🎭 Escape room: The Mixed-Up Megillah

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A Purim escape room for kids 10–12: put the story of Esther in order, crack a number cipher and count the mishloach manot. Free to print.

Kids 10–12
Medium
20–25 minutes
5 story stations

The story

Just before the Megillah reading, the cantor’s gragger fell on the table and all the pages of the scroll got mixed up! The cabinet holding the scroll is locked with a code. Solve the riddles and save the reading.

Run it at home or in class

What to prepare

A gragger (noisemaker)
Printed station sheets
Four cards with parts of the story
An envelope or locked box
Pencils

Tips for the facilitator

Print the four parts of the story on separate cards and shuffle them.
Give each team a gragger; whoever solves a station gets to make noise.
At the end, hand out a small mishloach manot to every player.

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: The scroll cipher

1/6

A name is carved on the cabinet in a number cipher. Every letter is worth its place in the English alphabet: A = 1, B = 2, C = 3 … Z = 26. The name is ESTHER.

E S T H E R

What is the total of the letters in ESTHER?

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 Mixed-Up Megillah: facilitator kit

Kids 10–12 · 15–25 minutes · Level: Easy · 6 stages

Opening story: Just before the Megillah reading, the cantor’s gragger fell on the table and all the pages of the scroll got mixed up! The cabinet holding the scroll is locked with a code. Solve the riddles and save the reading.

Setup

A gragger (noisemaker)
Printed station sheets
Four cards with parts of the story
An envelope or locked box
Pencils
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.
Read the opening story to the group and start a timer.
When the group gets stuck, give one hint from the table, one at a time.
Print the four parts of the story on separate cards and shuffle them.
Give each team a gragger; whoever solves a station gets to make noise.
At the end, hand out a small mishloach manot to every player.

Answers and hints (facilitator only)

Stage	Answer / code	Hints
1. The scroll cipher	75	E=5, S=19, T=20, H=8, E=5, R=18. · Add them up one by one.
2. Mishloach manot	24	12 parcels, with 2 foods in each.
3. The mixed-up pages	4231	The story starts when Esther arrives at the palace. · Esther’s feast comes after Haman has already made his plan.
4. Listening twice	20	10 chapters, twice.
5. Warm-up route · The symbols on the lock	4	Every symbol is a number. What is one symbol worth? · Add: 2 plus 2.
6. The cantor’s code	7520	Write the answer to “The scroll cipher” and straight after it the answer to “Listening twice”.

Read at the end: The cabinet is open, the Megillah is in order and the reading can begin! Every time you hear “Haman”, make an extra-loud noise. You earned it.

🎭 The Mixed-Up Megillah · Stage 1 of 6

The scroll cipher

A name is carved on the cabinet in a number cipher. Every letter is worth its place in the English alphabet: A = 1, B = 2, C = 3 … Z = 26. The name is ESTHER.

E S T H E R

What is the total of the letters in ESTHER?

✍️ Our answer:

🎭 The Mixed-Up Megillah · Stage 2 of 6

Mishloach manot

On Purim you send at least two kinds of food to a friend. There are 12 children in the class, and each child sends one friend a parcel with exactly two foods.

How many foods were sent in the whole class?

✍️ Our answer:

🎭 The Mixed-Up Megillah · Stage 3 of 6

The mixed-up pages

Four parts of the Megillah got mixed up, and each one has a number: Part 1: Esther invites the king and Haman to a feast. Part 2: Mordechai overhears Bigtan and Teresh plotting. Part 3: Haman casts the pur (lots). Part 4: Esther is chosen as queen.

Write the part numbers in the order they happen in the Megillah (four digits in a row).

✍️ Our answer:

🎭 The Mixed-Up Megillah · Stage 4 of 6

Listening twice

On Purim the Megillah is read twice: in the evening and in the morning. The Book of Esther has 10 chapters.

How many chapters does someone hear if they hear the whole Megillah both evening and morning?

✍️ Our answer:

🎭 The Mixed-Up Megillah · Stage 5 of 6

Warm-up route · The symbols on the lock

On the way to the last clue of “The Mixed-Up Megillah” you find another corridor of locks. Every 🎭 is worth 2. Add two symbols.

🎭 + 🎭 = ?

Which number opens the lock?

✍️ Our answer:

🎭 The Mixed-Up Megillah · Stage 6 of 6

The cantor’s code

The cabinet code is the answer from station 1 followed by the answer from station 4. For example, if the answers were 12 and 34, the code would be 1234.

What is the code?

✍️ Our answer:

Facilitator guide: 🎭 The Mixed-Up Megillah

What the room practices

A letter-number cipher, multiplication and ordering a story.

The 5 stations (without the answers)

The scroll cipher: What is the total of the letters in ESTHER?
Mishloach manot: How many foods were sent in the whole class?
The mixed-up pages: Write the part numbers in the order they happen in the Megillah (four digits in a row).
Listening twice: How many chapters does someone hear if they hear the whole Megillah both evening and morning?
The cantor’s code: What is the code?

Age and group size

Best with teams of 3–5 children. In a class or a big party, print a kit per team and run the room in parallel.

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 Mixed-Up Megillah” for, and how long does it take?

It was written for kids 10–12, at medium difficulty, and usually takes 20–25 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 Mixed-Up Megillah”?

A printer and these props: A gragger (noisemaker); Printed station sheets; Four cards with parts of the story; An envelope or locked box; Pencils. 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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