The Event Planner’s Playbook: Portable & Tabletop Escape Rooms for Events
What Are Tabletop and Portable Escape Rooms?
In tabletop and portable escape rooms for events, the escape room is brought to the team vs. having the team go to the escape room! Think of it as a more mobile escape room for events. In these immersive event experiences teams receive an assortment of clues and props on their team table. Their goal is to solve the clues before time runs out in order to complete an action, such as opening a locked box, shouting out a secret phrase, etc. Alternatively, a custom escape room game can also be designed so it is accessed via an app. In app-based escape rooms, participants tap on icons to open up clues and as they do, they travel virtually from room to room pictured on the screen. The goal can simply be to escape. Or, if set up as a competitive activity, participants earn points for solving clues and bonus points for escaping before time is up and the team with the most points wins.
How These Differ from Traditional Escape Room Venues
Set-up: Rather than participants wandering around a room, or a series of rooms, trying to figure out what the clues are, a tabletop escape room is more like a pop-up escape room. All clues are delivered to participants at their team table, or to their device if an app-based experience is designed. Additional clues and props can be set up around the event area to enhance the experience, but are not required.
Cost: If you wanted to build out a traditional custom escape room game in a room it would cost tens of thousands and it would take months to build. What makes using a tabletop or portable escape room for events ideal is that it can be created very quickly for a fraction of the cost. Rates vary depending on the complexity of the types of props you wish to weave in, length of the event, number of participants, etc. but they can be fashioned to fit your budget.
Number of Participants: Typically, a traditional escape room can only accommodate a maximum of 10 participants at a time. The beauty of using a tabletop or portable escape room for events is that it is perfect for large escape room solutions, even if you are looking for small footprint event activities. Whether you are looking for team vs. individual escape room play, the only thing limiting you is the size of your event location and the number of tables that can fit in it, as all teams participate in the same exact experience at their table. Or, if an app-based escape room is created no room is required at all!
Outcome: Rather than breaking OUT of a locked room, participants try to break IN to a locked prop or perform some other type of action. When you’re in a venue where you cannot lock people in, such as a conference room, a traditional escape room isn’t feasible. The beauty of a tabletop escape room is that it truly is a portable escape room as it can take place anywhere you wish to place a table - even outdoors! And an app-based version is super portable as people carry it with them on their device.
Types of Clues: In a traditional escape room, participants have to find items, manipulate props to reveal elements, etc. to get to solutions. In a tabletop escape room, you don’t want participants at other tables to see how a clue is solved, so less of them are about manipulating an item. Rather, participants must use their mental faculties to solve clues. Props can still be used to enhance the experience, but it’s less about manipulating them (like aiming a laser beam at a prop) and more about using the information on it to solve a clue, or trying to open it to get more information. Clues can be created based on your feel for the group and your desire. Do you want it to be super challenging? Harder clues can be created. Do you want it to feel a bit more achievable for all? Puzzles and riddles can be incorporated that are easier to solve, but still work well for interactive event entertainment.
Portable Escape Rooms: Bringing the Experience to Your Venue
A big reason many decide a portable escape experience is the right choice for them is that it comes to you, not the other way around. You do not need a dedicated venue just for this. Rather, they are done in the space you have available. I.e. in a tabletop escape room, props and clues are dropped on team tables.
This works well if you’re looking for a one-off experience for conference escape room ideas, a special event, a trade show escape room activation, or a promotion. Tabletop escape experiences are also perfect for those who want to offer it as an ongoing experience for their guests, such as a hotel and resort escape room for events, a cruise ship escape room, or an event venue activity.
Tabletop Escape Rooms: High‑Impact Experiences in a Small Footprint
A custom escape room can be designed to work in any-size footprint and works especially well if small-footprint activities are a must…or in the case of an app-based escape game, you have no footprint at all! For a tabletop escape room, all you need is a table per team and typically, space for a small prop that teams are trying to break into. And for an app-based escape room, participants could learn about how to play via signage in your venue or your event app and encourage and /instructed on how to access and play the game from there.
Why Escape Rooms Work So Well
Turning Passive Attendees into Active Participants
Presenters, performers, signs, videos…all communicate messaging and/or entertain people, but are very one-sided. These methods all talk AT your participants. A custom escape room is interactive event entertainment. It is an immersive event experience that engages participants with your messaging or theme and gets them to talk WITH one another. Clues can be fashioned to incorporate information you want them to absorb, designed to fit a theme, or left generic. Participants can be encouraged to delve deeper into product information or even explore your event venue to learn pertinent details to solve clues, bringing it all to life for them.
Creating Shared Stories and Memorable Moments
If the goal of your tabletop escape room is to market your message, what do you think is more memorable? You talking about it as people stare at you with glazed eyes? Or getting participants to read about it, touch and feel it and then put it to use to solve a challenging clue? And if your desire is to create fond memories, you’ve got that too, as these branded escape room experiences are designed to be fun! People typically participate in them as a group, which creates stories they’ll look back on and reminisce over for years.
High Engagement Without a Huge Space Requirement
The fantastic news about a tabletop or portable escape room is that if you want all of this, but you don’t have the space - no problem! All of them can be operated as small footprint activities - in a ballroom, a meal room, your event tent, etc. Or if you want to get participants out of your event space or to enjoy all that your location has to offer, a mobile escape room for events is a great way to get them to go out and about to explore and collect clues. Another plus? These experiences require very little oversight, meaning you don’t need a lot of staff to implement them.
Top Event Use Cases for Portable & Tabletop Escape Rooms
Intent: Align with your ideal clients: conferences, trade shows, hospitality.
Conferences and Annual Meetings
Here is an event planner escape room checklist with conference escape room ideas. Use them as:
A welcome activity - Hosting a tabletop escape room at the start of your meeting will ensure attendees immediately connect and form bonds with one another, making that awkward feeling of not knowing anyone melt away.
An evening function - Yes, you can host the tabletop escape room as an activity during the evening function. People can be sat at tables, or escape room vignettes can be set up around the room where people can wander and work together on clues as they eat and drink. Another great twist? Have guests solve clues before the evening function in order to know where they need to escape to in order to find a cool theme party!
A workshop - Turn that dry workshop into a fly workshop by weaving the information they need to learn or re-enforce into the clues they have to solve. Or if you need to get them to discuss points, make it more fun by having the clues people solve reveal questions each team has to talk about around the table.
Escape room breakout session - Clients have turned their entire breakout sessions into an escape room. The thread that ties all of the escape room breakout sessions attendees need to visit together is that they must solve a clue at each. When they’ve completed the sessions, all come together to tie those solutions together via a final clue in a race to see if they can break into a prop to earn a prize.
Trade Shows and Exhibitor Activations
Many have used a passport to drive booth engagement - people have to get a stamp in their passport from each/certain booths and when the passport is full, they are entered into a drawing. While this drives traffic, it can also drive exhibitors crazy! Participants interrupt them as they’re trying to have meaningful conversations with clients to get a stamp on their card and/or they quickly totter off with their stamped card without expressing any interest in exhibitors’ offerings. Now, picture what happens during a trade show escape room activation…participants must really look at and absorb what is on offer in each exhibitor’s booth to solve a clue AND this can be done without the need to interrupt the person in the booth to complete it, unless a sales person in the booth wants to chime in and provide a hint! A trade show escape room activation can be done across all exhibitors, just the VIP exhibitors, or you could fashion one to host only in your space for booth engagement.
Client Events, Sales Kickoffs and VIP Experiences
Imagine guests having to solve clues that pertain to your company or product to access a prize. We’ve had clients use a tabletop escape room as:
Interactive event entertainment for a client event - A pharmaceutical client invited teens with a rare disease to participate in an escape room that had them using educational tips to outsmart bacteria and learn about how drugs like theirs could be helpful. In addition to creating a connection with what their drug could do, it allowed these teens, who often felt isolated due to the rarity of their disease to open up and talk to one another. These teens will always remember where and why they met a new friend.
A sales kickoff - See if your employees truly know their stuff before they go out to sell the new product by seeing if they can use the information to solve clues. Or have your guests participate in an exciting reveal of the new product. For instance, a well-known whiskey had us create a custom escape room game that select guests participated in. This James Bond-themed, app-based escape room had them “traveling” around their Scottish distillery to experience it and solve clues. Those who were successful in completing their quest got to escape with a bottle of their new, high-end whiskey.
A VIP experience - Invite VIPs to experience a mobile escape room for events like no other. Imagine having invitees wander from room to room around a luxury hotel to enjoy food, drink and giveaways…giveaways that are used to solve clues. Will the VIPs be able to “escape” before time is up and reveal the location of a high-end goody bag?
Special Events
Tabletop and portable escape rooms can be used as activities within an existing event. These can be short, ongoing time segments that constantly turn over to accommodate new guests, or as a one-off, larger spectacle on the event agenda. Or the custom escape room game can BE the entire special event.
Here are some ideas that others have explored:
“Wait Time” Interactive Event Entertainment - Is the line to enter your event long? Or is there a lot of time waiting around before/after the main event, such as with an Easter Egg Hunt? An app-based escape room is the perfect thing to keep people engaged, without the need for them to go anywhere as they participate in it. Team vs. individual escape room play can both be accommodated.
Contests - Giving away a big prize and want to build more excitement around it instead of a simple prize drawing? In a tabletop escape room, teams race to be the first to free a prize and this can be done in a very eye-catching way. For instance, one client hid the prize teams needed to “free” in an sand sculpture at the front of the room and the first team to smash the sand sculpture won, making for a press-worthy moment.
Enhancement - A top entertainment company challenged runners in their Everest-themed 5K to complete two challenges. In part one, guests had to unlock GPS hotspots that unlocked clues as they completed the race. When the race was done, they solved the clues that were unlocked to see if they could escape the yeti.
Hotels, Resorts, and Cruise Ships
If you have a venue, there is a lot of competition out there to be different from all the rest. Here are ways you can use a hotel and resort escape room or cruise ship escape room to stand out:
Guest activities: Escape rooms are hot right now, but dedicating an entire space to build out a room where only 10 guests can go in at a time not only limits the number of guests who can experience it, but it can take up revenue-making space. A pop-up escape room that is only played when your venue decides to offer it allows you to move as many people through as you wish in underutilized spaces or venues that are needed for other activities at different times. We’ve created lots of bespoke hotel and resort escape room events and cruise ship escape room events. You can offer these to guests as a free or fee-based activity if optimizing revenue is your goal.
Fam trips: Venues all start looking alike when you’re a fam trip attendee. Imagine how your venue would stand out if the tour incorporated a clue that attendees needed to solve as they walked into different areas of the venue - kind of like an event planner escape room checklist - ending with a prize for the first to “escape the typical fam trip!”
Press launches: Give reporters and influencers something to write about. The excitement you’ll generate from showing them how clever you are in providing them with a new way to experience your venue with a branded escape room experience will spill over into how they present you as being the “it” venue to discover.
Experience Formats: How Portable & Tabletop Escape Rooms Work
Length of a Portable & Tabletop Escape Room
Portable and tabletop escape rooms can run for any length of time. We’ve created 15-minute custom escape room games for a quick pick-me-up, all the way to multi-day branded escape room experiences where clues are metered out throughout the course of a special event. However, most “stand-alone” escape room activities tend to lean towards a 30-60 minute experience.
Optimal Size Group for a Portable & Tabletop Escape Room
The beautiful part about designing a custom escape room game is that it can accommodate any size group. This is perfect if large group escape room solutions are on your event planner escape room checklist as you truly are only limited to the size of your venue and not even that if an app-based escape room is offered!
How People Participate in a Portable & Tabletop Escape Room
A custom portable or tabletop escape room experience is fashioned in the way our clients want participants to experience them. So team vs. individual escape room play works regardless of if you want people to play together or solo:
Solo - App-based escape rooms are usually the ones that work best if you wish to have guests play solo, especially as they are accessed on one person’s device.
Small Teams - Most people prefer to play in teams vs individual escape room play. Typical team size is between 5-10 players, but less or more people can be accommodated. The number of clues provided is tweaked based on team size and length of the escape room. The less people/time, the less clues. The more people/time, the more clues.
Large Groups - Tabletop escape rooms are definitely the way to go if looking for large group escape room solutions. As stated above, we do recommend breaking down into teams of 5-10 people, but if you want more people on a team - say you have a regional sales group you want to participate together - they can be broken down into sub-groups.
Different Formats for a Portable & Tabletop Escape Room
Stationary - In a tabletop escape room, participants play at tables. All clues and props are delivered to their team table, although additional props can be set up around the room for them to visit to look at to obtain information, or receive a handout.
Rotation - In addition, an app-based solution makes for an excellent mobile escape room for events, as GPS hotspots can be built in that once guests arrive at a location around the venue unlocks clues they need to solve.
Logistics & Requirements for Event Planners
Space, Layout, and Room Setup Requirements
Tabletop escape rooms are customizable, so the setup needs will vary. The good news is when we design an experience, we can work with your parameters vs. you having to work with ours! A typical tabletop escape room simply requires a table per team and room for a prop to break into on top of a table. If you want additional enhancements, other requirements, such as easels for posters may be required, but it’s ultimately up to you! A mobile escape room game can happen with no setup, or if you wish to put themed stations at locations participants must visit, time to set up those props around the venue needs to be taken into consideration and length of setup will vary based on number of clues and number of staff setting up.
Timing, Resetting, and Staffing Considerations
Timing - How much time is needed for setup will also vary depending on how many clues and types of props involved, if any. The hard work behind tabletop and portable escape rooms usually happens in the creation phase, which falls on us! Once it’s designed and ready for implementation, setup can usually happen quickly. We’ve designed tabletop escape rooms that staff can set up in 15 minutes! Portable escape rooms can be good to go in even less time.
Resetting - If you’re hosting escape room breakout sessions where new participants cycle in and out, it’s recommended that double sets of clues and props are purchased. That way a new set of clues and props can be handed out to the next group and while they are playing, clues from the previous group can be reset and checked to ensure everything is good to go for the group after that. If teams can write on clue materials, new sets for each team you expect to cycle through will need to be available. For portable escape games, new participants can cycle in and out without any need to reset if all clues are being delivered via the app and no giveaways or props need to be reset at the stations participants visit.
Staffing Considerations - For a typical tabletop or escape room game, very few staff are required and again - are you sensing a theme here? - the number of staff will vary on how your experience is designed and the number of participants you are planning on. That’s because you want participants to work on clues themselves. At first blush, participants may seem confused and the temptation for staff to help them will be strong, but it’s best to show restraint, as participants usually settle in after they get a couple of solves under their belt. If you wish to have staff give out hints, a good idea to ensure staff will be available when participants need this is to set up a Hints table with staff who are in the know and can advise participants who bring up a “hint” card.
AV, Power, and Tech Checklist for Escape Room Installations
Once again, the answer to this is…it depends! Tabletop escape experiences can be designed to implement props that require power, such as if you want a prop that pops open when a code is input into it. Or if no power is available, an item can be hidden somewhere in the room, or teams may have to yell something out. If you have a large number of guests, you will want a microphone to kick it off and to explain how clues should have been solved at the end, which is an appreciated and nice touch. AV certainly enhances the experience - such as an intro video or visual clues that show up on a screen - but the tabletop escape room can be just as much fun without it.
As for app-based escape rooms, participants will require a mobile device that connects to data or Wi-Fi in order to download the app. Once they are under way, they can lose connectivity and still be able to play.
Portable vs. Tabletop: Choosing the Right Format for Your Event
When to Choose a Portable Escape Room Installation
Choose a portable escape room if your goal is to:
Get participants out and about to explore your location
Get people moving vs. sitting around a team table
When Tabletop Escape Rooms Are the Better Fit
Choose a tabletop escape room if your goal is to:
Keep participants all in one area
Have the end goal of the experience be the first team to complete the “escape” and want all participants to see when a team achieves this goal
“Introduce” new clues over a microphone or via a video during the experience
Scaling Escape Room Experiences for Large Events
How to Handle Volume
Tabletop and portable escape rooms are perfect for large group escape room solutions, as you can host the same experience for all at the same time. You are only limited by the space you have available, so it works even if you need a small footprint activity for your large group. You can also choose to split up your large group in separate rooms if finding one big space is an issue and could still partake in the same experience.
Rotations, Waves, and Prop Stations
Rotations - Clients wishing to host mobile escape rooms for events often think large groups need to be told which location they must visit sequentially. This is NOT recommended, as participants often take varying amounts of time to complete clues. This is why all of our portable escape rooms are designed with all clue locations being easily identifiable right away. Participants naturally determine the order they wish to go in to visit them and if a location seems too busy, they can move on to another and come back at a later time.
Waves - If you wish to cycle new groups through a tabletop escape room, you’ll want to factor in enough time to clear the last set of clues and props and reset tables. This will depend on the number of tables and staff you have and if you decided to purchase multiple sets of props and clues to make resetting go quicker. If an app-based escape room is being played, participants can cycle in and out whenever you wish.
Prop Stations - Props spread out around the escape room experience area are not required. However, if you decide you want to set up stations in the room during a tabletop escape room, or at stops during a portable escape room, you need to consider the number of participants. If it’s something participants need to view, how big of a prop is required? Can multiple identical props be set up?
Measuring Success: Engagement, Feedback, and ROI
When the tabletop or portable escape room is complete, how do you measure success? There are a lot of metrics that can be taken into account including:
Participation and Completion Metrics
How many participants signed up?
How many did you have to turn away because the experience was full?
How many participants played?
If not creating an experience where there is one winner - i.e. the first one to escape - and you allow all participants the same amount of time to see if they can achieve success, how many did so in the time provided?
An app-based escape room can measure additional metrics such as number of correct responses submitted; if correct responses were submitted the first, second or third time (if allowing multiple attempts); number of clue locations visited, etc.
Feedback, Surveys, and Social Sharing
Feedback & Surveys - At the end of the tabletop or portable escape room it’s encouraged that you solicit feedback from your participants via a feedback form or survey. You can even “test” participants by doing a fun contest after the escape room to see if they retained information metered out during the experience. All who respond with a correct answer can be placed in a prize drawing! If an app-based escape experience is utilized, survey results and answers to feedback questions can be collected via the app.
Social Sharing - It is a fun idea to set up a station with “We escaped!” or “We were so close!” signs that participants can hold up in photos taken by a professional photographer. Or have them take a selfie and advertise a hashtag that they can post with them should they decide to share. In an app-based experience, players can be encouraged to take a selfie in the game that gets shared on the social media platform of their choice for bonus points.
Lead Capture and Relationship‑Building Opportunities
Lead Capture - As with any event, you are encouraged to collect information from participants when they sign up for the tabletop or portable escape room. In an app-based escape room, you can even require participants to provide you with their email address to sign in, which is their unique identifier that allows them to access the escape room on the app.
Relationship-Building Opportunities - Don’t let participants “escape” forever after the tabletop or portable escape room is complete! Keep the fun going and build the relationship. For instance, you could send them a clue to solve in order to enter a prize drawing (it’s also fun to send teaser clues out before the escape room if you are able to collect their information beforehand).
Budgeting for Portable & Tabletop Escape Rooms
If you wish to have Masters of the Hunt create a custom tabletop escape room or portable escape room, rates start at $10,000 for creation only. Pricing for development alters from there based on a number of factors - number of guests, length of event, complexity and number of clues, if you want our staff to implement it on site, etc.
In addition to creative development, other items need to be budgeted for such as props, AV, giveaways, shipping, participant usage fees assessed for an app-based game, etc. There is no mark-up on these items if you wish to have us source them for you, however a management fee for sourcing is added on.
Bottom line, if you share your budget with us, it will not be our goal to spend it. Rather, we will work within the confines of your budget to deliver the coolest escape room we can create within it!
Working with Masters of the Hunt: From Idea to Event Day
Our Process: Discovery, Design, and Delivery
It is our goal to make the process of creating a tabletop or portable escape room as easy as possible and here is how it plays out:
Discovery meeting - We meet to discuss your goals for the branded escape room activities and assess the parameters we need to work within.
Proposal submission - A proposal is created outlining recommendations for the custom escape room game, inclusions, what you need to provide and the investment. There are no hidden surprises!
Contracting - If you wish to move forward, we require a signed contract. Ideally we request 8 weeks advance notice. Depending on the circumstances, this can sometimes be shortened, or if your escape room is incredibly complex or requires build out of custom props, it may need to be extended.
Invoicing - 60% downpayment is required to start the project with the remainder due prior to delivery of the experience.
Planning Meeting - We meet to start ironing out all the details we’ll require to commence work on the project. This includes ensuring all are happy with the direction for the escape experience based on the messaging and goals of your event; assessing difficulty level for your audience; collecting information and any branding you wish to weave into the clues, determining if this will be team v. individual escape room play, etc.
Initial Outline - We submit a draft of the experience and ask for feedback. Deadlines are set up to ensure the project is kept on track from both our and your end.
Escape Room Design - Once all parties are 100% happy with the outline, the escape room is created.
Delivery:
Tabletop or Portable Escape Room - We can ship the final product to you to self-implement, or Masters of the Hunt can be brought onsite to operate it for you. Some clients choose to have us do on-site training for teams who are self-implementing the escape room. And/or a “How To” video and documents can be provided to share with your team operating the escape room.
App-based Escape Room - Masters of the Hunt operates this for you, either remotely from their office with support from your team that will be on-site, or we can come to you to operate the escape room.
What We Need from You as the Planner
Planners often get concerned that THEY will have to come up with the clues. While we have had some clients outline clues for us, the majority of clients leave that part up to us. After all, that is where our expertise really comes into play! We know what works and what the pitfalls may be in designing certain clues. This makes it challenging but achievable and players will have an enjoyable, immersive event experience. Basic graphic design is included, but some planners choose to have us work with their design team to create the look of the clues, so it ties in with their branding more seamlessly.
Example Timelines for Common Event Scenarios
Prior to your escape room experience:
8 weeks: Signed contract in place
7 weeks: All custom content provided to include in the experience
5 weeks: Approval on all content for creation
Ready to Add an Escape Room to Your Event?
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