Escape rooms have become extremely popular and are so much fun. You can imagine my excitement then when I learned that there was a similar activity you could set up and complete entirely at home!
We received a copy of Kids Escape Quest from Lockpaperscissors.co and I couldn’t wait to find out more about this DIY puzzle game.
This Kids Escape Quest Review will cover our experience with this unique at-home escape room, provide a few helpful tips, and let you know what you can expect from this at-home real live game.
Ready to know what Kids Escape Quest has to offer? Let’s go!
Kids’ Escape Quest Game In A nutshell
Getting Started with Set Up
The first part of this DIY escape room kit involves printing the materials from the digital file that will be sent to your email used to purchase the game. You must print the at-home escape room cards used for solving puzzles. The instructions, script to narrate the story, and other key tools are entirely online.
This was probably the most daunting part of the home escape room kit. I would suggest that if you don’t want to use your personal paper and ink, you print the cards for the escape room clues at your local library, printing store, or any other public store that offers printing.
There aren’t a ton of items to be printed, but I considered it to be enough things to where I considered printing them elsewhere.
The game also instructs that you print the escape kit cards on 4×6 photo paper if you want a more high-quality and durable feel. In all, preparing the materials isn’t too difficult, and pretty on par with downloadable escape games.
One thing that was particularly cool with this escape room at home for kids setup was that you could customize the cards to make your own special escape game adventure.
Theme of the Game
After you print your cards, you’ll notice that this downloadable escape room is time travel themed. As far as escape room themes go, it isn’t too scary or too advanced for most kids.
The theme is also one that suits a variety of different interests, so you don’t have to worry about a child not being into a certain movie, game, etc. This DIY escape room kit doesn’t exclude any users based on interest, personality, or prior knowledge; which is wonderful!
In fact, each room of the escape room kit has a slightly different theme, such as prehistoric, a medieval fantasy world, and artificial intelligence, to keep everyone interested and engaged.
This fun interactive activity would be perfect as a Halloween escape room kit, but would also work well for any other occasion or season, like Thanksgiving or even on New Year’s day if that’s your thing. I greatly appreciated how versatile and user-friendly it was, making it so much fun for not only the kids but for me too!
On their website, this escape room at-home kit is recommended for seven to nine-year-olds. I believe this is pretty accurate. My six-year-old did well with the first two awesome challenges rated “easy” but had a harder time solving the next few amazing challenges that were considered more difficult, the escape room experience gets harder as they continue.
Preparing to Play
After you print your cards and have all your materials. You can follow the super-easy setup instructions on their website. The link provided tells you everything you need to know and is very helpful! You don’t need any specially designed room in your home, you can even play outside as outdoor games for toddlers. And, set up takes less than one hour.
This kids’ escape room has a total of six rooms/puzzles. Of course, the idea is that you set it up in six different rooms or play areas so they “travel” from location to location. But if you don’t have the space, you could just as easily designate different portions of the room by using tape on the floor, furniture, or whatever you have on hand. Traveling to six different rooms just makes the escape room for kids at home that much more immersive and enjoyable.
If you have been holding off on getting an at-home escape room kit because you are worried that you don’t know how to set up an escape room, don’t worry! Escape Quest is so easy and their escape room set up directions make the fun process a breeze.
Playing The Game
You’ve printed out your DIY escape room for kids and set it up, now you’re ready to play!
Gameplay and Duration
Parents pull up the game script and directions on their cell phone or tablet. This makes it effortless to lead children through the game. You can even play the game’s Spotify background music for a more realistic experience.
The puzzles start off quite easy but they do progressively get harder. I think it’s a good idea to read through the whole game before trying to play it. I figured that if I had a good sense of how it works, and what happens next, I could truly put on a great performance for my kids and help them with a challenge when they get stuck.
The length of play for this escape game for kids truly depends on your kid’s age and skill level. They will need to solve puzzles and some of them can be challenging, like the sixth quest, “Future Hacker”.
Depending on how zealous they are, you can probably plan for about an hour’s worth of play with this escape room party kit, especially if they play with siblings or friends.
Because you are the game master if you will, you can control how slowly or quickly things progress by giving them clues, rushing them from one room to the next, or really going all out and putting on a show. I managed to move my kids forward at a regular pace to finish in around 45 minutes. They had a great time and it was just long enough to keep them engaged in figuring out each puzzle.
Customizations
You can customize this kid-friendly escape room. The download includes a Party Builder’s Toolkit that lets you change aspects of the cards and customize the game. This feature certainly makes Quest stand out as one of the best escape room kits because you can tailor a lot of the game to your liking.
Other family escape room at-home kits aren’t as customizable. Or, if you want to do a personalized escape room at home you have to create everything from scratch. This provides you with editable materials, artwork, and directions on how to make an escape room for kids that is 100% your own!
Additionally, parents can make modifications. You control the difficulty of gameplay. You can hide the clues somewhere easy to find or put them in hard-to-locate areas. Adding real-life components and decor is one of the coolest mods. You can use real props and give them something memorable to take home with them.
For example, in quest number two “Incan Chocolate” you could pass out real chocolate when they solve the riddle! There are numerous mod escape room ideas for kids online, and the game makers even provide a few on their website.
And if you are hosting this game over a kid’s birthday party or celebration, you could also add costume-wearing to the excitement!
Bonus Items
The full escape room party at home bundle comes with bonus materials! If you’re looking to do an escape room for kids’ parties, you’ll be pleased to know the digital download includes fifteen editable posters and six party invites that can be customized and printed, shared via social media, texted, or emailed. It’s a complete escape room party package.
Another cool bonus feature is the provided Spotify theme playlist made especially for this quest game. You don’t need to search for songs to nail that suspenseful dark music background, they’ve done it all for you; providing three songs for each of the six rooms! Pull it up on your cell phone and you’re good to go!
Support and Guarantee
Honestly, the game makers put such time and effort into trying to be as helpful and thorough as possible in their design and instructions, that we never had to reach out to customer support.
Judging by the reviews though, it seems like they’re quite responsive and active online, so they are easily available for help should you need it. Other helpful online support, like setup guides, can easily be found on Lock Paper Scissors’s website.
Another cool thing? Purchasing is risk-free. If you buy it and it isn’t quite what you were expecting, you can reach out for a full refund. This is one nice feature that isn’t included with every kit for escape room games at home on the market.
What I Liked and What I Didn’t
If you’re looking for kid-friendly home escape room ideas, this kit is one of the best due to its ease of use, ability to be customized, and bonus materials.
Pros:
- Easy to follow set-up and game-play instructions
- Fully customizable
- Includes a variety of bonus materials
- Options to add mods
- Can be printed at home
- Suitable for a variety of interests and skill levels
Cons:
- You do have to print quite a few materials
- Requires six different rooms for the best experience
- Earlier quests may be too easy for older kids while later quests may be too hard for younger kids
- Requires a group of players for the best experience
Our Verdict: This Is a Great Escape Game for Kids!
If you have children aged seven to nine and want to play kid-friendly escape room quests for kids game, this product is perfect. Not many escape rooms are appropriate for kids in terms of content or skill level, but this game is made just for them.
If you have younger kids, this game may be best saved until they’re a little bigger. If your kids are over ten, you should check out some of their other escape room kits designed for older kids including Lost Mummy and Frost! Nevertheless, this game is a great introduction for young children wanting to try out their escape room skills.
Final Thoughts
There are a lot of escape room games for home use, but not many for kids. It can be challenging to figure out how to make an escape room all on your own. For these reasons, the Kids Escape Quest kit is a fantastic option!
It provides you with everything you need to set up six fun and creative escape rooms at home, each filled with challenging but kid-friendly puzzles. Customize it, include real props, printable party invites, and make it immersive with a pre-made playlist; this bundle includes absolutely everything. A bit of printing and setup is worth it in my opinion!
Not only that, did we mention for every sale, 20% of the profit goes to help kids and communities escape poverty in an effort to reduce child trafficking and forced labor? To learn more, check out Lock Paper Scissors’s Make A Difference page on giving back to the kids’ community. All the more to support the company and have fun at the same time!
Want to give this escape room kit a try? You can get a copy for your family here: Kids Escape Quest by Lock Paper Scissors
We hope you found this review useful! Have you tried this game before? We would love to read your thoughts and reviews in the comments below!
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Last update on 2024-04-23 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
