The problem with the family video call
Everyone is on the call. Nobody has anything to report. The children have wandered off and one grandparent is frozen. It is not that people do not want to talk - it is that there is nothing to talk about.
An online escape room replaces the agenda. You are all looking at the same room, so there is always something to point at.
How it actually works
One person buys a ticket and everyone opens the same link in a browser. You see a 360° room, you search it, and you drag things around with your cursor. Everyone sees the same room and each other’s cursors in real time, so when your nephew finds something you watch him find it.
The talking happens on whatever video call you already use - Zoom, Teams, FaceTime, WhatsApp. We do not replace that bit.
Ages and who does what
From about 10 with an adult on hand for the harder puzzles. Younger children are often better at spotting things in the room than adults are, which sorts the roles out on its own: the children search, the adults do the arithmetic.
Grandparents who are wary of the technology only need to watch and talk. Someone else can drive.
Cost and timing
One ticket per team, £15, however many households join. There is no fixed start time - the link works for 24 hours and the in-game timer is 60 minutes - so you can wait for the cousins in a different time zone.
Trapped on a Train is the gentler one and the right place to start. Use a laptop, tablet or PC; phones are too small.