Thinkabara

🏦 Escape room: The Most Embarrassing Bank Robbery

Google Classroom

A comedy escape room for teens and adults: three robbers locked themselves in the vault. Logic, digits and a balance scale get them out.

The story

Three amateur robbers got into the bank vault, and slammed the door behind them. Now they’re stuck inside and calling you, the rescue team, with a desperate plea: “Get us out of here!”

The robbers would like it noted that this is their first robbery and they are very sorry.

Run it at home or in class

What to prepare

  • Printed station sheets
  • Character cards for the three robbers
  • Toy coins
  • A box with a 4-digit lock
  • A “PUSH” sign for the ending

Tips for the facilitator

  • Give players roles: investigator, calculator and note-taker, so everyone is involved.
  • At the gold-bar station, hand out 9 bottle caps and a kitchen scale or a coat hanger to try it for real.
  • Stick the “PUSH” sign on the final box; it always gets a big laugh.

Difficulty level

The story clues stay the same on every level; harder levels add more locks in between. You can ask for a hint at every stage.

0 of 6 stages solved · Easy · 15–25 minutes

Stage 1: Who holds what

1/6

Each of the three robbers, Bob, Rob and Lou, holds one thing: a key, a torch or a sandwich. Bob is not holding the key or the torch. Rob is not holding the key.

Run it in real life too

Print a facilitator kit for the easy level: a sheet with the opening story, the setup and every answer, plus a big card for each of the 6 stages.

🏦 The Most Embarrassing Bank Robbery: facilitator kit

Teens 13+ and adults · 15–25 minutes · Level: Easy · 6 stages

Opening story: Three amateur robbers got into the bank vault, and slammed the door behind them. Now they’re stuck inside and calling you, the rescue team, with a desperate plea: “Get us out of here!” The robbers would like it noted that this is their first robbery and they are very sorry.

Setup

  1. Printed station sheets
  2. Character cards for the three robbers
  3. Toy coins
  4. A box with a 4-digit lock
  5. A “PUSH” sign for the ending
  6. Print the 6 stage cards and put them in order, or hide each card around the room so every answer leads to the next one.
  7. Read the opening story to the group and start a timer.
  8. When the group gets stuck, give one hint from the table, one at a time.
  9. Give players roles: investigator, calculator and note-taker, so everyone is involved.
  10. At the gold-bar station, hand out 9 bottle caps and a kitchen scale or a coat hanger to try it for real.
  11. Stick the “PUSH” sign on the final box; it always gets a big laugh.

Answers and hints (facilitator only)

StageAnswer / codeHints
1. Who holds whatLouFirst work out what Bob is holding. · Then what’s left for Rob?
2. The vault dial3061Try a last digit of 1, 2 or 3 and work out the first digit. · Remember that all the digits are different.
3. The gold bars2Split the bars into three groups of 3. · What does one weighing of two groups tell you?
4. Rob’s sack5If all 12 coins were 5 cents, they would be worth 60 cents. · Every 10-cent coin instead of a 5-cent coin adds 5 cents.
5. Warm-up route · The symbols on the lock4Every symbol is a number. What is one symbol worth? · Add: 2 plus 2.
6. The vault door3071First the multiplication: 2 times 5. · Then add it to 3061.

Read at the end: The code is entered, and then someone notices a small sign on the door: “PUSH”. The door was open the whole time. The robbers walk out, return all the gold and ask for jobs as the bank’s cleaners.

🏦 The Most Embarrassing Bank Robbery · Stage 1 of 6

Who holds what

Each of the three robbers, Bob, Rob and Lou, holds one thing: a key, a torch or a sandwich. Bob is not holding the key or the torch. Rob is not holding the key.

Which robber is holding the key?

✍️ Our answer:

🏦 The Most Embarrassing Bank Robbery · Stage 2 of 6

The vault dial

Lou has the key, but the vault also needs a 4-digit code. Clues are carved on the wall: all four digits are different. The second digit is 0. The first digit is 3 times the last digit. The digits add up to 10.

What is the code?

✍️ Our answer:

🏦 The Most Embarrassing Bank Robbery · Stage 3 of 6

The gold bars

The vault has 9 gold bars that look exactly the same. One of them is fake and slightly lighter than the others. The robbers have a balance scale with two pans (and no weights).

What is the smallest number of weighings that is guaranteed to find the fake bar?

✍️ Our answer:

🏦 The Most Embarrassing Bank Robbery · Stage 4 of 6

Rob’s sack

Rob managed to fill a sack with only 5-cent and 10-cent coins. There are 12 coins in the sack, worth 85 cents altogether.

How many 10-cent coins are in the sack?

✍️ Our answer:

🏦 The Most Embarrassing Bank Robbery · Stage 5 of 6

Warm-up route · The symbols on the lock

On the way to the last clue of “The Most Embarrassing Bank Robbery” you find another corridor of locks. Every 🏦 is worth 2. Add two symbols.

🏦 + 🏦 = ?

Which number opens the lock?

✍️ Our answer:

🏦 The Most Embarrassing Bank Robbery · Stage 6 of 6

The vault door

The code to open the door from the inside: take the answer from station 2, and add the answer from station 3 multiplied by the answer from station 4.

What is the code?

✍️ Our answer:

Facilitator guide: 🏦 The Most Embarrassing Bank Robbery

What the room practices

Elimination logic, digit rules, the balance-scale puzzle and coin equations.

The 5 stations (without the answers)
  1. Who holds what: Which robber is holding the key?
  2. The vault dial: What is the code?
  3. The gold bars: What is the smallest number of weighings that is guaranteed to find the fake bar?
  4. Rob’s sack: How many 10-cent coins are in the sack?
  5. The vault door: What is the code?

Age and group size

Best with teams of 4–6 players. With more people, split into two teams racing the clock, each with its own kit.

Giving hints in this room

Online the hints open one at a time; in the printed kit they sit in the facilitator table next to each answer. Give the first hint after a couple of minutes of silence, not at the first wrong guess.

Questions and answers

What age is “The Most Embarrassing Bank Robbery” for, and how long does it take?

It was written for teens 13+ and adults, at medium difficulty, and usually takes 30–40 minutes. It has 5 story stations, and online you can choose between three difficulty levels that add more locks.

What do I need to run “The Most Embarrassing Bank Robbery”?

A printer and these props: Printed station sheets; Character cards for the three robbers; Toy coins; A box with a 4-digit lock; A “PUSH” sign for the ending. The printable kit includes a facilitator sheet with every answer and a card for each stage.

What if the players get stuck?

Every stage has graded hints. Online they open one at a time; in the printed kit they sit next to each answer on the facilitator sheet. The first hint never gives the answer away.

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