5 Guaranteed Anxiety Triggers for Every Escape Rooms’ Game Master
Going to an escape room is fun but a lot goes on behind the scenes just so you can have the best experience ever. Game Masters (GMs) are your trusty guides who feed you clues, explain the rules and understand each and every theme room. We all love them, we all need them. They may come across calm, cool and collected but beneath their professional exterior, there are some situations that happen behind the scenes that can make their job pretty stressful. Below are 5 guaranteed anxiety triggers for every game master:
1- Prop Malfunction
Every time a session finishes it’s the game master’s duty to reset the room to its original condition for the next set of players. Every prop is carefully checked to ensure that the rooms are in prime condition for a seamless and smooth gameplay experience. However, this doesn’t mean props will not malfunction during games, causing minor hiccups. Prop malfunctions are a Game Masters nightmare. Do not worry though, if they happen, Breakout will intervene to fix it for you as well as compensate you for lost time.
2- Player Injuries
In Breakout and other in person escape games, you could potentially injure yourself, especially if you get too excited and start forgetting the GMs instructions. We normally advise all players not to run as the space in which you have to move around is very limited. But if you insist on running and jumping as though there is a ton of space when there isn’t, you will definitely be on the watchful radar of the GM who pays very close attention to ensure everyone’s safety. Don’t be the cause of a GM heart attack please!
3- Setup Errors
This could be considered the biggest no no for a game master. GMs have been trained to set up the rooms to perfection but as we are all just human, errors still do occur even though we try our best to make sure you have a hitchless escape room experience. Perhaps we forgot to push a lock properly shut, causing you guys to breeze past a puzzle without doing anything at all. Great for you but a failure for us, and something we really don’t want to happen. If there are any setup errors – and thankfully, they are really rare – we will compensate you in different ways to make sure you leave happy.
4- Prop Thefts
There is a reason why we ask you to check your pockets before leaving. In our years of running an escape room, someone will inevitably and accidentally – at least we hope it is accidental – bring a prop home. We are all human, it happens. But say if you carelessly slipped something like a small key into your pocket and forgot about it, it will cause a mad scramble behind the scenes to find a replacement in time for the next group of players. We’ve had instances in the past where people return props days and even weeks after, and many stolen props don’t even make it back! If you really want a Breakout memento, ask the receptionist. We may have something more suitable like stickers or pins or a quirky photograph for you to take home with you.
5- Late Customers
This is perhaps our number one pet peeve. There is a reason why our game sessions are slotted according to time. Breakout runs on a very tight schedule and we are normally fully booked for back to back slots. If a customer is late, we don’t want to cancel your booking but at the same time, if we allow you to proceed, it may cause a ripple effect and end up disrupting the following sessions, making for some very unhappy customers left in your tardy wake. It is always a judgment call on our part and can be quite stressful for the Game Master so please do us all a favour – MAKE SURE YOU’RE ON TIME OR 5 MINS EARLY!
Now that you know what our game masters biggest stressors are, please don’t use it against us even as a prank! At Breakout, we pride ourselves in our professionalism and our awesome, immersive gameplay. So now that you know the Do’s and Dont’s of Breakout, what are you waiting for? Book your session here! We look forward to seeing you at one of our outlets soon!
Posted on 04 Jan 2022