Escape: The Curse of the Temple - Tips & Strategies

When we play with traps in the game we often designate some brave soul as the door opener and therefore the trap magnet. The reason being that the same trap doesn’t stack so rather than 3 people not able to talk with one hand on their head we have one poor soul who is severely hampered but able to open new rooms while the rest of the party is unlocking gems. The only trap this person should worry about is the one that makes you lose a dice as he will need all his dice to keep up with the party. Other people in the same room can still give him gold dice to keep him running at full capacity.

My son is 7 going on 8. He thought it was difficult to play, mostly because of the speed of the play. To make him more comfortable with and to make it a little easier for him we played with the treasures but left off the curses. This worked out well for us.

Following the same partner pairing-up strategy that Andy pointed out can yield great results and help to prevent players from getting their dice locked up during the game.

To maximize this effort, agree in advance to call out “Gold!” or something similar whenever you have an unused gold mask result on a dice roll. If your partner(s) are in the same chamber and they happen to roll black masks, they can then immediately be aware of and use the gold mask that you rolled to unlock up to two of their black masks.

If you have more than one partner in the same room, they can then respond with “Gold used!” etc. to indicate when the mask is used. This prevents both partners from taking advantage of a single die roll. The benefit will only be applied to the first person to claim it.

As another alternative to prevent confusion during the game between partner groups, come up with unique terms to use with your partner(s). This strategy could be especially important when gaming with newer members of the group, or at least until you can be sure to single out their voice.

Since you will be making your way to the entry chamber twice through the game, we have found it invaluable to prepare your dice for the second the door slams. Get to the starting chamber. Start furiously rolling to shore up your gold masks, or to prepare to travel to the next area(s). It’s a good opportunity to remove other players’ black masks as well, instead of just waiting in the starting tile.

One of the worst fates that can befall an adventurer in Escape: The Curse of the Temple is to be stuck with all black masks, requiring either adding a gem to the gem depot, or hoping a teammate will be able to help them remove their curses. Since the possibility of sitting still doing nothing is so crippling, I’ve found it helps greatly to keep a gold mask in reserve when possible.

On rolls where you have no black masks and roll a gold mask, keep the gold mask set aside until you have one or two black masks to cancel it with.

While this will generally reduce the total dice that you’re actively rolling by one, it will immediately cancel black mask rolls and give you more flexibility. In addition, if you’re working in pairs and communicating well, you can immediately share the gold mask with your partner if they ever roll a black mask. In this way, a group of 2 is only reserving 1 of 10 dice, as opposed to a single player’s reserving being 1 of 5.

Many modern boardgamers play on tables with recessed gaming vaults. Whether homemade or purchased from a company offering them, these tables are wonderful additions to dedicated game rooms. They do, however, make one of the base game curses obsolete.

Since having a die fall off the table while rolling in a vault is almost impossible, change that particular curse to “Lose a die permanently if it ever lands on top of a gaming tile.” You will still need to roll carefully to avoid the penalty, so the curse will maintain its original feel. It should also discourage your guests from bouncing their dice off the table rails too hard, thus increasing the longevity of your specialized furniture.

Split into pairs and head off in different directions. That way you cover more ground quickly and are not as far away when you have to return. Additionally, a dead end will not be as devastating to recover from.

Speed is key in Escape: The Curse of the Temple. Quick decision making and focused goals will go a long way towards success.

To give yourself the most rolls and best chance to win, control your dice when rolling.

While it sounds obvious, watching groups play the game will show there’s often at least one person that rolls their dice all over the table, with a lot of waiting for dice to stop rolling and spinning. Time where you are waiting for a result, or needing to reach across or under the table to grab rogue dice is time you’re not advancing through the temple.

Aim to pick a small area in front of you, away from the expanding board and the edge of the table, and keep your rolls short and quick. Pull any dice you are saving off to the side to keep the dice you’re actively rolling from colliding with them, knocking them around costing more time.

With a game that only gives you 10 minutes, and sprints back to the central room often are achieved with seconds to go, buying yourself extra time by controlling your dice rolling can give you the few extra moments you need to escape.

While you are sitting in a room designate one person to
opening up the next room while everyone else works on the room. The play can then call out what is needed to get there and what is needed when you get there. By this time the other players will have most likely completed the current room and are ready to move.

We made it a house rule that you can’t use a dice tray.

Although it is awesome for keeping things tight and quick, there is never really a chance for a dice to fall off the table. This makes the dice falling of the table curse useless.