Red Herrings

That random number on the wall? It might be a crucial code — or it might mean absolutely nothing. Red herrings are the escape room designer's way of adding challenge beyond the puzzles themselves. The hard part isn't just solving; it's knowing what's worth solving.

What It Is

A red herring is anything in an escape room that looks like a clue but isn't. This includes decorative numbers that seem like codes, objects that appear interactive but serve no puzzle purpose, and patterns that look meaningful but lead nowhere. Some red herrings are accidental (a room number on a prop, a brand logo with numbers), while others are deliberately placed by designers to test your judgment.

How to Handle Them

1. Don't panic about extras. If you find more numbers or clues than you have locks or puzzles, some are probably red herrings. That's normal.
2. Match clues to locks. Count your unsolved locks and note their types. A 4-digit lock needs a 4-digit code — a 6-digit number you found probably doesn't go there.
3. Note it and move on. If something looks like a clue but doesn't connect to anything, write it down and keep going. You can revisit later if needed.
4. Look for confirmation. Real clues usually have a second signal — color coding, a nearby arrow, a thematic connection, or a matching symbol on a lock.
5. Ask your game master. If you've been stuck on something for several minutes and suspect it's a red herring, use a hint. Game masters will tell you if you're barking up the wrong tree.

Examples

The Clock on the Wall: A decorative clock shows 4:25. Teams spend ten minutes trying 425 on every lock. It's just a clock — the room's actual time-related puzzle uses a completely different timepiece.

The Extra Book: A bookshelf puzzle requires finding books with highlighted spines. One book has a suspicious bookmark inside with numbers on it. The bookmark was left by a previous team or is purely decorative.

The Deliberate Decoy: A safe has a "clue" taped to its side: a series of numbers. Those numbers open nothing. The actual code comes from a completely different puzzle — the taped note exists specifically to waste your time.

Difficulty Variations

Easy: Some beginner-friendly rooms deliberately avoid red herrings, or the game master warns you upfront: "Everything in the room is a clue." This eliminates the guesswork.

Hard: Advanced rooms often include deliberate red herrings — fake codes, misleading symbols, and objects that look interactive but aren't. Some rooms even include props from previous themes that were accidentally left behind, adding unintentional confusion.

Related Puzzles

Red herrings are harder to identify in non-linear rooms where you might mistake a clue for one puzzle as a red herring because it doesn't fit the puzzle you're currently working on. They also interact with reusing objects — if you think an object is "done" but it's actually needed again, you might wrongly dismiss it.