Getting Started Creating Digital Escape Rooms

Where Do I Start?

So, you want to make educational escape rooms either for your own students, or to sell breakout games for teachers. When I first decided to create math escape rooms for my own kids, I had so many great ideas, but I had no idea what format to put them into. A few years back, I created a home escape room for my oldest daughter’s birthday. There were locks to open, keys to find, and codes to discover. It was a lot of fun, but it was also a lot of work. As a busy mom and teacher, I know that educators need easy to implement, low-prep activities. Therefore, I decided to create my educational escape rooms in a digital format.

Choosing

Once you know you are going to create your escape rooms in a digital format, the next step is to choose what platform, software, or app you want to use. I chose to start with Google Forms^TM, and I’ve never looked back. I have also used Boom Cards^TM and Google Slides^TM for my projects, but there are many other choices out there. I’m going to discuss three different options for creating digital escape rooms here. *If you plan to sell your escape rooms, please make sure you read the terms of service for any site you use to develop your escape rooms as not all sites allow commercial use.

Creating with Google Forms^TM

Google Forms is a surprisingly powerful tool for creating educational escape rooms. What I like best about using forms is that it is very easy for teachers to implement without having to download any software or subscribe to a service. Scroll down to see a preview video of an escape room created with Google Forms focusing on long division by a single divisor!

Pros of using Google Forms:

• People trust Google and are already familiar with Google Forms. 
• Many school systems already use Google accounts, but even if schools use another system (Microsoft Teams, Seesaw, etc), students can still use Google Forms escape rooms.
• Anyone with an internet connection and a device can complete a Google Form.
• It’s free, or at least it is now. Google has changed their policies on whether a paid Google Workspace account is required for commercial use, so make sure you look into this if you plan to sell your creations.
• The escape process is automated
• Little to no prep for teachers
• Response validation allows the activity to be self-checking.
• A variety of response types are allowed including multiple choice, short-answer, or selecting from a drop-down.
• Students do not need to create their own copies of the form. They simply click a link & go!

Cons of using Google Forms:

• You can’t customize the appearance much. You can create a header, and choose from a handful of fonts, but you can’t do simple things like making text bold, changing font sizes, or other basic text editing features.
• Google Forms aren’t very interactive. There are no moveable pieces. You can’t have a graphic of a key that you need to drag and drop into a lock, or a puzzle you can assemble on screen.
• Using response validation to only allow students to proceed with a correct answer can be finicky (be on the lookout for a post about how to avoid issues using regular expressions). 
• You can not include music or sound effects.

Creating with Boom Cards^TM

I had never even heard of Boom Cards until last year. The pandemic drove many teachers to find digital solutions for virtual learning. I love how interactive Boom Cards are, and the software is pretty user friendly. Try out this preview of an escape room to see Boom Cards in action.

Pros of using Boom Cards:

• Boom Cards are very interactive! Students can drag and drop items, move pieces around, type in answers, and more.
• They are very visually appealing! You can customize your backgrounds, fonts, buttons, and more.
• You can include sound effects and audio! I record myself reading the text of my escape rooms, allowing me to create breakouts for younger students.
• Students get instant feedback. They can see which answers they missed, and try again.
• Teachers can monitor students’ progress.
• The Flow Magic feature allows branching of choices, taking students to extra hints pages, and helps create a storyline to follow.
• Good customer support.

Cons of using Boom Cards:

• In most cases, creators and teachers need to have a paid subscription to Boom Learning. 
• Some school systems do not allow Boom Cards to be used.
• The site can be glitchy, but the customer support is good.
• The website can be glitchy at times.
• There is a bit of a learning curve with formatting text boxes, getting gifs to work, etc., but there are tutorial videos to help.

Creating with Twine

Full disclosure here, I have never created a full escape room on Twinery.com, but the site looks amazing and has some great features. It is open-source software, and can be used commercially. I don’t have a pros & cons list for this site, but I know many other escape room creators love the functionality of Twine. Check it out!

Go Explore!

The best way to figure out what works best for you is to try it out. If you don’t already have a Google Drive account, it is easy and free to make one. You can also get a free trial on BoomLearning.com. Choosing your software/program is the first step to creating your own virtual escape rooms. Good luck!