How to Make a Trick Drawer, Lock and Unlock with a Magnet, for an Escape Room

It was 2017, and I wanted to make a trick drawer in a small desk, lock and unlock “magically,” in our new escape room build. Pondering the problem for a bit, this simple idea came to me, and I sketched it out. Here is my original design and notes of it, drawn on my computer, for one of our escape room games in Ohio:

Making and Mounting the Trick Drawer Hasp and Magnet
The magnet is fused onto the backside of the hasp, and the hasp itself is screwed onto the underneath of the desktop or tabletop. Make sure the screws do not go through the top by using washers as spacers and also to create space for the magnet to align evenly with the top when its fully upward (see illustration).

Escape Room Tricks: Drawer Details
As for the drawer itself, it will need a “stop” mounted to the underside of the desk’s or table’s top so the drawer cannot be pulled all the way out. This can be a block of wood that is glued and screwed to it. For the back of the drawer, you will need to have another block of wood to serve as a “catch” so the hasp as a place to rest when not all the way up. The catch allows the hasp’s magnet to be near enough to the top so it will easily be attracted upward when a powerful neodymium magnet is placed upon the table or desktop.

In the escape room we built in 2017, we used a small candle lamp that has the neodymium magnet hidden within the wooden base. The escape room prop’s base has a felt covering, and so the magnet is not visible to players. And when the lamp is sat upon the right spot on the desk, just above the drawer near the back, you can hear a dull “pop” and the drawer is unlocked and can be opened. This design has never failed - it always works for us - and there isn’t anything that players can get to and break.

Magic Escape Rooms designs and creates its own puzzles and props for its unique Columbus, Ohio escape room games.