The Game Gal

Family-friendly games for you and yours

DIY Escape Room Kit – Space Pirate Attack

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You’re on board a spaceship, a passenger ship to Mars. But you didn’t expect to be attacked by space pirates during your journey. Now you’re locked in the cargo hold and the blast doors won’t open. Any moment you and your fellow passengers could be ejected into the cold heart of space. What will you do to ESCAPE?

Space Pirate Attack DIY Escape Room Kit

Check out all of my escape rooms and find the perfect one for you!

What is a DIY escape room?

Escape room companies are taking off around the world, offering a unique challenge where players are “locked” in a room and have to find clues and crack codes to escape.

This Science Lab Breakout escape room kit is a download that has everything you need to host the same kind of high-suspense, realistic-feel escape room, in any room you choose. All of the planning has been done for you. You just print, prepare, and host.

Grab the downloadable package

Will this escape room kit work for me?

If you’ve played my other escape room kits, Space Pirate Attack is a little different. It’s more creative and requires a little more suspension of disbelief, but it’s also very hands-on and unique. One other thing that sets it apart is the host plays a role in the room, with a script and an easy way to help players out if they get stuck. It’s a pretty challenging room, too!

The escape room is designed for:

  • 4 to 10 players
  • Ages 14 and up
  • About 1 hour to complete

It would make a great:

  • Birthday party
  • Group date night
  • Family reunion activity
  • Youth night
  • Corporate team building exercise

It’s a great room if you want the feel of a commercial escape room, where your guests really feel like they’re locked in a room and trying to escape (and if you don’t mind doing some reading and setup). If you want something quick and easy that only involves printing things and doesn’t require a host, it’s not the room for you.

But everything is pre-planned. If you can read, print, cut, and hide things, you can throw your own awesome escape room party with this download.

Plus escape rooms are a ton of fun! Your guests will enjoy the searching, solving, and suspense that come with an escape room, as well as those great “a-ha!” moments when they finally figure out a clue. As a host, you won’t be able to play through the room, but it can be just as fun and rewarding to watch your guests play.

“We did the escape room for my daughter’s 16th birthday and it was a huge hit!  They had a great time – it took them 90 minutes to finally escape 🙂 Your directions and downloads are very well done!  Great job on the escape room – it was fantastic!” – Caryn P.

“The Escape Room Kit worked wonderfully. It was quite difficult, even for educated adults, but with a few hints almost all our groups finished within the hour. (One group did not need extra hints!) Thanks so much for all the work you put into making this kit. Your step by step instructions made it easy to make it a success.” – Stephanie U.

“We had 4 our of 7 rooms finish and everyone had a GREAT time!!! Super fun!! The best $20 I’ve ever spent!!” – Angela F.

“I ran the escape room this past weekend, and it was awesome! I ran it simultaneously in three different rooms since I had a larger group of teens I was working with and it was really successful. I have done another DIY escape room before and this was definitely superior in content. Thanks so much!!” – Gillian L.

“I have searched the Internet far and wide and your escape rooms are beyond the most comprehensive, well-organized, creative, challenging, and truly entertaining (to play and set up!) that I have found. Thanks!” – Amanda R.

“It went great. I ran two rooms for a youth group and they really enjoyed it. The puzzles were challenging and kept the real brainy ones going the whole hour. This kit was recommended to me and I definitely would pass along the recommendation. Thanks again.” – John C.

“The Space Pirate Attack escape room was a hit! Our team used it for our end of day team building exercise and we definitely had both groups engaged and excited at the opportunity of escaping reality, if not the room itself. We are an intergenerational staff and despite our fear of it being 14+ and potential of them figuring this out too soon but they took the entirety of the time to figure it out—which they did! Overall, this was an amazing experience and I’m very glad my colleague found this game!” – Sean W.

“I bought it for a friend of mine and she set it all up and it went really well. It was all adults playing and they even needed a hint. Everything was so planned out and thorough, she was very impressed. Looking forward to trying more!” – Renee L.

“I ran the Escape Room for my birthday on Wednesday night, it was great! … The suggestions you gave for comments were really good and the hints were really helpful. …. Overall, it was a really successful night. None of my friends had ever done anything like it, so were a bit flummoxed to begin with, but once they got in to the swing of things they really thrived on completing the activities.  As the coordinator of the event, I loved the detailed nature of your notes and all the print outs and instructions were excellent.  … It was so cool being in the room and seeing when people had a ‘light bulb moment’ when working on a puzzle.  Thank you so much for all the hard work that you put into putting it altogether, I would definitely recommend it to anyone over just having another boring DVD night with friends. I definitely think we will have to try another one of your kits.” – Gina M.

“This was such a great kit! Everyone had a great time escaping! I ran it 3 times with 3 different age groups! Thank you so much!” – Susana T.

“I purchased the Space Pirate Attack escape room kit as a team building exercise to start our church’s Mission Week with. It was something different that engaged every person on the team, no matter their age. We had some middle school & high school students, college kids, and adult chaperones. … Everyone had a lot of fun and it created a spirit of teamwork at the very start of our week together.” – Cherie H.

“Fantastic escape room! I am the program coordinator at the town library and I ran this program last week. It went so smooth  and was so easy to set up and run. I ran it for four groups back to back and they all enjoyed it. Thank you for doing all the work , looking forward to purchasing another escape room very soon.” –Tonya H.

How does it work?

This game consists of hidden clues in a room. Most clues are printed from the download. Some clues are physical objects you will need to provide, but they are all common household objects or inexpensive. There are very clear instructions in the download for preparing your room, where your guests will be “locked” and where they will search for and solve clues. The combination of printable clues and actual items makes the game more authentic and exciting for your guests.

DIY Escape Room Kit

Space Pirate Attack

This escape room kit lets you host your own DIY escape room at home. All of the planning has been done, you just need to print and prepare! There’s an involved plot with a space travel theme, and it will be a lot of fun for your guests!

What’s included:

  • Digital download, which includes:
    • Thorough, detailed instructions
    • Over 20 pages of high-quality clues
    • Printable invitations and decorations

What you will need to do at home:

  • Print and cut the materials
  • Choose and prepare a room
  • Hide clues in the room
  • Supply these common objects:
    • 36 paper or plastic cups 
    • 1 plastic tub or box big enough to hold the cups
    • 1 package plastic drinking straws
    • 2 paper folders
    • Small box or Tupperware container
    • Ballpoint pen
    • Rubber band or string
    • Paper and pens or pencils
    • Metal brad
    • Plastic three-ring binder or a stapler
    • Scissors and hole punch
    • Masking tape
    • Computer, smartphone, or mp3 player/speakers to play an audio file

Purchase your Escape Room Package

Downloadable Package

$25

Includes a digital download with over 20 pages of clues and detailed instructions, all of the planning and files you need to host your own escape room.

Buy Now – $25

I guarantee 100 percent satisfaction! If you’re unhappy with your purchase, email me within 30 days and I will offer you a full refund.

If you have any questions, comments, or reviews, be sure to respond below!

Also be sure to check out my Printables page for more great games to play!

Want more than one Game Gal escape room? Buy all 5 rooms at once and save 25 percent!

Anything else I should know?

The escape room download has a no-commercial-use copyright attached. You are free to download and use for your own noncommercial purposes, but please do not share the digital files, post the digital files, or use any contents of the download to host an escape room you charge money for.

Comments

  1. My siblings and I had such a fun time doing this escape room at our family reunion! This one is great because it has so many diverse and engaging puzzles. My brother and his wife worked on a cryptic problem solving puzzle while my little sister worked on a more hands-on creative puzzle. But the last puzzle was my favorite and had us all working closely together to finish the narrative and escape. Love this escape room and can’t wait to do more!

  3. are any of the escape rooms editable? Do you offer them in bundles?
    I’m looking for my classroom (10 years old) so I’m hoping to edit if they appear too challenging. Thankyou

    1. Hi Jen, unfortunately, the escape rooms aren’t editable. You can always make adjustments with the difficulty by choosing not to hide clues or offering more hints. The Space Pirate Attack escape room is for older teens or adults and would definitely be too challenging for 10 year olds. They for sure would be able to handle the Color Crisis room, though!

  4. We want to use this at a work function. We would need to break down in small groups and have several rounds. Do the clues/items get destroyed when you play (written on or torn up), or can you quickly set up the same materials for a second group.

    1. Hi Ally,

      Two pages are supposed to be written on, but you could print multiple copies. The rest of the clues don’t need to be written on (you might want to laminate them or make sure your players have enough scratch paper not to write on the clues). Each group will need their own drinking straws, but those are cheap and you could easily get enough for each group.

  5. I have to teach a group of ell students. Could you give me an example of one of the puzzles so I could see the level of english involved? They are 16-19 years old but read mostly around a 3rd or 4th grade level.

    Thanks!

  7. Does the “Host” have the answers or is there a way to make sure groups are progressing at a “fun” pace? I’m planning to use this as a team building thing at a work retreat and worry that stalling out due to difficulty could create the wrong atmosphere.

    1. Just a room that can comfortably fit all your players! They will need space to build a pyramid out of cups and it would be helpful to have a surface to write on. Otherwise there are no size requirements.

  9. We wanted a space theme for a family reunion escape room. If we intermix kids ages 8 to teen with adults, would the kids still enjoy it?

    1. I think they would. There are some hard parts then adults would have to take charge of, so I would make sure there are at least a few adults per room. But there are some fun/easy parts (searching the room for clues, building a paper cup pyramid, and making a chain of straws) that the kids could do and would enjoy. If you do it, I would love to hear how it goes!

    1. I think it would be tricky for 12-14 year olds by themselves. I ran it with a group of 12-14 year old boys, and it was too challenging. It took them closer to 2 hours and a LOT of hints. I think there were some boys in the group who weren’t as interested in puzzle solving, so it might depend on the group of children, but I would say in general it would be too difficult. My Science Lab Breakout room would be great for that age range, though.

  12. Hi, your instructions say that I would need a computer or smart phone to play audio….would the players be able to use their own smart devices. I’m thinking or using this for up to 6 teams, so just want to understand how the audio part fits in to it and if I’d need 6 computers!
    Thanks

    1. Hi Jamie, good question. So it’s one specific audio file you play, one that comes with the download. Each room needs a host, someone who knows the plot and can answer questions, and yes, the hosts could use their own smart devices to play the audio. You would just give them the audio file beforehand. So no, you don’t need 6 computers 🙂

  13. Hello, I am looking for an escape room to do with a homeschool co-op. The ages of the kids are 12-16. I am excited to have found yours that mixes in real world objects to make it more immersive for them. I am trying to decide though if the Science Lab or Space one would be a better fit for them. Is there a way to see an example of the puzzles to get a better idea? Or if you have any suggestion I would greatly appreciate it.

    1. Hi Ashley. I think for kids of that age I would go with the Science Lab game. Space Pirates is fun, but is pretty challenging. I had trouble when I ran it with a group of 12 year old boys. But I’d be happy to send you a puzzle sample from Space Pirates. I will email it to you.

  14. Hello,
    I am looking to purchase this game for corporate team building. Would this game suit 30+ year olds? Thanks Jen

  15. Hi,

    I am also looking to play this game as a work social event. It seems like it will work well, although, I am wondering if I can use paper cups and straws? I know they aren’t as robust as the plastic ones, but we have quite a strong sustainability policy at my work.

    Thanks, Sam

  16. Hello there, I’m super excited that we found you and your escape rooms. My daughter is having her 13th birthday party and wants to do the Space Escape…the girls love love love puzzles and solving problems but I don’t want them to not be able to escape the room. They are all 13 and she really thinks they can do this. Any advice?

    1. Hmm… I ran it with a group of 13 year old boys, and I think it ended up being too difficult for them. It took closer to an hour and a half and many of them were losing interest. But there were about 10 of them, which I think was too many. (Larger groups with children don’t seem to work as well as larger groups of adults.) Also, not all of them were “puzzle” people. If your girls really do like puzzles, and if you can do a smaller group or split them into two groups, and if you’re ready to give hints, I think they could be up for the challenge. But if you want a safer bet, the easy version of my Science Lab Breakout would be great.

      1. There will be 4 girls at the party and they are relentless when it comes to doing math and solving puzzles. Do you think you could send me an example? She really wants to do the Space Pirate Attack. Thanks so much Andrea

    1. Ooo, with Space Pirate Attack, I don’t think you could do 15 minutes. With my Science Lab Breakout room, maybe you could do 30. You could always set up the room and have people play it for 15 minutes, with the expectation that no one will escape–just compete to see who gets the farthest.

  18. Hello. I would like to do an escape room for my work team. About 16 staff between the ages of 30-50. We could break out into teams perhaps? How many per team? And which game would you recommend? What’s the typical time it would take? Anything else I should be aware of? Laura

    1. Hi Laura, great questions. Yes, I would split into at least 2 teams. If you do Space Pirate Attack or Science Lab Breakout, teams of 8 to 10 would work just fine. If you do Seafloor Escape, I would split into smaller teams of about 4 players. Space Pirate Attack and Science Lab both take about an hour. If you want a shorter game, you can set up Seafloor Escape to only take 30 to 40 minutes. If you have separate rooms, I would do Science Lab (a very popular game) or Space Pirates (more imaginative and slightly more challenging). If you only have one large room, putting smaller teams at separate tables with Seafloor Escape would work fine. Does all of this help?

      1. Yes! Thanks for your help! I plan to set this up tonight to play tomorrow with the team. Is it an easily download? Any suggestions on how to do this?

        1. Awesome! All of the instructions are in the download. You’ll need to do some reading and setup, but it should all be self-explanatory. Let me know if you have any questions! Good luck!

    1. Hmm, I’m inclined to say no. The host needs to see what the guests are doing for one portion, and the host has something to give the guests at the end. Maybe if you came in for some of the time? I don’t think it would work very well, though.

  21. Hello!
    I was wondering if it is possible to edit the downloaded package to translate it?
    I would like to play with some friends (17-20 years old), but they’re french-speaking, so using the package as-is would probably not work.
    Thank you very much!

    1. The files are not editable, sorry. I’ve had customers translate other escape rooms anyway, so I won’t say it’s impossible. In this escape room there is a lot of text, and I think there is one puzzle that would be hard to convert into another language. I would not recommend it. Sorry!

  22. Hello! Another question. Can we recycle this game? We have 2 groups doing it during our party. If we can recycle it, how long will it take between the groups to set up?
    THANK YOU!

    1. Yes, you can definitely recycle the game. You will need to provide second copies of some of the clues (3 to 5 of the black and white pages) and more straws. Depending on how involved your setup/decorations are, you could set up the game in about 15 to 30 minutes.

  23. Hello!!!! I teach High School Science and was thinking about doing an escape room in class. Do you think that Space Pirate Attack could be used in a classroom environment. My largest class is around 22 students.

    1. If you haven’t prepped any of the clues, I would plan on about an hour and a half for that. Setting up the actual room depends on how much you want to move out or decorate, but at the minimum I would say 30 minutes.

  25. Hi! Looking to do a fun team building activity for some student pilots. I am considering doing the space pirate game. Would you be able to send me an sample game so that it fits our need.

  26. Can the host play without knowing all the answers? We are doing it as a family and would like everyone to be able to participate.

  28. Question, does the “host” play into the storyline? Not sure if this makes sense… but, in the whole ‘plot’ of this Escape Room, is there a reason why the host would NEED to be there (other than its how this particular room operates?)… like, is the host “captured” by the space pirates and confined to the room or something? Thinking of running this with a bunch of High School Seniors who want to be challenged… but who are going to tease us leaders at the idea of being ‘babysat’….. so I’m hoping the host role is a fun part of the room and not just purely functional.

    1. Annika, hopefully this will clarify for you. The host does play into the story line: the host plays as the droid that “talks” or interfaces with the computer, which the players would not otherwise be able to interact with. The kit also comes with suggested dialogue lines for the host/droid to read or recite that play into the storyline.

      Because the game is structured this way, it would be very easy to disguise the adult as part of the game and not just as a babysitter, especially if the adult is very circumspect in the amount that they interact with the players.

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