Cover Story: Room escape pro tips

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Find the expertise

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"There's a reason why, if someone on a plane is having really apparent medical problems, the flight attendants will say, 'Is there a doctor on the plane?' Because usually people will not stand up and say, 'I'm an expert in what needs to be done here.' Sometimes it's because they're nervous, sometimes it's because they don't want to come off as a jerk. But you can ask, if something clearly calls for engineering, 'Is anyone an engineer or have training in engineering?' And even sometimes when you know the people, because you might not know what people do at home. You might not know that someone is an amateur tinkerer and they can build a small motor out of sticks and a rock." — Kevin Swartout, social psychologist and professor at Georgia State University

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Talk to each other

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"Communicate items that you think might be of importance or have some significance, because there are so many times that people pick things up — they see something, they'll be looking at or reading exactly what is next — and they put it down, and they don't communicate it at all. And that one little thing will slow the whole group easily five or 10 minutes." — Jenny Hodge, Mission: Escape

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Don't stand still

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"I think a lot of people falter when they get complacent and they think, 'Maybe we're toward the end,' and they're really not. People will start to slow down when they feel the end coming, but sometimes it may seem like the end, but you're approaching the next chapter of the game or the next segment of the game. So you really have to turn on the jets. Keep moving." — Kyle Rubis, Mission: Escape