Escape rooms are a game where a group of friends or co-workers get locked into a space to play some puzzles, so they can all win the reward of leaving the room slightly early. Maybe you love escape rooms and you want to get faster at them; maybe you hate them and you want to get them over with. Either way, you’ll learn something from this video on how to approach any escape room.

A locked room, a mystery to solve, team work and a little magic. Over 80 escape rooms have popped up across Australia in recent years, so we talked to Chris Krajacic -- one of the owners and game designers at Canberra's Riddle Room -- to find out more.

Getting locked in a room causes a lot of anxiety. Getting locked in a room modelled after Resident Evil's Spencer Mansion? That's downright scary. The Resident Evil Escape Experience seeks to capture all the intrigue and puzzle solving from the famous horror series. I set out to solve its secrets last night and had an absolute blast.

When I first heard that there was a Zelda escape room coming to the United States, I imagined a labyrinth of elaborate puzzles, growing more challenging and complicated with each subsequent chamber. I did not expect to be solving brainteasers at a conference table. But I am pleased to report, dear Kotaku readers, that my group saved Hyrule, even if it was a little lame.

The escape room scene has gone from a fun day of brain-sweating to serious business. How serious? If you tune in tomorrow, you can catch the Escape Room World Championship, hosted by Red Bull Mind Gamers in Budapest, Hungary -- the supposed birthplace of the "escape room phenomenon". Teams from over 20 countries will duke it out with mind bullets starting 6am AEST.