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How Long Do Escape Rooms Last?

Escape rooms are a fantastic time for groups of friends, family, or colleagues. In them, you’ll be immersed in a dynamic and detailed room, where you’ll have to solve a series of interconnected puzzles to achieve an ultimate goal. In most cases, such as our trio of escape rooms, there will be a strict 60-minute timer that starts as soon as the game begins. The games will be designed to offer enough challenges to make that time limit increasingly pressing as your hour ticks away.

Why 60 minutes?

An hour offers enough time for complex, often multi-room puzzle experiences, without the risk of team members losing interest that could come from a longer experience. An hour on the clock means that time is crucial and can’t be wasted, keeping everyone focused on the ultimate goal as they work together to solve a range of puzzles. 60 minutes also means that younger players can be kept engaged, with our escape room games offering a great time for players as young as 9.

Do All Escape Rooms Last 60 Minutes?

In most cases, yes, 60 minutes has become the standard game length across the industry for escape activities, offering a sweet spot for complexity, but also allowing multiple slots to be allowed throughout the day. There are other times offered in some escape room experiences, with some companies opting for 30 minutes or 45 minutes, and others promising longer games of 2 or even 3 hours. All of our escape game experiences have a 60-minute time limit. For those wondering how long you get in a specific escape room, the information is usually shown through each company’s website.

How Long Are You In An Escape Room Normally?

When we design our rooms, the goal in mind is for successful players to use the vast majority of their hour. As the experience levels of players can vary widely, some veteran fans will be able to beat an escape room in quicker times, but it will usually take the full hour, or close to it, to finish. Your questmaster will be able to assist you if you get stuck, but there are also a few general tips to keep in mind when playing.

Our room “The Million Pound Heist” is an interesting exception, in that it will always take the full hour. The central goal to complete the room is to access a central vault and the documents hidden within it, but there is a secondary objective where teams can retrieve additional money from the vault by solving complex puzzles, with 1 million pounds hidden in total. It will usually take teams most of their hour to reach the vault itself, meaning that every minute is precious. We have a leaderboard allowing the best teams to truly show their worth, with only a few players each year obtaining the full amount.

How Long Does the Full Escape Room Activity Last?

We ask players to arrive at our escape rooms 15 minutes before they start, which is standard across the industry. This time will allow for a full introduction to the game from a questmaster, often delivered in character, helping to bring players into the world before they start. This introduction will also cover the rules of the game, helping to make sure that players of all experience levels are able to have a brilliant experience. Make sure to wear comfortable clothing to have the best experience.

Once your team has finished the escape room, there will also be a short post-game debrief with the questmaster, who’ll usually drop their character to talk you through how you performed as a team, and single out some particular bright stars. This will typically take 5 minutes, meaning that if you’re planning to enjoy an escape room as part of a day of activities, it will be closer to 90 minutes than 60.

Three Brilliant Escape Rooms in Shoreditch

Located in East London and easily accessed by local rail and tube stations, Enigma Quests offers three fantastic escape rooms for teams of 3 to 5. Escape rooms are the perfect activity for family days out, team building, or birthdays. Each of our escape experiences lasts for an hour, offering a blend of devious puzzles within a beautifully detailed room:

  • School of Witchcraft and Wizardry –  This room takes players to a thrilling world of magic, where your team will have to work together to complete your finals at the prestigious School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. You’ll need to master subjects like charms, potions, and defence against the dark arts to get the “Outstanding” grade.
  • Submarine: Mission Wavebreak – A submarine on a deadly mission is at the bottom of the ocean, and only your intrepid group can stop it. Once smuggled aboard, you’ll have just 60 minutes to avert a worldwide catastrophe, requiring teamwork and ingenuity to succeed.
  • The Million Pound Heist – Your team must infiltrate the vault of a feared London gang, cracking state-of-the-art security systems in order to retrieve sensitive documents in a daring bank heist. Once you’re in, you’ll also be able to take up to a million pounds, with only the best teams getting the full amount. Could your team earn a place on our prestigious leaderboard?

Our rooms can be booked 7 days a week, with both daytime and evening slots available. Book your amazing escape experience today.