Learning Activities
21 “Escape Box” Puzzles
Jennifer Smith and Micah Jenkins
What are “Escape Boxes?” | Puzzles | Equipment | Prototype | Production | Escape Box Activity
What are “Escape Boxes?”
Modeled on the popular escape room puzzles, boxes containing puzzles and locked secrets can be an engaging way to combine teamwork and scavenger hunt activities. Stacey Curtis, Pharm.D. and Angelina Vascimini, a 4th-year student at the University of Florida College of Pharmacy presented this idea at the 2019 Interface Conference. This article describes the design, logistics, and tips for setting up your own escape box activity.
Escape puzzles can be used to:
- Hold students accountable for doing the reading.
- Practice analysis and problem-solving skills.
- Foster teamwork.
- Provide a fun break!
Considerations
Items to consider when planning your escape box:
- Time. It took about 80 hours of work to research ideas for ciphers, plan and create 6 clues for 5 boxes. (Use the ciphers described here to save some time!)
- Thought. Give yourself at least a week to think about clues that will support your learning goals (This isn’t as easy as you might think!)
- Boxes. Consider box size and storage availability as you will most likely want to re-use your boxes.
- Boxes/Pouches for Locked Secrets. With some crafty creativity, you can use inexpensive pencil pouches and boxes to contain your clues. These have the advantage of being space-efficient, and some have clear plastic windows for hints. (See the end of this chapter for details.)
- Locks. You’ll need small programmable locks. Inexpensive 3-digit locks can be found on Amazon.com. (NOTE: Unfortunately, these cannot be purchased through Amazon.com with a University of Florida purchasing card.)
- Quantity. Teams of 5 – 6 with 5 – 6 locked secrets work well. This makes it possible for each participant to work on a clue. Savvy teams will divide and conquer. You’ll need a box with your chosen number of secrets for each team.
- Iterate. We strongly recommend trying your puzzles out with a test group. Be prepared to make revisions. See the prototype tips at the end of this chapter.
- Digital. We used a mix of digital and physical clues. It is possible to create a fully online escape activity. Visit the next chapter to see how we did this. There are more suggestions on the Engaging and Effective Teaching Blog.
Planning
Determine the amount of time you would like participants to spend on the activity as this will dictate the difficulty level of the clues. Six Lower-level knowledge or scavenger hunt clues can be solved in approximately 20 minutes by a team of 5. Higher-level application or problem-solving clues will take more time. Keep in mind that the puzzles should be challenging, but not to the point of frustration.
Use post-it notes, a large piece of paper, or a digital diagramming tool to plan out how the players will get to the numerical code that will unlock the secret. You can provide more than one path, and y