Digital Play » escapetheroom

Room Fake

grahamstanley — Fri, 14 May 2010 07:21:36 +0000

Room Fake is another ‘Escape from the Room’ puzzle game that is almost impossible to do without the walkthrough, which I have added below.

This works well as a live listening activity, but I recommend playing it first as a race to see who finishes first in the computer room. With the students in pairs, give out the walkthrough (unnumbered) and ask them to order it as they play. To make it harder, remove some of the information (such as the codes in number 16) or (even more devious) change some of the clues so they give wrong information and then later in the classroom, ask the students to rewrite the errors and deal with all vocabulary questions.

COMPLETE WALKTHROUGH:

Click on the dresser, click underneath it, and get the battery.
Back out, turn right, get the number 4 tile and the wadded paper out of the garbage can.
Examine and uncrumple the wad of paper.
Back up so you’re looking AT the can, click on it to lift it, and click it again near the base to find the color for the letter O.
On the desk, near the left side of the plant, will be a green 3 cylinder. Get that.
Click on the bed, turn back the blanket, and get the number 6 tile from the edge of the blanket. At the bottom of the bed is a red 3 cylinder, get that as well.
Back out, turn right again. Between the bed and the cabinet on the floor is the number 7 tile.
The top drawer of the green cabinet has a clue but nothing to get. The middle drawer has a safe that we don’t have the combination for yet. The bottom is locked. Open the cabinet at the top and get the battery from the right side of the second shelf, and the scrap of paper from the top shelf. That should tell you the color of the letter C.
Turn right again, open the curtains. On the curtain rod will be a blue 3 cylinder.
Next to the curtains is a diagram for the magic sqare. Click the bottom corner: Taped to the back is a scrap of paper that has the safe code (196 – it’s shown upside down).
Go back to the green cabinet – put the combination in the safe, and get the number 7 tile and the screwdriver. Examine the screwdriver and pull the cord to extend the bit.
Turn right, click the wall plate, and use the screwdriver to remove the cover. Take the screws.
Turn right again, and look at the SIDE of the small wooden dresser. Unscrew the screws (and take them!), return to the front, and open the stuck bottom drawer. Take the battery charger and the red 3 cylinder.
Examine the battery charger and put the batteries in it, then go back to the left to the outlet. Plug the charger in, click away, click back, and take the charger and charged batteries. (That was fast!)
Turn right again, click on the little dog statue, and put the batteries in the holders. Press the button on the front to turn its head and get the number 9 tile.
On the desk is a magic square puzzle – put the tiles in so the grid becomes:
8 3 4 1 5 9 6 7 2 and press the button. This will give you the color of the K.
When you back up, the picture will have fallen. If you turn left, two circles of light on the side of the dresser will give you a time, and the controls behind the painting are to set the clock. Set the short hand to 5 and the long hand to 6 (30 minutes).
When you turn left again, there is a small box extended under the clock. Click it and get the silver key and the blue 2 cylinder.
The silver key opens the bottom drawer of the green dresser. Open it and get the pink tissue and the small red sword.
On top of the small wooden dresser is a vase – knock it over and use the pink tissue to absorb it. Turn left, open the curtains, and clean the window off with the tissue. This will show you the color of the L (on the right), and a secret about the door (on the left).
Return to the dog statue, put the red sword in its neck slot (as marked) to get a red 1 cylinder. Pull the string left over to get the gold key.
Turn to the door, click on the bottom left corner to zoom in, and again to take off the panel. Plug the door into the wall outlet. Get the blue 3 cylinder.
The gold key opens the safe behind the paper to the right of the window. Open it, and get the doorknob, and the green 2 cylinder.
Click the door, use the doorknob on it, and the screws to secure it. Pressing it will open a panel with the word “LOCK” above it.
THE COLORS CHANGE, but the puzzle works like this: Any two colored cylinders of the same value will blend (blue and red become purple, red and green become yellow, blue and green become teal). If you kept note of the colors each letter should be there will only be one combination of the cylinders that will fit and make the right colors for each letter. Place the cylinders so the colors are right, and OPEN SESAME!
Now you can exit through the cabinet, OR, find the REAL exit…
Clicking the bottom right of the green cabinet should show you the side – get the hammer out from behind the drawer.
Turn around, break open the vase to reveal the color of the letter A.
To your right, the magic square on the desk can be clicked and turned over – that reveals the color of the backwards K.
The back of the cover from the electrical panel will give you the color of the letter E.
Believe it or not, with this, you have enough information to re-solve the puzzle for “FAKE”. Go back to the door, and solve the puzzle again. FAKE will turn to TRUE, and there will be one gold cylinder now – a token with a dog on it. Take that.
Return to the dog statue, detach the head, put the dog token in the neck slot, and reattach the head. He will open the TRUE exit for you.

The end!

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Mystery Of Time And Place (MOTAS)

kylemawer — Tue, 11 May 2010 02:50:36 +0000

Level: Intermediate+

Location: Computer room

Skills Focus: Live listening

Language Focus: It’s something you use to + verb / for + gerund

Game: Mystery of Time and Space (MOTAS)

This game was probably one of the first point-and-click games I used with a class and many consider it a classic ‘escape the room game’. It has got over a hundred rooms in which you have to find objects, work out puzzles and escape from the room. What’s nice about this game is that if you hover your mouse over the objects in a room it is annotated (see below). This is worth pointing out to your learners at a very early stage.

The pre-gaming activity below orientates learners to the annotation function within MOTAS. You need to do this in a connected classroom before moving to a computer room.

Preparation

Print off a copy of the MOTAS walkthrough (rooms 1-8) or use an electronic copy of the MOTAS walkthrough (rooms 1-21) or the MOTAS video walkthrough (rooms 1- 5) to ‘dictate’ the game play to your learners.

Pre-Play

Present the game to the class and show them the first room.
Tell them they have 2 minutes to write down the name of as many objects as possible that they can see on the screen (whether they may use dictionaries is up to you).
When they have finished ask them to swap lists with another group.
Tell them that they get 2 points if the name of the object appears on the screen and 1 point if you accept it.
Move your cursor over each object on the screen. Learners give 2 points if the object name appears.
Add up the marks and hand the list back to the original group.
Groups can now argue over the 1 point score words on their list e.g. ‘Locker’ is annotated but you can give 1 point if they say ‘cupboard’

Play

In a computer room tell learners they have to listen to you tell them how to escape. The first one out the room and says stop gets 1 point.
They have to either find the annotation to find an object or ask you to describe the object to them e.g. Learner: “What’s a pillow?” Teacher: “You use it to put your head on when you go to sleep.”
Use a copy of the walkthrough or the video walkthrough to dictate to your learners how they should complete the game.

Post Play

As learners to write down some of the objects they remember from the game and to write a definition for the objects using the grammar:

It’s an object you use to + bare infinitive

It’s an object you use for + gerund

Alternative activity

Instead of doing a live listening activity or gaming dictation you could give learners a reading in which they have to sequence jumbled walkthrough sentences by playing the game in the computer room.

If you would like to try this why not download a copy of the MOTAS Sequencing Activity and make enough copies for each group in your computer room.

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A split screen communication activity

kylemawer — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 07:24:31 +0000

One learner watches a video of the game being completed and relays the information to their partner who plays the game.

Level: Intermediate+

Topic: Kitchen vocabulary

Speaking Focus: Describing things in a kitchen

Time: 30 minutes

Game: The Great Kitchen Escape

The Great kitchen escape game is a great ‘ecape the room’ game which comes with a video walkthrough on youtube.

Key Language:kettle, cupboard, mixer, beater, radio, dial, batteries, fridge, freezer, power cord, bowl, parrot, feather, tickle, dog collar, sink, fill up, switch on, plug it in, pour, knife, hammer, drill

Preparation

In the computer room decide which computers will have the video and which the game. This can either be side by side or one side of the room the game and the other side the video walkthrough.

There is also some key vocabulary that will either have to be pre-taught or dealt with reactively when the playing activity is in progress.

Playing

Tell learners that they will do this activity in pairs. One watches the video (they can use pause when they want and rewind) and relays how to complete the game to their partner . The learner playing the game can ask their partner, who is watching the video, any questions they like about the instructions he is giving (in English of course) This may be to clarify, repeat or make sure they have understood. After a few minutes the learner watching the video swaps places with their partner playing the game.

Post playing

For homework learners watch the video and write the walkthrough using the key language items.

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An annotated game for reading and playing

kylemawer — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 08:46:28 +0000

Level: Pre-intermediate

Time: 30 minutes

Preparation: Just before the class goes into the computer room open up two internet explorer windows. On one window get the game ‘Hamster rescue’ ready so it’s ready to start. In the other window open up a copy of the annotated walkthrough. Be prepared to show the class the opening screenshot of the game (see below) either as a printed copy or by connecting online.

Game: Hamster rescue is a point-and-click game where you have to help the hamster escape from his cage. Various objects on the screen need to be collected and sometimes combined in order for the hamster to escape.

Opening screenshot of the game ‘Hamster Rescue’

Pregaming activity

Show your learners the opening screenshot of the game ‘Hamster Rescue’ for 1 minute and then ask them to write down from memory a list of the things they saw. Learners swap lists and then you show them the screenshot again. Feedback on the items in the screenshot. Learners give one point for each item on their partner’s list that is in the picture. Cover any new vocabulary items.

Playing

In the computer room show your learners the walkthrough and tell them that this activity is a race. In pairs they have to play the game using the walkthrough to help them complete the game as quickly as possible. Point out that some of the words in the walkthrough are underlined and in blue:

If they don’t know what one of these underlined blue words mean they can click on it and see a picture of it. For example if you click on the first annotated wor ‘paperclip’ you get this image:

The first pair to finish the game gets less homework.

Post Play

Tell your learners that foir homework they have to play a game. Tell them they will have to use two windows like today – one to play the game and the other for the walkthrough. Direct them to this page and ask them to play two of the other games. The link to the game can be reached by clicking on the title and the walkthrough link is highlighted below the picture. The pair that finished the game first and have less homework only have to play one of the other games.

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Gateway – a puzzle game for whole class activity

grahamstanley — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 12:04:39 +0000

Gateway is a short, absorbing and entertaining puzzle game with ten levels that can be used to generate language in the ESL classroom, especially if you have access to a connected classroom (with an internet enabled computer and a data projector).

The Game

You have to guide a robot through a number of different rooms, each of which require the solving of a puzzle. This is highly entertaining, but it is easy enough to do, so it’s not so obvious how you can use this for language learning…

Adapting the game

One idea would be to play the game in a whole-class situation and ask the students to guess what has to be done to pass the robot to the next room – there could be two teams and points awarded for the team which guesses correctly the right way to get the robot to the next room.

Another team-game way of using Gateway could be to award each team a number of seconds (accumulated for answering questions) – they ’spend’ the seconds trying to get the robot through the door, winning points for each door they pass the robot through.

More Information

The game’s puzzles are easy until you get to the TV at level 9 (see image above), which requires more thought to solve (answer = the sequence on the TV monitors shows the numbers you need to press on the keypad to let you out the door = 95271)

There is a sequel, which continues the story, Gateway II - this continues with the story, but involves a lot of text that would be quite difficult for all but higher levels. See walkthrough here

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