My wife and I love escape rooms and want to build a small one in our basement for family game

[Jonh Newman]

Hi all. My wife and I love escape rooms and want to build a small one in our basement for family game nights and birthday parties. Nothing commercial, just fun for the kids and friends. Most props online look either like toys or cost like a commercial room. Any ideas where to find decent props for a home setup? The kids are eight and eleven, and they'd honestly play it every weekend if we let them. I just want it to last more than one party.

[hydrogenn]

Hi there. That's a great project, we did something similar for our kids' birthdays. Worth knowing: most serious suppliers focus on businesses, but you can still find home escape room props https://erworkshop.com/escapes/puzzles-and-props/ in Indestroom's props and puzzles catalog, individual pieces rather than whole rooms. We bought two puzzles with electronic locks and built the rest around them with DIY stuff. The quality is commercial grade, so the kids can't break them, which honestly was the point. They're not cheap for a hobby, I won't pretend otherwise. Tip: build the story first, then buy one or two wow-props for the finale and fill the rest with simple padlocks and hidden clues, that keeps the budget sane.