How To Create A Room In Google Home

Creating an escape room starts with the same steps whether you are planning on a digital escape or your are in a physical location.
I've talked in detail about the process in my posts about escape room for kids, escape room puzzle ideas, and escape the classroom.

Quick Review of DIY Escape Room Design

Choose a topic
Choose an end goal (the big problem to solve — using the breadcrumbs from the small puzzles)
Set the scene
Decide on topics of the small puzzles that participants will solve (and the breadcrumbs they will earn by solving them)
Create the small puzzles
Create answer sheets and/or answer keys

There are some tweaks and additions when we are using digital escapes.

How to create a digital escape room.

Outline your approach to steps 1-6 of the DIY Escape Room Design (see above)
Decide on how you will deliver your digital escape
- Popular Choices (user friendly)
  - Google Slides
  - Google Forms
  - Google Sheets
  - Send Via Email
Implement the outline on your delivery.

Let's take a look at how you would use each type of delivery method to create a digital escape room.

How to create a digital escape room – Google Forms

Google forms is probably where the first DIY digital escape rooms started popping up. It is a free option as long as you have a Google account. There is limited personalization, but it works seamlessly with other Google Suite products. There are also lots of extensions that you can add to make it even more interactive.

There are pros and cons to any method you choose.

Pros

Free
Works well with other Google Products (including YouTube).
User friendly option to create digital locks (still need some specific knowledge)
Easy to use (in terms of completing the digital escape)
Least amount of prep time.

Cons

Limited Personalization – Even with headers and images it is gonna look like a Google Form.
Not as interactive as some of the other options – can come off like a digital worksheet or quiz
Needs to be submitted to be counted as complete
Easy to use but there are a few things you MUST KNOW to get it to work).

How to create a digital escape room – Google Slides

Google Slides are a free options as long as you have a Google account. It is a great way to deliver and collaborate on documents. Google slides are great because you can insert images in the background that can't be moved AND add other elements that are editable.

Elements to use in Google Slides

Insert textboxes
Moveable pieces
Add links to other information

Pros:

Interactive
Easy to Create
Works well with other Google Products (including YouTube).
Free
More prep time than Google Forms but it shouldn't take all day to create or convert puzzles to a digital format.

Cons:

Some devices make it difficult to see moveable pieces
You will need to send this as a forced copy or participants are working on your master
Participants can erase elements not inserted into the background image (there is a work around for this that we will talk about later).

How to create a digital escape room – Google Sites

Google Sites is a free option as long as you have a Google account. This has the most personalization, most interactive options, and highest learning curve. It works seamlessly with other Google Suite products.

Pros

Free
Works well with other Google Products (including YouTube).
Google products tend to be pretty intuitive. Basically you are creating a mini-website so expect a learning curve.
Personalize until your hearts content
Most interactive of the Google options

Cons

Highest Learning Curve
Most time intensive to create
You are publishing a website (the password protected option is no longer available)
It might be easy for participants to "get lost" and not know what to do in order to complete the game

How to create a digital escape room – Email

This will not cost you anything more than what you are currently paying for an email service provider. You can email the pieces and set up the game as autoresponder sequence. This would not be the easiest way to delivery a digital escape room, but would be great if you were trying to build anticipation or use for student review where you wanted daily interaction.

Tips & Tricks to Make Your Escape Room Even Better

Use a single slide as the "room" set up. You can do this by following the same steps as creating a virtual classroom. Then you can link that out to multiple forms, slides, or other links. This also lets you utilize props in the digital escape just like you would in a physical escape room.