The Business Escape Challenge
The office is locked, the deadline is tonight, and the only way out is through five puzzles hidden in the company's paperwork. Teams race to crack codes buried in an income statement, a break-even problem and a scrambled set of key terms. First team out wins; everyone revises without noticing.
How to run it
Read aloud: You stayed late to finish the accounts. The smart-lock system has glitched and sealed the office. The door needs FIVE codes, all hidden in tonight's paperwork. The cleaner arrives in 30 minutes. Beat the cleaner, or spend the night with the filing cabinets.
Give each team the full pack (or release puzzles one at a time as each code is cracked, which builds more tension). Teams write their five codes on one answer strip. Calculators allowed: this is business, not a memory test.
The teacher is the smart-lock. Teams bring their full answer strip to the door; the lock only says how many codes are correct, not which ones. This one rule creates fantastic arguments about which answer to re-check.
First team with all five codes escapes (dramatic door mime encouraged). Afterwards, walk through each puzzle on the board: the income statement structure, the break-even method, and the margin calculation. Every puzzle maps to an exam skill; make that visible.
🖨 Puzzle 1: The shredded income statement (Code A)
Rebuild the statement and find the missing figure. Code A = the net profit in pounds, without the comma.
| Bright Spark Ltd — Income statement (year ending 31 March) | £ |
|---|---|
| Revenue | 40,000 |
| Cost of sales | 16,000 |
| Gross profit | ? |
| Expenses | 13,500 |
| Net profit | ? |
Answer key (teacher): gross profit £24,000; net profit £10,500. Code A = 10500.
🖨 Puzzle 2: The break-even lock (Code B)
Bright Spark Ltd sells desk lamps at £15 each. Each lamp costs £9 in materials and labour. Fixed costs are £9,000 a year. Code B = the number of lamps needed to break even.
Answer key (teacher): contribution per unit = £15 - £9 = £6; break-even output = £9,000 / £6 = 1,500 lamps. Code B = 1500.
🖨 Puzzle 3: The scrambled password (Code C)
Four key terms have been scrambled. Unscramble each one, then take the FIRST letter of each answer, in order, to form the four-letter password. Code C = the password.
- TSOC (a word for money spent by a business)
- STEAS (something valuable a business owns)
- RASHE (one unit of ownership in a company)
- RIEH (what you do to get new staff)
Answer key (teacher): COST, ASSET, SHARE, HIRE. First letters: C-A-S-H. Code C = CASH.
🖨 Puzzle 4: The margin dial (Code D)
The office safe has a percentage dial. Using the income statement from Puzzle 1, calculate the GROSS profit margin. Code D = the gross profit margin as a whole number percentage.
Answer key (teacher): gross profit margin = 24,000 / 40,000 x 100 = 60%. Code D = 60.
🖨 Puzzle 5: The final door (Code E)
Bright Spark Ltd's sales were £2 million last year. The whole desk-lamp market was worth £8 million. Code E = Bright Spark's market share as a whole number percentage.
Answer key (teacher): 2 / 8 x 100 = 25%. Code E = 25.
Full escape sequence: A 10500, B 1500, C CASH, D 60, E 25.
Variations
- Hide physical clues: print puzzles 2 and 4 and tape them under desks or inside a textbook page number revealed by puzzle 1.
- Sabotage rule: each team may once send a rival team a fake hint written on paper; rivals must decide whether to trust it.
- Build-your-own: as homework, each team designs one new puzzle with a numeric code from this term's formulas for a future escape run.
Teacher tips
- The how-many-correct-but-not-which rule is the engine of the activity. Never reveal which code is wrong.
- Have one hint token per team, tradeable for 2 minutes off their finish time, so weaker teams can escape too.
- Photocopy the answer strip small and identical for all teams so the door check takes seconds.
The Business School is a live simulation where your class runs rival firms for a full lesson — pricing wars, hiring, crises, negotiations. Free teacher demo, no installs, students join with a PIN.