More Ways to Incorporate UV Blacklights
UV BLACKLIGHT PUZZLES CAN BE AMAZING
And for good reason! Invisible messages are fun for players, and keeping a message hidden until the correct tool is found is invaluable for Adventure designers. That said, there are some keys to doing it well.
Don’t give your players the UV light before they can use it.
As soon as your players find a UV (Ultraviolet) light, they’re going to want to check everything with it. Literally everything. Give them something to find quickly. You always want to let them know they’re on the right track. I also love adding in an easter egg (just make sure they don’t become red herrings).
Know your audience.
UV Lights are a staple puzzle for a lot of escape rooms, so if you’re putting something together for an advanced group of puzzlers, a lot of the fun of UV messages has probably worn off. Also, UV works best for smaller groups, since only one person can hold the UV light at a time, and everyone else can’t do anything.
Once you’ve used the UV light once, you can’t use it again.
Bit of a contentious one here, but hear me out. If you use one UV puzzle, no problem. If you use two UV puzzles, your players can assume that everything else needs to be checked over with a UV light, including areas they’ve already searched. This adds player frustration that you can avoid.
Carefully inspect your hidden message under bright lights.
Some UV inks aren’t as “invisible” as we’d like. Practice writing your messages on different types of paper, or with different inks in order to make your message as invisible as possible.
Check your batteries before the hunt.
Duh.
Use UV puzzles in darker environments.
Also duh. It’s much easier to miss the glow of a UV clue if you’re in a well-lit area. If your hunt takes place in a single space, make sure the players have control over the lighting, so that they can see everything they need to.
Some fun UV ideas:
Instead of relying on a UV flashlight, consider using a UV bulb. Done well, this could light up secret messages all over a room, but it could also add the interesting twist of having your players bring items over to the UV area to be examined for clues.
Don’t feel pressured to shell out for UV ink. That stuff is great, but there’s so many things that glow under UV.
The architect incorporated a UV/Blacklight torch in a DnD-themed Adventure.
Here’s an incomplete list of things that glow to take inspiration from:
tonic water
flowers/chlorophyll
tooth whitener/toothpaste
antifreeze
fluorescent rocks (fluorite, calcite, gypsum, ruby, talc, opal, agate, quartz, and amber)
bodily fluids (blood, urine, etc)
bank notes
laundry detergents/other whitening cleaners
cosmetics/makeup
petroleum jelly/vaseline
scotch tape
rock salt
turmeric
olive/canola oil
highlighters
Here’s The Architect’s video showing some of these concepts in more detail:
If you haven’t seen it yet, check out our first Blacklight blog post!
Is there anything I missed, or do you have an especially cool idea for using UV? Let me know in the comments!
The Confounder