7 TV Shows to Inspire Your Next Escape Room

Ever since we visited an escape room inspired by Indiana Jones, our imagination has been running wild with ideas for themes based on our favorite pop culture stories. We even made a list of the films we’d like to see made into escape games.

But it’s not just movies that inspire us; there are tons of TV shows that would make incredible locations for an escape room. From mysteries to comedies, read on for seven TV shows we’d like to see made into fun escape rooms.

What do you think of our ideas? Which one would make the best escape room? Let us know in the comments!

1. Stranger Things

There are so many fun possibilities here that it’s hard to know where to start. It’s the era of hi-tops, Rubik’s Cubes, and music videos. And something in Hawkins, Indiana, has gone very, very wrong.

All the throwback kitsch and paranormal spookiness from this TV show would make for a unique escape room experience. Maybe you’d build your room to resemble the Eerie Hawkins lab or the basement rec room of the Wheeler family (a Dungeons and Dragons board is a must).

Personally, we’d set it right in the living room of the Byers home, complete with short-circuiting phones, alphabet-decoding Christmas lights, and a strange, expanding goo seeping in through the walls. Solve the puzzles and find your way out before it takes over the whole room and you, too, are trapped in the Upside Down.

2. Only Murders in The Building

If you haven’t seen this Hulu crime-comedy darling, you’re missing out. The apartment decor alone makes this show ripe for an escape room setup.

Another murder has been discovered in the Arconia and your fellow residents are counting on you to solve the case. Maybe you’ll start things off in Oliver Putnam’s velvet and mahogany condo, where the occupant has left a recording of the latest podcast episode with clues for you to follow. Or perhaps you’ll begin in the more vibrantly colored home of Charles Hande-Savage. Either way, it will take some digging to uncover all the hidden clues that Mabel and her friends have left for you to find.

Secret passageways will lead you from unit to unit, searching for answers. You need to solve the puzzle and figure out who the murderer is before time runs out.

3. Squid Game

Every episode of this South Korean Netflix series is packed with possibilities to inspire your escape room.

You might not have enough space for the show’s signature white room, but you can still create an adrenaline-inducing game of red light green light by only allowing players to work on a designated puzzle when the “green” light is on (working during a “red” light could cause the team to lose one player). Or maybe you’ll ask players to carve out puzzle pieces into increasingly difficult shapes to unlock the room’s next clue. There’s big money at stake, or at least a chest stuffed with Monopoly money and a cool photo op, for players who make it out of the game alive.

Clues could be delivered by a rogue guard, dressed in a red jumpsuit and mask, who has taken pity on your group. If the Front Man finds out, all your lives will be in terrible danger.

Bonus points if you provide players with green tracksuits before they enter the escape game.

4. WandaVision

Calling all Marvel fans! Something has gone very wrong in the idyllic town of Westview.

You’re trapped inside Wanda’s illusion and need to find a way out. As you advance from room to room, the timeline moves through the decades, just like the TV show. Clues are given in the form of runes or symbols which need to be decoded in order to escape this mind-bending universe.

Watch out for Agatha and her sneaky magic: she may leave false clues to try to throw you off course. If you get stuck, use the TV to communicate with Dr. Lewis who can provide backup from SWORD agents on the other side.

5. Schitt’s Creek

Ew, David!

You and your group suddenly find yourselves trapped in a ramshackle motel room in an unfamiliar small town. To find your way out, you’ll have to work together to find clues hidden among the piles of fancy clothes, the wall of wigs, and a mini fridge that is definitely missing a yogurt. Solve the puzzles and find your way out so you can get back to your mansion (or just over to Cafe Tropical for a Surprise-Me-Smoothie).

This escape room is guaranteed to be a crowd pleaser: it’s not at all scary so guests of any age can play. And diehard SC fans will be lining up around the block to check in.

Love that journey for you.

6. Game of Thrones

When you play the Game of Thrones, you win…or you die.

Ok, maybe your escape game doesn’t have to be that intense. But how exciting would it be to be thrust into the medieval world of Game of Thrones for one hour?

Imagine yourself stepping into King’s Landing, home of the Red Keep, the Dragonspit, and of course, the Iron Throne. But you won’t be ascending the royal seat just yet: you’ve been imprisoned in a dungeon by order of Cersei Lannister. You’ll need to solve the puzzles to unlock your cell and escape.

Or maybe you’ll play members of the Night’s Watch, who just narrowly escaped a White Walkers attack and are sheltering inside a cabin just outside the Wall. It’s not safe to go out the way you came, so you’ll need to find the secret passageway back into Westeros to let the people know that they’re all in terrible danger.

7. The Twilight Zone

This iconic 1950s anthology TV show has plenty of mystery and intrigue to keep an escape room audience on their toes. While there are lots of possibilities here, the challenge with The Twilight Zone is that each episode was mostly self-contained so the characters, setting and even time frame changed throughout each season. Even so, you could leverage some of the more famous stories like “The Hitch-Hiker”, “The Invaders”, “Mr. Denton on Doomsday” or “The Monsters are Due on Maple Street” and the vintage black and white hypnosis spiral found in every episode.

You could really customize the skill level and intensity of this escape room, too. You could do family-friendly, with just a hint of suspense and fantasy, or really go dark with your theme and incorporate some of the more psychologically thrilling, suspense and horror elements of the show.

We give you the escape room ideas… and the booking software!

Creating an escape room isn’t easy, but you now have plenty of ideas to get inspired by!

But how will guests book your room? Have you figured that out? 

EscapeTix is Passage’s escape room booking and payments platform, designed for escape rooms like yours. We built EscapeTix with tons of professional features including repeating time slots, calendar and email marketing integrations, social media discounts, and more.

We’ve made it simple to manage your escape room’s online bookings, in-person sales, product upsells, and more all on one platform. You can even host virtual escape rooms or a hybrid one! Get started in 60 seconds at EscapeTix.com or schedule a demo to see how EscapeTix can work for you.