Oxford Mathematics Escape Room
The portrait of Henry Savile has been stolen from the office of the Savilian Professor of Geometry. Police believe the thieves stashed the picture in the Andrew Wiles Building and made their escape, but they will be back to retrieve it. Can you unravel the clues to locate the portrait and identify the thieves?
This is mathematical intrigue at its best, as you solve a series of mathematical puzzles and discover more about the sort of mathematical research taking place right here at Oxford Mathematics. The Oxford Mathematics Escape Room took place on 11 May 2019 and consisted of teams completing the challenge around the Andrew Wiles building in order to solve the mystery of the missing portrait.
Now you can join in too, with all the puzzles and content freely available enable you to create your own mathematical escape room adventure.
Who is it for?
The material was designed for an adult audience with an interest in science, but no pre-requisite mathematical education. It should be suitable for students in Year 11, 12 and 13 and also adults.
Perhaps also try it as Maths teacher teambuilding event? Please let us know how you use it and any feedback you have.
How long does it take?
We chose not to set a time limit in order to enable all participants to complete the challenge. The shortest amount of time taken to complete everything in our event was around 90 minutes, and the longest around 150 minutes. Individual puzzles take differing amounts of time, so please consult the notes if you are planning to use only one or two at a time.
What is the structure?
In our event, participants moved around an entire floor of our building, rather than being confined to one room. This was mainly to maximise the number of people who could take part. You could structure it differently by making some tweaks (suggested in the notes).