Escape Now! is a cooperative game where players try to escape a randomly laid out escape room within 60 minutes. The 60 action cards represent minutes, meaning that players must complete the puzzles from the escape room before the 60th card is played.
Unlike other cooperative games, players are not allowed to communicate with each other. If they wish to do so, that’ll cost the team 1 minute, or otherwise said, one action card. This means that there's no dominant player who influences the others and that players need to be resourceful and rely on the judgment of the team members.
If a team succeeds in escaping the room, the amount of remaining action cards state how many minutes were left to go. In that way, teams can challenge each other in having time records.
There are 4 possible actions:
Solve a puzzle: place a corresponding trait card (i.e. 'perceptive', 'dexterous', 'talkative', 'tenacious' or 'logical') next to puzzle.
Move to another puzzle: choose and discard a trait/action card from your hand and move to any visible puzzle.
Replenish cards: Fill up your hand to 5 cards and then discard a card.
Ask a question: Discard the top card from the draw pile and ask a closed-ended question.
With adapted rules for 2 players and solo mode!
—description from the designer