top 3 timers in escape rooms

Timing in escape rooms is a given, but there's a way to make timing immersive and exciting. By using something other than a clock on a wall, escape rooms further immerse the players and bring them further into the storyworld. Here's the three best timekeeping methods I've seen in escape rooms to date. 

Disclaimer: these are all timers that were included as part of the escape room, not continuing through the whole game. 

3. Universal's Great Movie Escape: BTTF

This company doesn't have the best of reviews, and while I completely see why, there's no denying the stressful timer they incorporate. During one time travel sequence, you're sent to a shack in old Western times, and the owner isn't very happy you're there. You can actually hear him outside the shed, banging to come in, and going off to get his shotgun. The sound design is incredible, to the point where it truly feels real. 

2. Boda Borg: Area 51

By many, many standards, this award shouldn't count. It's like 25 seconds of time, and it's one room in one Quest in over 20 Quests in the facility (so basically, it's a tiny part of a venue). But it works so well. 

A long, sterile, white hallway has a challenge at the end of it, and I will not spoil the game. But as players are racing to unlock the door, the lights are slowly shutting off from the end of the room, getting closer and closer to the players until they're inevitably left in pitch black darkness. The instant dread that this long hallway's lights produce is something out of a horror movie. It's so menacing, and it works so well. 

1. Ruins: Forbidden Treasure