If we had to give three defining qualities of the room escape genre, they would be as follows:

(1) The most eye-catching objects in the room remain frustratingly unclickable.

(2) The key never fits the first lock you find.

(3) There's always a four digit passcode.

Feel free to list your own in the comments thread. And while you're at it, give our highly dubious visual history of the genre a look.

The gallery contains those games we consider required reading for room escapists, plus a few light-hearted or simply more recent hits. Go lose yourselves.