Escape Room for Youth Group: Run It in 90 Minutes

An escape room for youth group meetings works because every person has a job and the group wins together. It fits a night with a clock, a room and a crowd of different ages. The steps below show how one leader runs it from the first email to the closing talk.

Step 1: Pick an escape room for a youth group of 8 to 24 people

A youth group is often bigger than one table can hold, so the first job is a game made for many teams at once. Look for these three things:

• A player range that covers your numbers. Count the young people who usually come to the meeting.
• A role for the leader. You want to run the session, not sit in a puzzle. A host who does not play can watch every table, give hints and keep time.
• Pages everyone can touch. Paper puzzles that people cut, fold, match and read out loud keep each person busy.

A big group does not need a bigger puzzle. It needs more tables that each have their own.

The Hundred-Year Capsule, one of our seven games, is made for this case. It is a printable game for 8 to 24 players. They play in 2 to 4 teams of 3 to 6, and the game suits mixed groups from about age 10 to adult. Younger children can join a team with an adult. In the story, the four founders of a town buried a time capsule a hundred years ago. They locked the way to it in four trunks, so that no one could open it alone. A trunk is a set of five puzzle pages.

Step 2: Split the group into teams of three to six

Small teams give everyone something to do. Carnegie Mellon's teaching center says that small groups tend to work efficiently (opens in a new tab) because it is easier to coordinate among fewer people. It adds that some experts find groups of more than five or six unmanageable, though there are no firm rules. Our group game follows the same range with teams of 3 to 6.

The host guide of our game gives the split by group size:

A simple way to build the teams on the night:

1. Count the group at the door before you open the game.
2. Mix ages in every team. Put each younger child on a team with an adult.
3. Split close friends across tables if they dominate. Keep shy members with one friendly face.
4. Name each team after its trunk: the Bakery, the Map Chest, the Clock Case or the Music Box.

Step 3: Set up the room before anyone arrives

Setting up is designed to take under 25 minutes after printing for four teams, including one read of the 12-page host guide. The room needs these things:

• One table per team. Each table gets its trunk pile of five pages, scissors and two pencils.
• One central table. Keep the town map face down there. The whole room gathers at it for the finale.
• Supplies for the host. One coin, a roll of clear tape and a pen for stamping the seal cards.
• One mirror, phone camera or bright window for the team that has the Map Chest.

Sort the printed pages into four piles of five. Fold the capsule wrapper around the founders' letter and tape it shut with one strip over each of the four seals. Nothing is cut before the game. The teams cut their own pieces during play, with straight cuts only.

Print US Letter, single-sided, at 100 percent. Choose the color pages or the low-ink pages, which have no illustrations or color fills. The low-ink set is the better pick for a church hall printer.

Step 4: Run the 60 to 90 minute plan

The Hundred-Year Capsule is designed for 45 to 60 minutes. Around it, a youth group meeting needs a welcome and a talk. This plan runs 80 minutes, so it fits a 90 minute slot with a buffer. With a five-minute talk it takes about an hour.

Inside each trunk, three puzzle pages can be solved at the same time by different players. The fifth page needs all three answers and gives the team's piece, which goes on the seal card. You check each seal card against the answer key and stamp it. Your job during the game is to walk between tables and give hints. The host guide holds three graded hints for every puzzle, so you can nudge without handing over an answer.

In the finale the whole room gathers at the map. The four pieces come together, the group walks the green stone by stone and finds the founders' words. One player from each team breaks a seal at the same moment. A timer and a race for the first stamped seal card are optional. The finale is never a race, and the whole group finishes together. For a mixed-age group that is the part to protect, because no team goes home as the loser.

Our group game is the wrong tool when fewer than 8 young people show up, because the teams of 3 to 6 cannot work. Pick one of our games made for a single team instead, and keep this one for a bigger night.

To try before you buy, play the free three-page sample, The Missing Invitation, with a small group. You will see how your young people work together.

Step 5: Close with a talk that lets every voice in

Ten to twenty minutes of talk at the end turns a game into a youth group meeting. Illinois Extension's 4-H program says youth grow when they are surrounded by people who are cheering for their success (opens in a new tab). Its clubs are led by caring adults. A closing talk is where you do that out loud.

Use short prompts, and let each team answer for itself:

• Which part did your team solve fastest, and who found it?
• When did your team get stuck, and what got it moving again?
• Who did you work with tonight that you do not usually sit with?
• What would you tell a younger kid about working in a team?

The game's own ending gives you a ready closing. Each player can add a line to the room's own capsule message. Collect the lines on a sheet, and read them at the next meeting. That turns one evening into a small tradition for your group.

Check these limits before you commit

Check these before you commit:

• Age spread. The Hundred-Year Capsule is made for about age 10 to adult. Younger children join a team with an adult.
• Print volume. Print each trunk once for the whole group: 23 player pages plus the 12-page host guide for you only.
• Host. The adult host does not play, so find a second leader if you want to take part.
• Time. The game is designed for 45 to 60 minutes. Leave a buffer in your 90 minutes.

Ready to run it? Our game The Hundred-Year Capsule holds everything above in one download.