricky puzzle boxes, etc and then worked with what we had to make the clues. I bought 2 locks, silver pencils (they used these to solve the clues and at the end we likened it to the iron rod – they were holding it the whole time, it helped them find the answers and the Redeemer, etc), a gum ball machine (craigslist $10!) and gum balls, so the total cost was minimal.

We were able to have 40 youth + leaders (with cheat sheets) all in the cultural hall all working at the same time. It was a lot of fun (and a bit chaotic; I wouldn’t go much larger than 40), and the kids were really engaged. There are a LOT of details in the file I’m attaching, but please feel free to ask questions if something needs clarification. I got many good ideas from other escape room posts here, so thanks y’all!