Follow these steps to add your iPad Device to your Escape Room Boss account.

• Download and install the app from the iTunes App Store
• Launch the application
• Press the Add Device button and you will be taken to a login screen
• Enter your Escape Room Boss account details
• Go to the Manage Devices section
• Add a new device
• Enter the UID of the device by using the paste feature (the UID is automatically put into the clipboard for you by the application)
• Enter a description of the device for your own reference
• Press the save button
• Exit the web browser and go back to the application
• Press the login button

Logging in

Login is performed automatically when online; if you are not logged in automatically check your Internet connection and your account to make sure your device has been added to your account. Please note that occasionally during periodic login there is a 10 second delay associated with the license check.

Offline Usage

Although the application tries to log in periodically, you can use the app offline for a period of up to 14 days before being required to login again.

To log in again after the 14-day period has passed, either restart the app or press the login button on the login screen, once an Internet connection has been established. There may be a 10 second delay while this process completes.

You can skip if you do not wish to use any custom media files such as video, audio or images.

To import media for the first time select the configuration tab and enter the password (the default is "admin").

Before you setup operator preferences or configure the room themes its best to first import all of the relevant media that you want to use (pictures, audio and video files). The app integrates with many major file sharing services including iCloud and drop box. Make sure you have installed those file service apps separately before you attempt to access via the ESB app. You will need to have saved all of your media files to the cloud file service before you can transfer them. Proceed to import media such as image files for your company logo and game theme backgrounds. You can also import audio files for the instruction brief, the game brief and the individual clues. Likewise video can be imported for these items as well. If you do not wish to use any custom graphics, audio or video then you can skip the import media step.

Select "done" to exit back to main configuration menu

The following three items can be modified here

• Administrator passwords. The default is "admin".
• The finish QR code. This is the string of text to be used in the final QR code that should be positioned on the outside of the final escape door. If the group escape in time they will need to scan this code to stop the clock and complete their escape. The default QR code text is "Escaped". Text based QR codes can be generated freely by many websites on the internet. We recommend www.qrstuff.com and select plain text QR code. From there simply enter your text and it will generate a QR code image for download. This should be saved and printed for use with the app.
• Disclaimer. This section lists your venue "house rules" or game play instruction guidelines. These house rules are universal to every room theme at your venue. You can enter just text using the "text tab" and list your rules of play or you can select "Audio & Text" to list text and play an audio voiceover file or alternatively simply have the app play a video file that provides the house rules to customers.

Select "done" to exit back to main configuration menu

This is where you setup your venue's individual room game themes. We recommend that you setup all themes on each IPAD device.

To add a room select "add room" and give a name to the room theme. For example "Prison Break" if you are entering a game theme of that nature. Then select the room theme and select "edit room"

The edit room screen contains all of the adjustable parameters particular to your theme and venue. They are;

• Room Introduction. Here you should setup the details of the initial game theme brief. You can present these details in either text only, text and audio or video only. The selector items indicate which method you have chosen. You will need to enter your preferred game theme brief text or select the appropriate audio or video files from the media library importation performed at Step 3 above.
• Finished in Time Message. Here you enter the details that appear or activate if the playing group escapes within the allocated time limit. You can present these details in either text only, text and audio or video only. The selector items indicate which method you have chosen. You will need to enter your preferred successful escape game finish text or select the appropriate audio or video files from the media library importation performed at Step 3 above.
• Time Runout Message. Here you enter the details that appear or activate if the playing group fails to escape within the allocated time limit. You can present these details in either text only, text and audio or video only. The selector items indicate which method you have chosen. You will need to enter your preferred failed escape game finish text or select the appropriate audio or video files from the media library importation performed at Step 3 above.
• Audio Timer Warnings. This activates default audio time warnings to notify the players of how much time there is remaining. The audio warnings occur at the following intervals. 30 minutes remaining. 20 minutes remaining. 10 minutes remaining and 5 minutes remaining.
• Game Time Adjustment. The sets the default game duration time on the countdown clock for that room theme. There is also a separate quick adjustment for game duration that can be made at the start of the game by the staff. This contends with groups that are running late for their session time and automatically resets back to the default time after the game (it saves staff having to enter into the configuration menu and also having to change it back).
• Clue Penalty. This sets the time penalty that is added to the player groups time score for each clue that they scan. Please note that this does not reduce the groups playing time and does not take time off the gameplay timer. It simply creates a scoring system for comparison against other groups.
• Answer Penalty. This sets the time penalty that is added to the player groups time score for each clue where the player group have requested the actual answer because they have not been able to solve the challenge from the clue. There is a "show answer" feature in game where they can do this. Please note that this time penalty does not reduce the groups playing time and does not take time off the gameplay timer. It simply creates a scoring system for comparison against other groups.
• Clue Lockout Time. In order to avoid player groups scanning all of the clues too quickly (and not actually attempting to solve the challenges and escape using their brain power) this setting allows you to regulate how often the group can scan clues. Once a clue is scanned the clue lockout timer will start on screen and countdown from its default setting. During the clue lockout period the player group will not be able to scan any clues. So for example a clue lockout period set to 5 minutes would mean the group could only scan one clue every 5 minutes.
• Clue Unlock Time. This feature extends upon the clue lockout timer above. You can set the clue unlock time so that after the selected time period the clue lockout timer deactivates and the player group are no longer restricted in how many clues the scan in any period of time. This caters for player groups that for example are stuck in the last 10 minutes of their game and have 7 challenges to complete and need several clues to get through. Using this feature can allow them unrestricted clue scanning in the final stages of their game ensuring that they have a guaranteed opportunity to escape (with a lots of time score penalties though).

Editing Room Theme Clue Set & Answers

When in the room edit mode select the "edit clues" option from the bottom menu bar. This is where the individual challenge clues and answers are setup for the particular room theme.

Your game theme will have several challenges throughout to complete. The average is around 10 challenges but you can setup as many as you like in the app. The escape room boss app incorporates a QR code reader to scan each game clue if and when the players need one. The QR codes can be generated freely by many websites on the internet. We recommend www.qrstuff.com and select the plain text QR code. From there simply enter your clue text and it will generate a QR code image for download. We recommend you generate a simple format of QR codes for your clues. For example if your venue has a prison break theme your QR codes could be "Prison001" for the first challenge and clue, "Prison002" for the second challenge and clue and so on until all challenges have a QR code and clue. These QR codes should be saved and printed for use with the app.

For each challenge you should carefully devise each of the following for every clue.

• A clue with normal difficulty (that players aged 16 and above could resolve with team work). We recommend that you don't make the normal mode clue too easy. It should probably give the group around 80% of the information they need to solve the challenge.
• A clue with easy difficultly (that players aged from 10 and above including adults could use). We recommend that this clue set be made easier to give the player group about 95% of the information they need to solve the challenge.
• The Answer. Here you enter the actual answer to the challenge. So if the first challenge involved unlocking a cabinet you would enter something like "the padlock code to the cabinet is 4547"

Setup one clue for each challenge for each room theme and when finished select "done" and then "done" again to exit to the main room configuration menu.

If you select the room theme on the left of the screen you can then allocate a theme "background image" to that game theme. The image must have already been downloaded into your media files in Step 3 above.

Placement of printed QR codes in your room theme

Once you have configured the clues into the app and printed the QR codes you can proceed to setting them up throughout your room theme. The QR codes scan best in reasonably good light but if the players have a torch it will scan fine.

We recommend that you position the first QR code visibly for the player group so that they know where to get their first clue if stuck on the first challenge. Subsequent QR codes for subsequent challenges should be positioned where possible sequentially in such a way that they cannot easily be scanned and used out of order. So for example if the first challenge was to open a blue toolbox the first and only visible clue QR code would direct to them that. The clue QR code for the second challenge would be locked inside the blue box so that it was impossible for them to use the second clue before the first. This is also a good technique to bring some sequencing to your gameplay as research shows that challenges that have no clear sequencing result in lesser player experience and negative feedback. Good sequencing does not necessarily make the game easier for the players.

We recommend that the printed QR code be fixed to card or walls to make them more robust.

Once all of the Steps above are configured the first time you should not need to edit them again. Now it's time to play!

To use the app during a game follow the process below;

• On the main home screen your staff member will select the room theme the group are going to play. You can setup and unlimited number of room themes in the app an we recommend that all themes be setup on each ipad your venue uses.
• If you want to change the game time for that session you can adjust the time selector (the default will be whatever you configured for that theme). If you want to turn the "answer" access feature off then you can do so here (default is on). If you want to limit the number of clues they can use you can turn that function on here (default no limit). You can also adjust the difficultly mode to easy mode using the selector slider (default mode is normal clue set). You should generally leave the introduction set to "on". You can turn it off if the group are playing their second room and you do not want them to have to hear the house rules again. Text to speech should generally be left off.
• Your staff should select "start" and then hand the iPad over to the players. They can read the house rules on the screen or the audio or video will play to instruct them. Once finished they should select "Agree and Continue"
• The game theme brief will then appear on screen and activate any associated audio or video. Once this has finished, if the game theme brief is set to text only then the players will need to select "start" to commence the countdown timer for their game. If audio or video is used for the game brief then the clock will automatically commence once the audio or video is finished. At this point your staff will have left the room.
• When the player group are stuck at some point during their game they can tap the screen and elect to scan a clue QR code associated with the challenge they are stuck on. When the players attempt to scan the QR code a warning will appear on screen telling them that a time score penalty will incurred. It will then activate the clue on screen in text, audio or video. If the player group cannot solve the clue they can select "show answer" and after another score penalty warning it will show the actual answer (code for example) on screen.
• As the players progress through their game they can use as many clues as they like however the "clue lockout timer" will regulate how often then can scan a clue. The longer this is set for the fewer clues they can scan during the game. We recommend that this be set between 5 and 10 minutes for the average 45 minute game. During the game audio timer warnings will activate to prompt the players of the time remaining and remind them to use clues if stuck. These audio warnings activate when there is 30 minutes remaining, 20 minutes remaining, 10 minutes remaining and 5 minutes remaining. Please note that while the countdown timer is going during a game there is a hidden button in the top right section of the screen that can be used by your staff to pause the timer. If your staff press on the top right section of the screen 4 times the password box will appear so they can enter the admin password to pause the game. This can be used in the event that you need to pause their experience for some reason.
• Game finish. There are two potential outcomes in an escape room game and the app deals with both. The first outcome is that the group escape the final door challenge within their allotted game time (say 45 minutes). If the group escape their final door and scan the QR code outside that door the timer will stop and their final score together with onscreen text and audio will activate. At this point your staff will take the IPAD back and use the post-game picture taking feature to take a photo of the player group. This photo will include your overlaid brand, the theme name and the score details. The photo can then be shared by email and uploaded to file sharing services. The other outcome is where the group fail to escape within their allotted game time. If they haven't escaped when the time reaches zero the clock will stop and a failed outcome message and audio will activate. Again the post-game process is the same involving a picture if desired.
• To exit the final game screen there is a hidden menu button in the top right of screen. Simply press the screen in this location and the admin password box will appear. By entering the admin password the app will return to the main menu.

The Apple IOS operating system contains an inbuilt feature to manage the screen lock and buttons. The feature is called "guided access" and is setup in the settings menu of the IPAD. This is easy to do and the Apple instructions can be found here.

We recommend that you use this feature during a game to lock the IPAD screen to "always on" and lock all buttons including volume. Your staff activate this feature when they hand the IPAD over to the player group and this ensures they cannot inadvertently close the app of access any other features of the IPAD.