What Makes a Great Game Master?

Vibrant Personality!

Consider hiring someone with an outgoing personality, perhaps with a background in performance arts or sales. Nothing is worse than a monotone robotic game manager who is simply going through the motions. Instead, hire vibrant, enthusiastic people who get teams excited about the upcoming challenge!

Attentive!

Game managers must follow the game closely and pay close attention to details. They must be prepared to give prompt and appropriate hints at a moment’s notice. Many poor reviews I have read involve game managers giving useless/misleading hints, or players having to tell the game manager what stage of a puzzle they are on.

Flexible!

Working at an escape room is not a typical 9-5 office job, so you need someone flexible. Look for easy-going people willing to work evenings/weekends, and able to come in to work on short notice. Anal-retentive people obsessed with schedules and set working hours will not thrive as game managers.

Somewhat Tech Savvy!

Obviously, you do not need to hire a tech wizard, but a game manager must have enough tech no-how to understand the technical elements in your escape room. Thorough training is important, especially if your room has a lot of tech-driven puzzles.

Adaptable!

The escape room industry is new, and constantly evolving, so you need staff that are open to change. Try to find game managers that take criticism well, and are willing to adapt. They should be comfortable with ever-changing rooms, themes, puzzles, and job duties. Essentially, you need someone willing to roll with the punches.

Empathetic!

A game manager should be able to joyfully celebrate with winning teams, and sympathize with teams that fail to escape. Win or lose, you want players to enjoy doing escape rooms! A great game manager who does a thorough post-loss walk through (and reiterates how close a team was) can help a team get over their disappointment, and get them excited about doing escape rooms in the future.