Top 9 Best DIY Escape Rooms in 2024

Written by: Robert-Stefan Butnarasu

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Time to read 6 min

With over 100 DIY escape rooms designed, we are often asked what our best work is. While we love all of our releases, we picked some favorites that we're confident are the best printable escape rooms we've designed.


Why you can trust us:

We've been over 5 years in business - the pioneers of affordable printable escape rooms

We've sold over 28,000 games worldwide

What are the best DIY escape rooms?

We design with a perfect balance of player-favorite elements and innovation with each release. Before curating the best printable escape rooms, we made sure to take into account the following elements:


✔️ Storytelling


✔️ Innovation


✔️ Graphics


✔️ Puzzle design


✔️Customer feedback


1. The Puppet Show (2022) - Best Storytelling

GAME DETAILS


Average playtime: 120 minutes

Difficulty level: advanced

Ideal for: story lovers, puzzle lovers



Our most innovative release at the time unfolds secrets with every step you take. The story visually progresses, taking unexpected turns and revealing surprises when you least expect it.

We rated The Puppet Show as the best printable escape room we've designed based on the way we used a three-dimensional puppet theatre to unfold a story that blends our love for escape room puzzles with unexpected storytelling. The paper theater adapts to the story, so we just love how the story unfolds in front of the players.

Our Home Adventurers loved


✔️ Game layout

✔️ Puzzle design

✔️ Game platform

✔️ Online clues and messages

Our Home Adventurers disliked:


❌ Internet use

❌ Lenghy set-up

❌ Some puzzles might be difficult

2. The Pyramid (2023) - Best Artwork

GAME DETAILS


Average playtime: 120 minutes

Difficulty level: intermediate

Ideal for: story lovers, puzzle lovers




An adventure that unfolds like a pop-up storybook. The three-dimensional pyramid hides secret tombs and treasures beneath its walls, offering the magic of real-life adventurous discoveries in your own living room.

For us, The Pyramid represents our ultimate craft. Structurally and artistically, the game transports you to a world of exploration. It fascinates us how the game evolves from a simple PDF escape room to a whole immersive structure, with numerous 3D pieces. It's quite an experience!

Our Home Adventurers loved


✔️ Beautiful artwork

✔️ Creative gameplay

✔️ Provoking puzzles

✔️ Right amount of challenge

Our Home Adventurers disliked:


❌ Lenghy set-up

3. Leopold's Circus of Wonders (2023) - Best Mystery Escape Room

GAME DETAILS


Average playtime: 120 minutes

Difficulty level: intermediate

Ideal for: mystery lovers




The perfect blend between an escape room and a murder mystery offers a satisfying unfold of the investigation while solving beautifully illustrated escape room puzzles.

We do love a good murder mystery game (the reason we designed five immersive games based on Romanian folklore), but we often can't help ourselves from adding creative escape room puzzles to them. For Leopold's Circus of Wonders, we started off as an escape room, with ten escape room puzzles, for which we added pieces of evidence to help you solve the case. It's a great game for those who love escape rooms but are not into a full-sized investigation.

Our Home Adventurers loved


✔️ Beautiful artwork

✔️ Cool puzzles

✔️ Well-written hints

✔️ Smooth integration with the game app


Our Home Adventurers disliked:


❌ Lenghy set-up

5. The Box (2023) - Best Puzzle Game

GAME DETAILS


Average playtime: 120 minutes

Difficulty level: advanced

Ideal for: puzzle lovers




Focusing on a three-dimensional paper box, mysterious puzzles unfold in front of your eyes. The centerpiece element holds secrets within every detail! With a unique style that strikes every puzzle, you'll satisfy your love for puzzles.

We designed The Box as a self-explanatory concept that is easy to navigate through. You end up with a 3D metal box that hides secrets within every detail. With each puzzle you solve, another one is revealed. Everything is focused around the box, and the finale is no exception. Really great, straight-forward adventure.

Our Home Adventurers loved


✔️ Game finale

✔️ Puzzle difficulty range

✔️ Perfect hands-on experience

✔️ Integration with the game app


Our Home Adventurers disliked:


❌ Sound effects

6. The Hotel of Lost Souls (2022) - Best Concept

GAME DETAILS


Average playtime: 120 minutes

Difficulty level: intermediate

Ideal for: puzzle lovers




Checking in at room 13 of a ghosted hotel takes you on a unique journey room by room. Exploring the three-dimensional building model reveals hidden secrets that you'll love uncovering.

When we were writing this best printable escape room top, we tried to find a good spot for The Hotel of Lost Souls. It already had a good run and remember being quite innovative at the time of the release. It was among our first games to integrate three-dimensional elements and escape room envelopes and our Home Adventurers loved it. We love the concept of this game to date and are really happy we still receive positive feedback more than two years after its release.

Our Home Adventurers loved


✔️ Originality

✔️ Story

✔️ Quick set-up

✔️ Great artwork

✔️ Incredible attention to detail

✔️ Great layout and quality

✔️ Easy to navigate the game app

Our Home Adventurers disliked:


❌ Some puzzles might be difficult

❌ Cutting might take longer if printing multiple game sets

7. The Pirate Box (2024) - Best Family Escape Room

GAME DETAILS


Average playtime: 120 minutes

Difficulty level: intermediate

Ideal for: families




An immersive family adventure, with beautiful artwork and captivating storytelling. The game takes you on a mysterious adventure guided by our innovative answer validation system that you'll love using throughout the adventure.

The Pirate Box took the concept of The Box and made it family-friendly and Internet-free. The Box has a quite rigid style that might not attract puzzle-loving players of all ages, so giving it a twist was definitely fun. In true MysteryLocks fashion, all puzzles are original and themed to the environment. So while the concept is similar, The Pirate Box is a totally different game. You'll love how immersive it is!

Our Home Adventurers loved


✔️ Beautiful artwork

✔️ Reusability

Our Home Adventurers disliked:


Nothing yet reported

8. Zombie Escape Room (2023) - Best Escape Room for Teens

GAME DETAILS


Average playtime: 60 minutes

Difficulty level: intermediate

Ideal for: teens




A postapocalyptic scenario unfolds in search of a zombie antidote. With a video game quality artwork and immersive story, the game guarantees an under-pressure adventure with thrilling puzzles.

Game cover of Zombie Printable Escape Room Kit, part of our top 9 best escape rooms.

We designed the Zombie Escape Room right before Halloween, but we realized it's such a great game all year round! It's like a real-life video game with very satisfying story evolution and visually stunning elements. It's simply fantastic to experience it. It's one of our most underrated favorites!

Our Home Adventurers loved


✔️ Immersive game platform

Our Home Adventurers disliked:


Nothing yet reported

9. Oblivion (2021) - Best Hybrid Escape Room

GAME DETAILS


Average playtime: 60 minutes

Difficulty level: intermediate

Ideal for: everyone




Our realm into the world of hybrid escape rooms, blending the worlds of printable materials and digital clues. Explore digital rooms and uncover secrets that break the barriers of reality. A great hybrid game with a mysterious twist.

Oblivion was the first game to physically break the barrier between printable and digital elements. The puzzles are carefully designed to give a sense of exploration every step of the way. While the online game platform provides stunning progress, it often holds keys to the escape room puzzles and it doesn't disappoint! A fantastic hybrid escape room!

Our Home Adventurers Loved


✔️ Fun and interactive

✔️ Well thought out

✔️ Creative story progress

✔️ High-quality graphics

Our Home Adventurers disliked:


Nothing yet reported

Hope you enjoyed our Top 9 Best Printable Escape Rooms you should try from our store. We put a lot of love and passion into each release, so we hope you'll have the best time escaping our adventures!


If you need personalized suggestions, feel free to reach us anytime via the Live Chat bubble on the bottom-right of the page, or at contact@mysterylocks.com.


We're always happy to help!

Robert-Stefan Butnarasu

Written by: Robert-Ștefan Butnarașu (co-founder)


MysteryLocks was founded in 2018 by two medical students who share a passion for puzzle games, escape rooms, and murder mysteries. With over 100 original game designs, MysteryLocks has become the place for immersive home escape rooms.


After over 26.000 games sold worldwide, their goal remains unchanged - spark mystery and laughter and continue innovating in the realm of home escape rooms.

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