The Lock In: how it works

Tables race the same chain of puzzles in the same order, all on their own phones. Solve one to unlock the next. Get one wrong and your table is locked out for twelve seconds, which is just long enough for someone to have a better idea. The big screen carries the race: who is where, who is locked out, who just got home. First table home gets the glory, and whatever you're putting behind it.

Hosting it

1. Create a game, pick a puzzle chain and say how many tables you have. Cast the big screen and put the QR up.
2. Players scan in, put a name down and choose their table. Rename the tables in the console to whatever they're actually called.
3. Start the race. Every table gets the same puzzles in the same order, on their own phones — so the big screen shows the race, not the questions.
4. Your console is the answer sheet: every puzzle, every accepted answer and every hint. Use it to settle an argument.
5. A wrong answer locks that table out for twelve seconds. If a table is properly stuck, Release hint sends that puzzle's hint to every table that has reached it, so the race stays fair.
6. First table home wins. Call time to freeze the race if you need to move the night along, or Back to setup to run the same chain again with fresh tables.

Playing it

1. Scan the QR, put your name in, and pick your table.
2. Your table works one puzzle at a time. Anyone at the table can type the answer — one phone or all of them, it's the same race.
3. Get it right and the next puzzle unlocks. Get it wrong and your table is locked out for twelve seconds, so talk it through before you guess.
4. Spelling is forgiven; punctuation, capitals and a stray 'the' don't matter. The answer itself does.
5. The big screen shows every table's position. First one home wins it.

One credit runs one game — see pricing, or see every game.