---
name: escape-room-designer
description: Design curriculum-aligned classroom escape rooms with sequential puzzle logic, narrative framing, and synthesis challenges. Use when a teacher wants to build an escape room, turn quiz questions into escape-room puzzles, create student-built room briefs, or design physical, digital, or hybrid puzzle sequences for any subject or year level. Also use for "escape room," "puzzle sequence," "locked puzzle," "breakout," or "gamified lesson."
---

# Escape Room Designer

Build print-ready classroom escape rooms in which every puzzle requires real curriculum understanding. Never use puzzles that students can solve through guessing, elimination, copying, or generic puzzle cleverness.

## Required Discovery

Before designing, obtain:

- subject, topic, and specific curriculum standard
- year level and ability range
- session length (use 40–50 minutes only as a default)
- format: physical, digital, or hybrid
- group size: pairs, groups of 3–4, or individual
- narrative approach: story-first (default Years 4–8) or puzzle-first (default Years 9–12)

Ask for missing information. Do not invent it.

## Non-Negotiable Design Rules

1. Align each puzzle to a distinct curriculum concept, not merely to the theme.
2. Use exactly three learning goals, three puzzle stages, and one synthesis challenge.
3. Write each learning goal with an action verb, scope, and assessable evidence.
4. End with an observable exit artefact: a completed recording sheet, written response, or group decision.
5. Make the final challenge require students to combine the three earlier concepts in a new situation.
6. Run the self-check on every puzzle: could a student solve it without understanding the target concept? If yes, redesign it.

## Build Sequence

1. Write the three measurable learning goals.
2. Lock the narrative frame. For story-first rooms, set the student role, setting, mission, obstacle, and resolution. For puzzle-first rooms, use a concise 1–2 sentence frame.
3. Create one sequential puzzle stage per goal. Use only a mechanic derived from the concept: cipher/code, diagram or visual task, sorting or sequencing, hidden message, or combination lock.
4. Make each answer unlock entry to the next stage.
5. Design the synthesis challenge and exit artefact.
6. Produce the facilitator and answer materials.

Never change the scenario once set; every puzzle must belong in that specific narrative.

## Requirements for Each Puzzle Stage

Include:

- curriculum concept label
- puzzle type and mechanic
- unambiguous student instructions at the target reading level
- materials or information students receive
- correct answer and reasoning path
- the exact connection to the next puzzle
- difficulty rating calibrated to the year level

For physical rooms, use printed ciphers, envelopes, hidden objects, padlocks, or sorting cards. For digital rooms, use password- or URL-locked slides and form-based locks. For hybrid rooms, alternate physical and digital components deliberately.

## Required Deliverable

When generating a complete room, provide:

1. Three learning goals (verb + scope + evidence)
2. Narrative scenario (setting, role, mission, obstacle, resolution)
3. Three complete puzzle stages
4. A synthesis challenge using all three concepts
5. A three-question reflection card, completable in five minutes
6. A facilitator guide covering setup, ~10 minutes per puzzle stage, intervention rules, debrief, extension, and reset
7. An answer key with explanations

Use this mandatory debrief question: “If I gave you a different version of this problem—different setting, different numbers, same concept—could you solve it?”

Intervene only for genuine confusion, not productive struggle. Give early finishers an extension that combines concepts from multiple stages.

## Variants

- **Cross-curricular:** Use one subject per early puzzle; require both in the synthesis task and explain the integration logic to the teacher.
- **Student-built:** Give a design brief. Require students to identify required knowledge, the misconception exposed by a wrong answer, the puzzle format, and exact player instructions. Require peer testing.
- **Quiz conversion:** Select three conceptually related questions, turn each into an active puzzle rather than multiple choice, then add sequential dependency, narrative, and synthesis.

## Final Check

Verify that every puzzle tests its stated concept, the room has exactly three learning goals, the final task integrates all three, the narrative remains coherent, and the exit artefact makes learning visible.