Best Escape Room Board Games for Large Groups and Families

 I have always wanted to take an escape room experience home or to the office to try it out with my family, friends, or coworkers. What options are out there for larger groups? Here is what I found out.

The Best Escape Room Board Games for families and large groups are games such as: 1. UNLOCK! The Escape Game 2. EXIT: The Game 3. Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective 4. The Initiative 5. CLUE: Treachery at Tudor Mansion. All of these suggested games are great for families and large groups, but to get the most out of these games you may want to purchase several different themes for each game. This way you can entertain even the largest of groups.

If you do this; then you will easily be able to entertain anywhere from 4-20 people anywhere and anytime at a fraction of the cost of a traditional escape room experience.

How to set up Escape Games for Large Groups

All of these board games do have only a certain amount of players that are able to play each. Below is a graph showing how many players are able to play each suggested game per purchase. Most of these game max out at 4-6 people. However, if you buy multiple themes and create a circuit; then you can easily entertain groups of 12 people or more. For example, if you were to buy UNLOCK! Heroic Adventures for $29.99; then you would receive 3 different mysteries and themes to solve. Each theme is able to entertain 1 to 6 players each. That would allow up to 18 players to play if you want to split up into 3 groups of 6 and attempt to solve each theme.

Which Escape Games should I buy?

You should consider how large of a group are you trying to entertain and the budget you are willing to spend. Using the chart above, you should easily be able to make determine which sort of game is best for you. However, some of these games have many variations of themes, stories, and difficulties. Most of these come down to personal choice. Let’s look at some of the options these escape games have to offer.

UNLOCK! An Escape Room Game

UNLOCK! is a series of escape adventures for up to six players for each theme. With one hour on the clock, players must work through a deck of sixty cards as a team, searching for clues, combining objects, and solving puzzles.

UNLOCK! Pairs with a free UNLOCK! companion app. The app runs the timer while providing clues, offering hints, and confirming successes. Once the team has reached a solution and entered the correct code into the app, they win the game!

Replayability: Once solved, the mystery doesn’t change so it is not as fun to play yourself a second time. However, you are still able to replay it, sell it, or give it to another group so they can try it out.

Buy UNLOCK! The Escape Game on Amazon! Click Here for my suggestion.

UNLOCK! The Escape Game has the most value for entertaining large groups and families after considering the price, replayability, and variety per box.

EXIT: The Game

Description: “EXIT: The Game is a series of escape room games for the home. Players must solve riddles and puzzles to crack codes to escape from an imaginary room against the clock. Can you escape?”

Replayability: While EXIT: The Game has great games with great themes to choose from; their games can’t be replayed. The game can only be played once, because you markup, fold, and tear the game materials.

Buy EXIT: The Game on Amazon! Click Here for my suggestion.

EXIT: The Game is an excellent choice for an escape game for large groups, but be aware it can only be played once. So you may have to buy 3 to 4 themed boxes to entertain a large group of 12 or more people. That can be a bit more costly at around $45 to $60.

Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective

Description: “Solve 10 different mysterious cases by interviewing suspects, searching newspapers, and walking the streets for clues. Once you have completed your investigation, compare your detective skills to the master sleuth himself, Sherlock Holmes. Players work together as a team of detectives to gather clues and solve mysteries.”

Replayability: Once you and your group solve all the mysteries; then you are able to sell it or give it to a friend as you will not need to destroy the materials to play this game.

Buy Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective on Amazon! Click Here for my suggestion.

This game is great for large groups! You get 10 mysteries to solve and up to 8 players can solve each one. It has a higher price point of $50 per box, but it is the most in-depth game in this article.

Escape Room: The Game

Description: “In this game, you win together or lose together. Each player must excel and do their part. Teamwork is the magic word in solving all the riddles and puzzles in time. In this challenging and unpredictable game, you have to work together to solve puzzles and find hidden clues. If you’ve never played an Escape Room before be ready for a whole new experience.”

Replayability: You can sell once you have completed this game. You do not destroy the game materials.

Buy Escape Room: The Game on Amazon! Click Here for my suggestion.

Escape Room: The Game is entertaining and has many themes to choose from, but these games get easier the more you play them. I recommend these games for beginners who are not as familiar with the escape room genre.

CLUE: Treachery at Tudor Mansion

Description: “Enjoy Clue in a totally different way! Players join forces and use sleuthing skills to escape the mansion before the police arrive, then work together to solve the mystery. Figure out the who, where, and with what to win! Track down clues and collect evidence for the final solution. The more clues players gather, the easier it will be to make the correct accusation.”

Replayability: Be aware that this is only good for one playthrough. Once completed you can sell it or bring it to the next family or large group get-together.

Buy CLUE: Treachery at Tudor Mansion on Amazon! Click Here for my suggestion.

Clue: Treachery at Tudor Mansion does a good job of combining Clue with escape room strategies! However, there haven’t been many other themes released at this time so it is only capable of entertaining up to 6 players at any given time.

Conclusion: These are the best escape room games that I have had a chance to play. Entertaining large groups can be exhausting and expensive. All of these options are decent and affordable to help you entertain your next large group or family event!