Matteo Carlini
Students band together to go through and solve one of the escape rooms set up in the Student Union Ballroom on Tuesday evening.
The Student Union became a mix of problem-solving, laughter, and controlled chaos during the escape room challenge.
The escape room is a timed puzzle challenge where a group of people have to think their way out by solving clues and completing tasks before time runs out.
The concept of escape rooms is more about problem-solving and teamwork, often mixing logic puzzles with a few hands-on challenges depending on the setup, according to a Feb 6, 2025 article.
Casey Chow, a third-year marketing student and member of the Student Union Events and Programs team, said he enjoyed seeing students come together.
“I think a lot of our events, we try to do it depending on holidays,” Chow said. “So, for example, an event we did last time was a collaboration with as which was like the Diwali event, and then we really try to do it depending on like, for example, next up we’re probably going to do Christmas-related events as well.”
One of the tips that helps people complete the tasks in the escape room in the right amount of time is to be in constant communication, according to a Feb 6, 2025, article.
The event, hosted by Student Involvement and Student Union Events, had participants test their teamwork and communication.
The SJSU Escape Rooms featured five different themes – Aztec, zombie, crime scene investigation, time travel and wizard, according to the same Oct. 28 Student Union’s Instagram post.
Anthony Kommareddy, an SJSU second-year artificial intelligence student said
“I liked how the challenge pushed everyone to think creatively under pressure,” Kommareddy said.
Silas Fay, a transfer student in software engineering, said he hoped to experience something interactive that brought students together.
“I’m hoping that this one is very complex, seeing how many rooms there are,” Fay said. “But I’m just hoping that they’re just fun little puzzles, and some of them are challenging.”
When everyone communicates and works together, the puzzles tend to come together faster.
But when things get disorganized or people stop listening to each other, progress slows down, according to a Feb 6, 2025, article.
Advait Shinde, a master student in Artificial Intelligence, explains that he attended this event because he has never experienced an escape room.
“I’ve never done one before, so, yeah, I don’t know what to expect,” Shinde said.
That’s why it helps to think about how your group interacts before stepping into the room.
Each person brings their own set of skills and ways of thinking that can make a real difference once the clock starts ticking, according to the same source.
“We really want to do what’s popular with other students,” Chow said. “That’s kind of like, also a big part of why they hire student employees, so that we can kind of tell them, here’s what’s like, probably popular and things that people want to see.”
Difficulty really depends on the group—what one team finds tricky, another might breeze through, according to a Feb 6, 2025 Article.
“Yeah, getting grouped up with other people has made it very easy to talk to new people and figure stuff out. It’s really good,” Fay said.
Each room mixes in both simple and challenging puzzles on purpose, so there’s something for everyone.
Some escape rooms have ratings or stats that show how hard they are or how often people actually make it out, which can help when deciding which challenge fits your group best.
“I know this is an event we’ve done in past semesters,” Chow said. “I’m not exactly sure who originally came up with the idea, but I think it was just something that we felt like everyone would be on board with.”