ESCAPE YOUR HOUSEThe Archive of Houses
A kitchen table at night with puzzle sheets, a cipher wheel, scissors, sealed envelopes and a torch

Open case files · free, printable

Create your own escape room

Tonight, the escape room is your home. Four ready-made case files with a real story inside, or blank templates to invent your own.

A ready-made caseI want to invent one

Black and whiteEstimated prep: about 20 minutes, not counting printing and readingNo app

For now, the app's cases are in Italian. The printable kits are already in English.

Free

The free kit: The entrance test

A taster evening from the Archive, to print. All it takes is an email: the link to the PDF appears straight away.

Open case file K5 · the taster evening

The entrance test

Something has been reported at your house: in the evening, things change places. Tonight, you're the ones doing the inspection.

The Archive of Houses sends four envelopes: you hide them yourselves, one each, without knowing what's inside. A riddle, a code, a photo with no names, a floor plan with the compass rose turned. At the end, a torn record card to piece together and an ending you choose together.

Age
ages 10+ (at 8-9, Relaxed level with one adult per team)
Cost
free
Players
2-6, families or friends
Who runs it
everyone plays: each person hides an envelope, and doesn't solve the puzzle that leads to it
Length
30-40 minutes (40-45 on Relaxed)
Difficulty
1-2 out of 5
Prep
about 10-15 minutes, all together (estimate, not counting printing and reading the guide)
The file
12 pages + 3 of solutions, A4, black and white

What you need: a printer, scissors, sticky tape, a pencil each; at home, a chair, some shoes, a few books, a cushion (the kit gives an alternative for each).

Get the free kit

Where do you start?

Path 1

A ready-made case

Four printable kits, with a story, a guide for the organiser and separate solutions. Choose, print, play.

Compare the four kits

Path 2

I want to invent one

The method, the complete guide and the blank templates: paper locks, cipher wheel, grids, certificate.

DIY and the guide
Path 1 · the ready-made kits

Four case files to print

Every kit is a case from the Archive of Houses, with characters, a twist and an ending to choose. The organiser reads only their own guide, four pages. First, the four kits side by side.

Prep time is an estimate: it doesn't include printing and reading the guide.
KitAgeCostPlayersLengthPrepEssentialsAction
The entrance test
For families or friends		ages 10+free2-6, families or friends
organiser: everyone plays: each person hides an envelope, and doesn't solve the puzzle that leads to it		30-40 minutesabout 10-15 minutes, all together (estimate, not counting printing and reading the guide)scissors, sticky tape, a pencil each, a chair, some shoes, a book, a cushionGet the free kit
Who stole the candles?
Birthday		ages 8-12free4-10 children, plus 1 adult acting as the Keeper (2 adults for more than 8 children)
organiser: doesn't play, acts as the Keeper		45 minutesabout 20 minutes before the party (estimate, not counting printing and reading the guide)scissors, sticky tape, 5 socks, 5 household objects, a shoeboxChoose
The night of the doors
Halloween		ages 14+, adults includedfree4-8, plus the Doorkeeper, who runs the game and doesn't play
organiser: doesn't play, acts as the Doorkeeper		60 minutesabout 20 minutes with the lights on (estimate, not counting printing and reading the guide), plus a torch test the night beforescissors, sticky tape, a torch per team, a broom, a mirror, four interior doorsChoose
Three knocks at the kitchen door
Murder mystery dinner		adultsfree4-8, host included
organiser: plays too, sets up without reading		a 2-and-a-half-hour dinnermaterials: about 20 minutes (estimate, not counting printing and reading the guide); the dinner is prepared separately; the invitation goes out 3 days beforescissors, sticky tape, 8 envelopes, a pen per guest, an extra place settingChoose
The midnight note
A night for two		adultsfree2 (a couple, or two friends)
organiser: both play, each prepares for the other		45-60 minutesabout 20 minutes, ten each (estimate, not counting printing and reading the guide)scissors, sticky tape, a box, a mirror, a sofa, a window, a bed with a pillowChoose

Open case file K1 · the detective birthday party

Who stole the candles?

Someone has stolen the candles: the party starts when the detectives find them.

Three animal suspects, three teams, one cake waiting. A magpie that steals anything shiny, a cat that saw everything, a chatty little mouse. In the end, the culprit is the one you least expect.

Age
ages 8-12 (at 7, Relaxed level with one adult per team)
Cost
free
Players
4-10 children, plus 1 adult acting as the Keeper (2 adults for more than 8 children)
Who runs it
doesn't play, acts as the Keeper
Length
45 minutes
Difficulty
1-2 out of 5
Prep
about 20 minutes before the party (estimate, not counting printing and reading the guide)
The file
17 pages + 12 of solutions, A4, black and white

What you need: a printer, scissors (the adult keeps them), sticky tape, a torch, 5 odd socks, 5 household objects, a shoebox, the birthday cake candles.

Get the kit

Open case file K2 · Halloween

The night of the doors

Tonight someone will knock three times on one of the doors in your home. You have an hour to work out which one, and to decide whether to open it.

A notebook kept by a doorkeeper who, every 31 October for fifty years, has been closing doors. A case from 1974 in Valdinievole. Every door in your home has a word and a number of knocks. Suspense without blood.

Age
ages 14+, adults included (11-13: kids' mode, Relaxed level, lights on and one adult per team; under 11, K1 is a better choice)
Cost
free
Players
4-8, plus the Doorkeeper, who runs the game and doesn't play
Who runs it
doesn't play, acts as the Doorkeeper
Length
60 minutes
Difficulty
2-3 out of 5
Prep
about 20 minutes with the lights on (estimate, not counting printing and reading the guide), plus a torch test the night before
The file
20 pages + 14 of solutions, A4, black and white

What you need: a printer, scissors, sticky tape, a torch per team (phones are fine), a broom, a mirror, four interior doors, LED candles if you like.

Get the kit

Open case file K3 · murder mystery dinner

Three knocks at the kitchen door

A dinner, a death in 1961, and nobody at the table knows who did it: not even the person giving the culprit a voice.

The hills above Pescia, a storm, the bridge closed. Each guest gives voice to someone from that night. The secrets are sealed in envelopes that open course by course, when the table has earned them.

Age
adults
Cost
free
Players
4-8, host included
Who runs it
plays too, sets up without reading
Length
a dinner of about 2 and a half hours: the game runs between courses (about 2h10 of play, 2h20 with four players)
Difficulty
3 out of 5
Prep
materials: about 20 minutes (estimate, not counting printing and reading the guide); the dinner is prepared separately; the invitation goes out 3 days before
The file
33 pages + 9 of solutions, A4, black and white

What you need: a printer, scissors, sticky tape, 8 envelopes, a pen per guest, an extra place setting at the table, one accessory per character.

Get the kit

Open case file K4 · a night for two

The midnight note

In 1962 a note didn't arrive in time. Tonight you find it, in your own home, each of you for the other.

Pescia, February 1962. A seamstress and a bricklayer, a game between the two of them: every night at midnight, one hides a note for the other. The last one was never found. The sofa, the window, the mirror, the pillow: your home becomes theirs.

Age
adults
Cost
free
Players
2 (a couple, or two friends)
Who runs it
both play, each prepares for the other
Length
45-60 minutes
Difficulty
2-3 out of 5
Prep
about 20 minutes, ten each (estimate, not counting printing and reading the guide)
The file
20 pages + 7 of solutions, A4, black and white

What you need: a printer, scissors, sticky tape, 2 pens, a box (a tin, a biscuit box, a shoebox), a mirror, a sofa, a window, a bed with a pillow (the kit gives an alternative for each).

Get the kit
Get the kit

Send me the case file

All it takes is an email: the links to the PDF appear straight away, on this page.

The kit you'll receive

All the kits
Choose the occasion below, or leave it blank and you'll get them all.

Only the email and the privacy tick are required. Name, occasion and players are optional: they tell us which kit to prepare and for how many people.

Optional: it helps us understand when people play.

The kit is free, and stays free even if you don't tick the second box.

Path 2 · DIY

The kit for inventing your own

Blank templates, no ready-made case. The pieces we use ourselves, left blank. Write your own story, with the birthday child's name, your home, your own jokes.

Paper locks

Sealed envelopes with a check written on the outside: they only open if the answer is right. The envelope takes the place of a real padlock.

Cipher wheel

Two discs to cut out and a split pin. You write a message, turn the wheel, and it becomes a code.

Grids

Logic, word and coordinate grids, left blank. You fill them with the clues from your story.

Clue cards

Labels to hide, with room for the clue, the stage number and a hint for anyone who gets stuck.

Character cards

For evenings with roles: name, secret, what they claim, what they keep quiet. One per player.

Final certificate

The page you sign at the end: who solved the case, how long it took, with how many hints. To pin up or photograph.

Preview of the kit's first page

All the templates are in a single A4 PDF, in black and white. With the guide, you can build an evening in an afternoon.

Read the complete guide: how to host an escape room at home

Get the DIY kit
The method

How to host it, in six steps

An escape room at home isn't a list of riddles. It's a story that moves through the rooms. Here's how we build one, and how you can too.

  1. Choose a story

    One event, one culprit, one ending. The puzzles are the doors of the story, not the other way round. The players must know within a minute what they're looking for.

  2. Appoint the Keeper

    The organiser holds the solutions, gives the hints and acts as the lock. In the kids' and Halloween kits they don't play: they're the doorkeeper of the evening.

  3. Set up the house: about 20 minutes

    With the lights on. The sheets are hidden at hand height, in places every home has: the cushion, the mirror, the bottle of olive oil.

  4. Use three paper locks

    No real padlocks: the answer is a place, the Keeper is the lock, the envelope opens only with the right sum. Below, how they work.

  5. Hints in three steps

    If a group has been stuck for five minutes and nobody is talking, give the first hint without waiting to be asked. Time is a score, never a defeat.

  6. An ending to choose

    The last word opens the last envelope. Inside is a choice: the players decide how it ends. Then the photo, for the archive.

The locks

Three locks that cost nothing

A printed sheet doesn't go click. We replace the padlock with three mechanisms, always the same. They work with children and with adults.

The answer is a place

Almost every answer is a place or an object in the house. Whoever is right goes there and finds the next sheet. Whoever is wrong finds nothing, and works out on their own that they got it wrong.

DEN · WARDROBE · MIRROR · CUSHION

The Keeper is the lock

Number answers are told to the Keeper. They hand over the next sheet only if the number is right. Nobody sees the solution by accident.

«4213?» «Correct. Here's the envelope.»

The check sum

Where there's no Keeper, the envelope has a check written on it that doesn't give away the answer. It opens only if the numbers add up.

Open only if your five words have 40 letters in total.
The evening

From the day before to the last envelope

Estimated times, step by step. Printing and reading the guide are extra.

3 days before

The invitation

Murder mystery dinner only: each guest receives their character and brings an accessory.

The day before

Print, ruler, test

Print page 2 and measure the ruler: it must be 10 cm. Then print everything at 100%. For Halloween, test the torch on the sheets to be projected.

About 20 minutes

The house

Lights on, sheets at hand height, hallway clear. Never in the oven, under the sink or near sockets.

45-60 minutes

The game

The opening letter, the trails, the twist. The Keeper watches the clock and gives the hints. The murder mystery dinner lasts as long as the meal: about two and a half hours, food included.

The last envelope

The choice

They decide the ending. A photo, and the case goes into the archive.

Safety, in every kitEverything you're looking for is in the house, at hand height. No climbing on chairs, no opening the oven or the hob, no leaving the house, nothing gets broken, nothing heavy gets moved. LED candles only.
Why these

Why they're different

A story, not a list

Characters, a twist, an ending to choose. The puzzles serve the story.

The house is the game board

The clues are in places every home has. Nothing gets broken, nobody climbs, nobody goes outside.

Nobody gets left behind

Hints in three steps, three difficulty levels, a role for everyone, even the youngest.

Questions

Questions

Do I need a colour printer?

No. Everything is designed for black and white, on ordinary 80 gsm paper, single-sided.

Do I need the app?

No. The kit works on its own. The app is there if you fancy it later, and the prologue is free.

Can the organiser play?

At the murder mystery dinner and the night for two, yes: they set up without reading. At the birthday party and at Halloween the organiser plays the Keeper, and it's the most fun part.

How much does it cost?

Nothing. We only ask for your email: the links to the kit appear straight away, on the page.

What do you do with my data?

We use it to deliver your kit and, if you ask us, to reply to you. News and new case files only if you say yes with the second box.

What if we get stuck?

Every puzzle has three hint steps: one shifts your gaze, one shows the method, the last gives the answer and why. The solutions are in a separate file, for the organiser or for emergencies.

What age is it for?

The birthday kit is for ages 8-12. The night of the doors from age 14. The murder mystery dinner and the night for two are for adults. With the DIY kit, you decide.

The complete guideBirthdayHalloweenA night for twoChristmasTeam building