If you’re setting up a fun indoor party or want to keep your youngsters busy away from screens, this list of the best escape room board games will help.
While several board games are available, escape room board games include mystery, suspense, puzzle solving, and more. They are mostly cooperative board games with a time constraint for the players to locate clues and escape.
However, picking a perfect board game can take much work with many available alternatives. So, we reviewed several interesting alternatives for your convenience to help you choose the right one. But before we dive into the list of the best board games, let’s know why they are loved in the first place!
Why Are Escape Room Board Games So Loved?
Not only can escape room games provide for a great night in, but did you know that playing games offers several mental health benefits? According to research, solving puzzles, such as the riddles and clues found in escape rooms, can assist in preserving brain function. The best escape room board games include many interactive components and puzzles that allow you to simulate the full escape room experience in the comfort of your home.
The Replayability of Escape Room Board Games
Escape room board games, like in-person escape rooms, are replete with tangible elements you can manipulate or evaluate for information. Some games require you to permanently change the game pieces to “escape”, allowing them only to be played once, but others may be reset and played again. Your playtime will be determined by how quickly your group solves the puzzles, but for single-use games, investing in one with a longer playtime is a good idea to make the most of your buck.
In contrast to typical board games, player ranges for escape room games are more of a guideline than a strict and fast limit. However, playing with more people can result in more participants than riddles to solve.
Hints are another element that might enhance your escape room gaming experience. Because no game master can direct players to clues, most options offer just a handful of hints in case your group becomes stuck.
Even if you’re a skilled puzzler, having helpful advice on hand might be useful. The escape room board games, with their sophisticated puzzles, code-breaking gimmicks, and thematically interesting brainteasers, provide all of the thrill of the real deal, and that’s why they are so loved!
If you want to shake up your game night routine, keep reading for 10 of the finest escape room board games ever!
Deckscape: Test Time
Deckscape is the most basic of the escape room games out there. It offers a sequence of riddles, one after the other, over a linear adventure using a single deck of cards. Deckscape does not attempt to reproduce the sense of being locked in a room, searching for mysteries, and collecting clues as you proceed.
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dV Giochi Deckscape: Test Time Card Game DVG4474 Mixed Colours |
$12.60 |
Buy on Amazon |
It’s a cross between an escape room and a brainteaser, with a hearty dose of narration to keep you interested between problems. It is designed for folks who seek a cognitive challenge but want to go right to the topic, passing through any puzzles they find too difficult.
Players: 1 to 6
Brand: dV Giochi
Publisher: dV Giochi
Release Date: June 1, 2017
Mattel’s Escape Room: The Werewolf Experiment
Escape Room in a Box is a game that doesn’t hold back when it comes to props, and it tries its best to imitate the excitement of physical puzzle solving. Inside are miniature plastic lockets that don’t symbolically open by drawing solution cards or spring open after inputting numbers into a phone app but instead apply functional padlocks to remain shut. It helps preserve authenticity since there’s no way to cheat or give up; if you want to know what’s in that box, you must play.
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Mattel Games Escape Room in a Box Game The Werewolf Experiment, Mystery with Physical Puzzles, Paper... |
$34.25 |
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Players: 2 to 8
Brand: Mattel Games
Publisher: Mattel
Release Date: December 18, 2017
Escape Room: The Game
Look no further if you want the most bang for your buck regarding plastic props. Escape Room: The Game is a traditional first-time escape room experience, and is one of the best two-player board games around. Each box has a big, quite terrifying timer and decoder. It is designed so that you can enter a certain set of keys to solve the riddle and escape; the challenge is determining which ones are correct.
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Escape Room The Game –New 2 Player Edition with 2 New Exciting Games | Solve The Mystery Board... |
$19.99 |
Buy on Amazon |
A group can work on multiple components simultaneously using a set of paper and cardboard props, making this a wonderful introduction for larger groups. Oh, and every time you make a mistake with a key, you lose time and get blasted by the large plastic box. It’s the closest thing to an escape room ‘party’ experience you can get without locking them in the shed.
Players: 2
Brand: Identity Games
Publisher: Identity Games
Release Date: May 25, 2023
Board and Dice Escape Tale: Low Memory
Escape Tales: Low Memory is a narrative-driven escape room in the style of a card game, with immersive exploration, no time constraints while solving puzzles, and a series of difficult decisions that will fascinate and draw you deeply into a compelling story of a cyberpunk future.
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Escape Room The Game –New 2 Player Edition with 2 New Exciting Games | Solve The Mystery Board... |
$19.99 |
Buy on Amazon |
Low Memory is the following entry in the Escape Tales series. This stand-alone adventure can be played and enjoyed without having previously owned or being familiar with Escape Tales: The Awakening. Everything you need for a complete, rewarding, narrative, and difficult experience is here!
Players: 1-4
Brand: Board and Dice
Publisher: Board and Dice
Release Date: March 1, 2020
Escape The Room: The Cursed Dollhouse
While most escape-room games rely on papers and two-dimensional artifacts to guide players through the game, Escape the Room: The Cursed Dollhouse takes the concept to a new level. The players uncover an unsettling dollhouse while investigating the disappearance of several local children.
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ThinkFun Escape The Room: The Cursed Dollhouse – an Escape Room Experience in a Box for Ages 13... |
$14.34 |
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Gamers build and explore each room of a three-dimensional dollhouse to solve its secrets and escape unscathed. Another advantage of this game is its online hint system, which helps players of all skill levels advance through the plot.
Players: 1-4
Brand: ThinkFun
Publisher: ThinkFun
Release Date: October 1, 2020
Hunt A Killer: Death at The Dive Bar
Hunt a Killer has grown in popularity, and it’s no surprise that the collection of games provides an exceptionally immersive murder mystery experience that can be played single or in a group.
In Hunt, a Killer: Death at the Dive Bar, a murder occurs at a dive bar, and the players are assigned as detectives. The victim’s former coworker is privately questioning what officials termed an accident. You have a lead and suspect foul play. Can you make things right?
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Hunt A Killer Immersive Murder Mystery Game - Take On Unsolved Case as Detective, For Date Night or... | 9,508 Reviews |
$22.39 |
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You might be able to catch the culprit by evaluating evidence and dismissing suspects. As you summon your inner detective, decode, decipher, and solve the mysteries. This is an excellent murder mystery board game that can be a fun solitary activity or an interesting date night activity.
Players: 1-6
Brand: Hunt A Killer
Publisher: Hunt A Killer
Release Date: September 2, 2020
Scooby-Doo: Escape from The Haunted Mansion
Unlike many licensed board games, Scooby-Doo: Escape from the Haunted Mansion precisely captures the flavor of the content. It is a unique example of incorporating outside source material into a game and wonderfully integrates the Scooby-Doo universe with the escape game genre.
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Scooby-Doo: Escape from The Haunted Mansion - A Coded Chronicles Game | Escape Room Game for Kids &... |
$29.31 |
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Mystery Inc. members have a distinct interactive capacity to explore and find details in their surroundings. This design encourages players to use each character’s talents to solve problems quickly and effectively. This is a family board game that you can’t afford to miss!
Players: 1-6
Brand: USAopoly
Publisher: USAopoly
Release Date: May 28, 2020
Star Wars UNLOCK! The Escape Game
This cooperative card game is based on one of the world’s most successful movie series and features different strategies. Players must solve riddles in one hour by going through a deck of 60 cards.
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Star Wars UNLOCK! The Escape Game - Embark on Epic Escape Room Adventures in a Galaxy Far, Far Away!... |
$31.47 |
Buy on Amazon |
To escape, whether a rebel, smuggler, or Imperial agent, you must identify spots and engage with machinery and ships within the time limit. The game has a companion app that plays noises and music while assisting gameplay by receiving input codes and interacting with machinery. Each scenario in this game is unique, offers new challenges, and is suitable for all ages above 10!
Players: 1- 6
Brand: Space Cowboys
Publisher: Asmodee
Release Date: November 6, 2020
ThinkFun Escape the Room Stargazer’s Manor
Escape the Room Stargazer’s Manor is a fun journey that will take you through an abandoned house’s bizarre sights and strange chambers. It combines the puzzles of an escape room game with the narrative flavor of a children’s adventure movie.
The game, aimed at a party crowd, periodically delivers you new stuff to sprawl over, including multiple scene cards to graphically portray the interior of the manor home, a puzzle wheel to fidget with, and numerous envelopes to open as you proceed on your quest.
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ThinkFun Escape the Room Stargazer's Manor - A Thrilling Escape Room Game in a Box for Ages 10 and... |
$17.70 |
Buy on Amazon |
The game is largely aimed at children and families in concept and challenge. If you’re an adult or a teenager, don’t anticipate this one to be difficult. However, this is a terrific choice if you want to have a family game night that will get your cerebral juices flowing.
Players: 3 or more
Brand: Ravensburger
Publisher: ThinkFun
Release Date: November 1, 2016
UNLOCK! Escape Adventures
Unlock! is a cooperative card game based on escape rooms that employ a fundamental approach to search sceneries, combine objects, and answer riddles. Play Unlock! to embark on epic adventures while sitting at a table with only cards and a companion app that can give clues, check codes, track time remaining, and so on.
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UNLOCK! Escape Adventures Card Game - Escape Room-Inspired Cooperative Adventure, Fun Family Game... |
$28.19 |
Buy on Amazon |
Escape Adventures does an outstanding job of recreating a real-life escape room’s suspense (and even frustration). Because no components are destroyed during games, the card and app systems work well together to produce a rich, themed experience for the players that can be offered to another game group. The challenges are well-crafted and do not favor one method of thinking over another.
Players: 2- 6
Brand: Space Cowboys
Publisher: Asmodee
Release Date: December 6, 2019
Final Thoughts
That’s it to our top selections for the greatest escape room board games to play at home or in your game room. The increase in popularity of escape room board games has reawakened many people’s passion for solving puzzles under duress.
These games have gone a long way, with many different, intriguing, and downright entertaining places to play. There’s a game for everyone, from scary cabins to werewolf encounters. So turn down the lights, turn on some odd sound effects, and attempt to flee before it’s too late!
Next, you can check out our picks for the best puzzle board games that you can play with friends, family, or even by yourself!
