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Steal the Nerds

The idea for this escape room came from my daughter Amelia. The game is deliberately short and simple so it can be used as a demonstration of how to build an escape room with the MakeCode platform. It uses mostly BBC micro:bits (v1 and V2) along with a couple of Arcade devices to demonstrate communications between the different types of device.

For a printable instruction pack for players, see here.

For a printable instruction pack for organisers (including solutions), see here.

Bill of materials

And if you have a 3D printer, see the additional resources here.

Instructions

This escape room has a 20-minute time limit and 5 stages. The premise of the game is to steal a top secret Super Massive Nerd Sweet Device (she likes the Nerd sweets) from a secret government facility. Your high-level plan is:

  1. Disable the facilities CCTV and motion sensor devices.
  2. Unlock the facility by breaking the code to unlock front door.
  3. Unlock the safety box containing 4 devices to disarm the sensor grid.
  4. Disable the sensor grid protecting the Super Massive Nerd Sweet Device.
  5. Escape out the back door of the facility.

To help you with the heist you have the following equipment in your toolbox:

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z A B C

Are you up for the challenge?

The alarm system

The secret government facility is protected by an advanced wireless alarm system. The secret government facility is full of sensors that can trigger the alarm. The alarm system has one weakness; it can be tricked into going into a diagnostics mode. In diagnostics mode, the cameras and motion sensors are disabled. The alarm system has a limit of how long it will stay in diagnostics mode before it forces the alarm to sound and puts the facility into lock down. This time limit is 20 minutes. Even when in diagnostics mode, the alarm can still be triggered by some of the sensors that have not been disabled. Triggering the alarm will put the facility into lock down and you will be caught by the police.

For details on how to build this step, see alarm system.

Disabling the cameras and motion sensors

In order to get into the secret government facility, the cameras and motion sensors need to be disabled. This is accomplished by putting the alarm system control box into diagnostics mode and locking it there. This is achieved by pressing the A+B buttons to put the device into diagnostics mode (indicated by a D) and then disconnecting the 3 wires from the alarm in the correct order. Get the order wrong or disconnect the wrong number of wires and the alarm will be triggered.

Once the first wire is disconnected, you have only 5 seconds to disconnect the 3 correct wires otherwise the alarm system will trigger.

Near where the alarm system wires are connected you will see 10 letters. These letters tell you the order in which you must disconnect the wires. You will need this code to decipher the letters:

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z A B C

Hint: a Caesar cipher works two ways, one to encode and another to decode.

For details on how to build this step and the solution, see control box.

Unlocking the facility

With the cameras and motion sensors off, you can now approach the front door. The door is a super high security door with the latest in electronic protection. It's the safest door in the world; almost uncrackable. Almost!

The keypad has a major flaw. The engineers that designed the door created a special override mode that allows the keypad to be bypassed. Each door has a code made from the digits 0, 1, 2 and 3. Adjust the screen on your door code cracking device, to match the override code that you can find under the door keypad. Then connect the door cracking device to the keypad using the two crocodile clip wires from your toolbox (you may need to open the door keypad to gain access to the connectors). Connect 2 to 2 and GND to GND. Then press A. The door code cracking device will transmit an unlock code over the wires which will open the door. You can now enter the secret government facility.

NOTE: When connecting the wires, they need to be attached securely otherwise the data may get garbled when it is transmitted.

Each door lock has a unique code which can be found near the door lock.

For details on how to build this step, see locked door.

For details on how to build the door code cracking device, see door code cracker.

Unlocking the safety box

Inside the secret government facility is a safety box that contains 4 devices that are needed to disarm the sensor protection grid that prevents the Super Massive Nerd Sweet Device from being moved and setting off the alarm.

The safety box requires a 4-digit code to unlock it. The code is changed once each day and the new code is generated by a code generator device. To get the code for today, a password needs to be entered into the code generator device which will then show the code.

The technician who is responsible for changing the code has a poor memory and always forgets the password for the code generator device. To help them remember the password, the technician keeps a piece of paper on their desk that contains the clues that gives them the password.

Solve the puzzle to work out the technician's password, enter it into the code generator device to get today's code and then unlock the safety box to get the 4 devices.

Puzzle

RALPH, UNDER THE PILLOW IS THE PASSWORD.

Remember to enter in all lowercase.

- - - - - -

For details on how to build this step, see safety box.

For details on how to build the devices, see devices.

Disabling the sensor protection grid

Now you have the 4 devices required to deactivate the sensor protection grid that the Super Massive Nerd Sweet Device sits on. Each of the 4 devices requires you to perform a specific action to enable it. The clues to work out what these actions are is inside the safety box. Each device that is enabled will turn off one of the sensor protection grid lights (the LEDs in the four corners). When all 4 are turned off, the sensor protection grid is disabled and you can safely pick up the Super Massive Nerd Sweet Device. If one or more of the lights remain on, picking up the Super Massive Nerd Sweet Device will trigger the alarm.

For details on how to build this step, see protection grid.

Escaping out the back doors

Now you have the Super Massive Nerd Sweet Device it is time to make your escape. You can't go back out of the front door as it will set off the alarm. You need to go out the back door which is a roller shutter type door. This particular model is highly susceptible to an Electro Magnetic Pulse which will make it roll itself back up.

In your toolbox you have an EMP charge. Shake it for more than 1 minute to charge it up (it will beep when charged) and then press the A+B buttons together. The EMP charge will then countdown from 5 seconds before pulsing and opening the door. You can escape with the Super Massive Nerd Sweet Device.

For details on how to build this step, see emp.

Play testing

First full run-through on 26th March 2025 and it worked!

example

example

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