To take a hint or not to?

Dear Escapees,

Perhaps you too, when playing an outdoor escape game, a geocaching game, or even an orienteering race, have considered the question of whether to take a hint or continue struggling with the task.

 

To take or not to take? That is the question...

We personally have great understanding for those who don't want to lose their "clean slate" and can be tenacious and rack their brains over even a seemingly insoluble problem. Or... Has it ever happened to you that you've already started working on a riddle and it seems like just a little piece is missing, a slightly different perspective that would push you in the right direction? In such a moment, you probably wouldn't rush to take a hint, would you?

But!

Whatever the reason, sometimes one simply gets stuck on solving a single riddle and thus loses a lot of time. Of course, you never know beforehand how long it will take you to solve the task or if you will succeed at all.

What to do about it?

In our games, the overall result is determined by the points you earn by completing tasks, and time also plays a secondary role. The system by which we evaluate the results of your games is discussed in more detail in this blog post dedicated to game evaluation.

If you are not among those for whom "taking a hint" causes long-term trauma, irreversible ego loss, or other metaphysical changes to body and soul, it is sometimes better to take a hint sooner rather than after long, fruitless fumbling. Time, in this case, isn't money, but important points.

Hint system

The decision to take a hint can "hurt" you far less than you think. Just read about the system we have for our smart hints. Here we discuss how we divide hints for individual tasks, how we can target them for individual teams based on wrong answers, and what role they play in the overall scoring.

What about you?

Are you more of the type who tries to torture their brains until the last minute, or is speed your priority?

Let us know your opinions and observations in the comments. This will help us to continue improving our game...

Pavel and Martin, Útěkáři.cz