Clockmakers' Midnight Escape

CLOCKMAKERS' MIDNIGHT ESCAPE: a printable New Year's Eve escape room game for the whole family, ages 8 to adult

It is the last night of the year on Bellwind, the island of the clockmakers. The clockmakers took the Grand Clock apart to polish it, went out to fetch the cakes, and the workshop door clicked shut behind them. That door has a time lock: it opens when the Grand Clock strikes twelve, and not one tick sooner. The clockmakers are outside. The twelve gears are inside. And so are you. Win the gears, set the three hands and start the clock before midnight. Pinion, the clock's brass cuckoo, shows the way.

THIS IS AN ESCAPE ROOM GAME, played with printed puzzle pages, envelopes, cards and cut-out props at a table or around the house. It is not a book and not a worksheet pack.

Every solved puzzle wins a gear card. Collect all 12 to start the Grand Clock and open the final lock.

Needs only paper, scissors and tape. No special paper or pens.

How It Plays

• The players split into three crews, one for each hand of the clock: the Hour Hand, the Minute Hand and the Second Hand crew. Each crew solves four hours of the clock, side by side, so nobody waits
• Every hour is a different kind of puzzle and gives a code
• The crew finds its code on the Drawer Wall. Same maker's mark as on the puzzle page? The code is right, and the next envelope may be opened
• Inside waits a gear card. With four gears a crew builds its gear train
• The three train numbers tell the three paper hands of the Grand Clock where to point. Read the code through the three windows, lay the twelve gears round the dial, count down from ten and shout the three words their letters spell
• No host is needed to check answers. A full host guide is included
• To strike at real midnight, start at about 10:50 pm (the host guide has the plan). Or choose an early midnight of your own for younger players: the game works on any evening

16 Puzzles, Easy To Harder

• 12 hours of 12 different kinds: Bell Stack, Which Way?, Roman Stack, Four Clocks, The Broken Dial, Clock Stack, Clock Code, Gear Stack, Mirror Clocks, Time Stack, Calendar Squares, Midnight Climb
• Then three Gear Trains and the Grand Clock finale
• 7 kinds of math pyramid puzzle: adding (Bell Stack), Roman numerals (Roman Stack), clock adding, where after 12 comes 1 (Clock Stack), multiplying (Gear Stack), hours and minutes (Time Stack), a Pyramid Maze that climbs to midnight (Midnight Climb) and card pyramids (the Gear Trains)
• 7 more kinds: gears that turn this way and that, a logic puzzle with four clocks, a dial to cut out and build, a cipher written in little clocks, clocks seen in a mirror, calendar sums, and the paper Grand Clock with three hands
• The maths is for ages 8 and up: adding and taking away, times tables, telling the time, hours and minutes. Each puzzle sits a step below the top of the age band, so a crew can finish it together. Put a grown-up or an older child in every crew that has an eight-year-old

Paper Props To Cut Out

• The Grand Clock: a dial with three rings of numbers and three paper hands, each with a window. Pin them with one paper fastener and turn them
• The Broken Dial: nine square pieces to cut out and build
• 12 gear cards to win, one for every hour, each with a gear that has exactly the number of teeth printed on it

Nobody Gets Stuck

• The Drawer Wall checks every code: a wrong code shows the wrong mark, or is not there at all
• Three hints for every puzzle: a nudge, the method, the answer. A hint costs a key token, and the whole crew must cuckoo the hour to fetch it
• An answer card, every solution explained, and every puzzle shown solved
• If the 60 minutes run out, nobody loses: everybody has to move like clockwork until the clock is running

WHAT YOU GET (instant download, 5 PDF files)

• The kit, US Letter (50 pages)
• The kit, A4 (50 pages)
• A tablet copy of the kit for the host, with HINTS and ANSWER buttons on every puzzle
• Party extras, US Letter and A4 (6 pages each): invitations and thank-you tags with type-in names, a door sign, four Photo-Booth Signs to hold up for photos, four countdown games and a New Year time capsule letter to seal and open next year
• Free bonus folder (QR code inside): After Midnight, a bonus round of 6 expert puzzles for ages 12 to adult (14 pages, with 3 more kinds of math pyramid: Name It X, Parts of an Hour and Two Wrong Bricks), and an ink-saver edition of the whole kit

Inside The Kit

• Host guide: what to print, how to fill the envelopes, a step-by-step script, a planning page for small groups, big groups and real midnight, and a timer sheet
• The briefing to read aloud, five clock facts, a map of the Grand Clock, crew cards and badges
• 12 hour pages, the props, 12 gear cards, three gear train pages and the Grand Clock
• The ending to read aloud and certificates with type-in names
• 16 posters for the walls and 19 envelope labels

Good To Know

• Digital download only: nothing is shipped.
• Ages 8 to adult, kids and grown-ups together. 2 to 12 players: three crews of 1 to 4.
• About 60 minutes of play with three crews. One small crew that plays everything needs about 2 hours, or about 90 minutes with the shorter game in the host guide.
• You need a printer (colour looks best), 19 envelopes, scissors, pencils, one paper fastener (or a pencil tip) and tape. About an hour to print, cut and fill the envelopes.
• Print at 100% (actual size), on one side of the paper.
• Play times are plans, not promises: no child has timed this game for us. Hints keep every crew moving.
• The story is about the turn of the year and nothing else: no religion, no alcohol, and nobody and nothing is harmed. Good for New Year's Eve, New Year's Day, or any evening as a countdown party.
• Not suitable for children under 3 (small paper parts).
• Love math pyramids? Creouts Publishing also publishes math pyramid puzzle books in paperback: see creouts.com/pyramid-puzzle-books/.

License

For one family, one party or one classroom. Print as many copies as you need for your own players. No resale, sharing, uploading or claiming as your own; no AI training.

Digital download, nothing is shipped. Because files can be copied at once, we cannot take them back after download; if something is wrong with your file, write to us and we will fix or refund it.