If you’re looking for a new twist to family game night—or want to give your kids something fun to do with their friends during Zoom, Google Hangout, or FaceTime social calls—try a virtual escape room game! These first-person perspective games quickly gained popularity in New York a few years ago and a few room escape games quickly made the transition online when things shut down due to the coronavirus quarantine. Some of these escape-the-room games are livestream events using Zoom that you have to sign up for in advance, while others were created on independent websites or on Google Forms and Slides that you can play at your leisure. Bonus: While they’re another screen-time activity, the brainteasers are educational because you have to solve clues, answer riddles, and more to escape the room! These are the 15 best online escape room games you can play from the comfort of your home.
Virtual Escape Rooms
Brain Chase
Ages: kindergarten to 12th grades
Players: 1
Cost: $19.99 monthly membership
Each week, kids will unlock different virtual rooms they’ll need to escape. They’ll choose different electives—reading, writing, language, engineering, math, cooking, yoga, typing, art, book club, and bonus—to complete academic challenges in order to advance through the puzzle and escape.
The Escape Game: Remote Adventures
Ages: 13 and older
Players: 3-7
Cost: $25 per player
Remote Adventures, which has two virtual escape room options (Ruins: Forbidden Treasure and Gold Rush) is played live with other players via Zoom with a 60-minute time limit. As a group, you’ll direct a Game Guide, who is wearing a live camera feed, to find clues and items to progress through the game.
The Escape Game: TEG Unlocked Vol. 1 & 2
Ages: 12 and older
Players: 1-4
Cost: $10 each or $17 for both
In TEG Unlocked: The Heist, which has two volumes (Chasing Hahn and The Silk Road), you have to solve a series of clues to thwart an infamous art thief. You can play TEG Unlocked alone or with a group of up to 4 players—though to play with others, you’ll need to host it via your personal Zoom or Google hangout to share your screen, as you log in on the website to access a digital dossier—and there is no time limit.
Escape Room NJ
Ages: 10 and older
Players: 4-6 devices
Cost: $25 per device
In Zoom Escape Room – S.W.A.T., you’re the only ones who can stop a bomb from detonating, but you only have 60 minutes! To disarm the bomb, you’ll have to solve a series of puzzles, riddles, and mental challenges.
The Grimm Escape: Puzzle Break Long Island
Ages: 10 and older (parental supervision is required for children younger than 10)
Players: 3-12
Cost: $25 per player
Picture this: A witch has placed a curse on a virtual, enchanted forest and you have 60 minutes to escape by finding clues, solving the puzzles, and casting the correct spell! That’s the mission for The Grimm Escape Virtual Edition with Puzzle Break Long Island. Using Zoom, you can set up a private game with friends and family across the country, or even as a team-building exercise for colleagues, classroom, or other groups. And if you get stuck, an in-game host can offer hints—but use them sparingly because you have a limited number!
Mystery Escape Room Online
Ages: 10 and older
Players: 4-8
Cost: Nancy Drew: $85; The Superhero Escape Adventure: $75
Mystery Escape Room offers two game options: Nancy Drew and The Superhero Escape Adventure. In the Nancy Drew adventure, you were supposed to meet Nancy at the Forsyth Mansion, but she’s a no-show.You’ll have to work together as a team to find letters and piece together the clues to discover the reason behind Nancy’s absence. In the superhero adventure, Dr. Psionic, the evil villian, has a plot to control everyone’s minds and take over the world. Your team needs to solve the clues that lead to his lair and foil his evil plans.
Paruzal
Ages: 13 and older
Players: 2-8
Cost: $15 per player
You can choose from 4 virtual escape rooms to play live online, including opening a pizza place on time, sneaking backstage at a Bruce Springsteen concert, escaping a shipwreck, and getting a boat back to shore before the storm hits.
The Puzzle Parlor
Ages: 14 and older
Players: 2-8
Cost: $20 and up
While it’s physical location is closed, you can stream two games at home: The Heist or Alien Conspiracy. At the time of your game, a Puzzle Parlor employee will livestream a video feed of the virtual escape room and act as your personal avatar throughout the adventure. In the Heist, your mission is to unlock a bank vault, and in Alien Conspiracy, the mission is to enter a remote home to save evidence that aliens do exist before it’s destroyed.
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Free, Virtual Escape Room-Inspired Games
Bank Heist
Ages: 10 and older
Players: 1-4
Cost: Free
Created by the owners of Expedition Escape, an escape room in Philadelphia, this escape is simple, yet surprisingly satisfying to solve. You’re a member of the most successful crime syndicate in America, and today you’re attempting a heist at Valley Isle Bank. Solve the puzzles to crack the safe—but you only have 20 minutes.
Hogwarts Digital Escape Room
Ages: 8 and older
Players: Unlimited
Cost: Free
Created by Sydney Krawiec, a youth services librarian at Peters Township Public Library in McMurray, PA, this Harry Potter-themed digital escape room is hosted on Google Forms. You’re a first-year at Hogwarts, have been sorted into your dream house, and enjoyed dinner. You head to your common room, when the house prefect announces a team-building activity that’s all the rage with muggles: solving puzzles to escape a locked room without using magic.
Minecraft Escape Room
Ages: 8 and older
Players: 1-4
Cost: Free
Created by Laura Escamilla, a youth services librarian at the Regency Park Library in New Port Richey, FL, this Minecraft-themed virtual escape room is a perfect brain teaser for your Minecraft enthusiast! Bonus: It’s hosted on Google Forms, so it can be accessed at any time and there is no time limit.
Shrek Themed Escape Room
Ages: All
Players: 1-4
Cost: Free
This simple, yet satisfying escape game throws it back to the popular animated movie from 2001. In the game, you’re a magical creature, and as such, have been banished to live in an ogre hut. But Lord Farquaad accidentally leaves clues behind to unlock the hut so you can gain your freedom.
Oscar’s Stolen Oscar
Ages: 8 and older
Players: 1-4
Cost: Free
Something fishy is going on at the National Aquarium! Oscar, the fish from Shark Tale, is missing his Academy Award and needs your help to find it! By answering a series of trivia questions about various aquatic life, you’ll proceed through the puzzle to solve the caper. The game is hosted on Google Forms, so it can be accessed at any time and there is no time limit.
Unlock Disney World
Ages: 8 and older
Players: Unlimited
Cost: Free
Created by Elizabeth Wilson, this escape Disney World game is perfect for Disney-lovers of all ages! Hosted on Google Slides, the premise of the game is, you fell asleep in Country Bear Jamboree and were locked in the amusement park. In order to get out, you have to (virtually) visit different attractions—including Pirates of the Caribbean, Haunted Mansion, and Splash Mountain—and answer trivia questions, solve puzzles, and more to unlock six locks and gain your freedom.
Welcome to the Snow Ball
Ages: 13 and older
Players: 1-4
Cost: Free
In this Stranger Things-themed virtual escape room, hosted on Google Form, you and your friends are trapped in the gym during the dance, and in order to escape, you have to solve the riddles, answer trivia questions, and more.
Katelin Walling is the Editorial Director for NYMetroParents. She can often be found reading, knitting, or whipping up a vegan treat—all with a cup of coffee nearby.
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