Escape Academy Lab Rat Walkthrough: Every Puzzle Solved Step by Step

Few rooms in Coin Crew Games' co-op puzzler punish a slow start quite like the sixth chamber. You begin in total darkness, an arrogant AI is mocking you over the speakers, and the only way out is to out-hack it before the clock runs out. This Escape Academy Lab Rat walkthrough covers every phase in order, from the first power tube to the final lever. Stick with it: the Escape Academy Lab Rat room looks intimidating, but it's really six small puzzles stacked on top of each other.

Below you'll find exact solutions, the order to do things in, and the mistakes that cost most players a rerun. Everything is spoiler-heavy by design, so if you only want a nudge, read the overview table and stop there.

Escape Academy Lab Rat: Level Overview at a Glance

Lab Rat is the sixth escape room in the main campaign and the first one that leans hard into computer-hacking logic. The setup is simple: a rogue AI called QUANTY has locked down the lab, and your expulsion is on the line unless you breach its server room.

The good news is that the room is almost completely linear. You can't skip ahead, and the game funnels you from one objective to the next. If a terminal won't respond, you're missing an earlier step rather than a hidden secret.

Step-by-Step Escape Academy Lab Rat Walkthrough

Work through these six phases in order and you'll finish the room on your first attempt. Each one unlocks the next.

Step 1: Restore the power

The lab opens in a blackout, so lighting is your first priority. Turn around from your spawn point and inspect the pipe assembly near the doorway — it has three empty slots. You need three Power Tubes to bridge the gap.

Slot all three into the piping and the circuit is complete, but you still need a power source. Next to the generator is a hamster wheel, and yes, that's exactly what it looks like. The game intends for you to put a rodent on it.

Before you can catch a rat, though, you need bait. Grab the loose coins from the table in the lounge and head to the vending machine.

Step 2: Solve the vending machine and catch Turmeric

The vending machine's keypad uses letters and numbers, and the donut you want sits on a grid square. To decode it, find the Sudoku picture hanging on the wall in the main computer area — take a screenshot or have your co-op partner read it out.

The mapping works like this: the Sudoku numbers correspond to the vending machine letters.

The donut occupies the "3" square, so your letter is C. For the number, apply standard Sudoku rules — no repeats in a row or column. The adjacent cells on the same row rule out 1 and 2, and a neighboring column eliminates 3, leaving 4. Enter C4 and the donut drops.

Take the donut to the far wall where a rat is chewing on pizza scraps. It bolts when you approach, so look to your right for a stack of plates on the floor. Set the donut down, wait for the rat to take the bait, and pick it up. You now have Turmeric in inventory. Place him on the wheel beside the generator and the lab powers up.

Step 3: Shut down the lasers

With electricity flowing, laser tripwires now crisscross the main room and block access to the QUANTY terminal. Walk through them and the machine shuts off, so you need the Laser Shutdown console to the left of the beams.

Rather than guessing a password, click Forgot Password? and the terminal asks two security questions: the mother's name and the pet's name. To answer them, you need access to the five desk computers.

Walking up to any PC shows a five-shape passcode prompt. The trick is spatial: back away until all five monitors are in frame. Each screensaver traces a shape, and reading them left to right gives you the sequence:

Square, Circle, Square, Triangle, Circle

Enter it on any machine and you gain access to two apps — Files and Virus. Open Files for the security answers:

• Mother's name: Dell-Ilah
• Pet's name: Sprocket

Complete the reset and the terminal assigns a temporary password: SAFER. Type that into the Laser Shutdown console and the beams disappear, opening the path to the QUANTY persona terminal.

Step 4: Build and install the virus

The QUANTY terminal identifies the target persona as #13, which is your cue. Head back to an unlocked PC and open the Virus app. It asks for a 4-bit binary code, and you need the one that equals 13.

If binary isn't your thing, there's a practice machine behind the desks where you can toggle 1s and 0s until the counter reads the number you want. The answer is 1101 (8 + 4 + 1). Submit it, collect Virus #13 on a floppy disk, and insert the disk into the QUANTY terminal.

Step 5: Survive the dance floor

This is where Lab Rat gets weird. The floor becomes a light-up dance stage and your position is tracked by a head icon on the big screen. Your goal is to walk to the feet icon without stepping on hazards.

Later rounds add red skull tiles that force a restart, and near the end the display flips upside down to scramble your sense of direction. Don't rush — move one tile at a time and translate your on-screen position to the physical floor before stepping. Finishing the sequence unlocks the Server Room door.

Step 6: Complete the manual override

Inside the Server Room, interact with the computer at the far end to start the Manual Override Protocol. Eight levers light up, and you must pull them in the correct sequence. Any wrong pull resets the entire chain to the beginning.

Pull them in that order and the override completes, the AI's threat is repealed, and you've officially cleared the Escape Academy Lab Rat room.

Escape Academy Lab Rat Solutions Cheat Sheet

Keep this table handy if you're replaying the room or playing co-op with a partner who's flying blind. It condenses every answer in the level into one place.

Player Experience: How Long Does Lab Rat Actually Take?

Community reports put first-time clears somewhere between 18 and 30 minutes depending on how quickly you spot the Sudoku wall and the five-monitor screensaver trick. Neither is signposted loudly, and both are the usual culprits for a long stall.

Player experience also suggests co-op is genuinely easier here. One person can hold the Sudoku reference while the other works the vending machine, and the dance floor is less disorienting when someone calls out directions from the screen. If you want the official chapter list or want to check the game's other rooms before diving in, the Escape Academy page on Steam lays out the full campaign structure.

Common Mistakes in the Escape Academy Lab Rat Room

Most failed attempts come down to four avoidable errors. Fix these and the room's 3/5 difficulty rating starts to feel generous.

One more tip worth internalizing: the binary machine behind the desks isn't decoration. If you're unsure about the 4-bit conversion, use it instead of doing mental math under time pressure.

FAQ

How hard is the Escape Academy Lab Rat room? It's rated 3 out of 5 in difficulty and sits right in the middle of the campaign curve. The puzzles are logic-based rather than reflex-based, so a careful solo player can clear it in about 25 minutes.

What is the vending machine code in the Escape Academy Lab Rat level? The code is C4. The letter comes from the Sudoku number 3 mapped to C, and the digit comes from eliminating 1, 2, and 3 using row and column rules.

Can you complete Lab Rat without a guide? Yes. Every solution is discoverable in the room — the Sudoku picture, the five screensavers, the Files app, and the binary practice machine all exist for that reason. The only genuinely tricky part is noticing that you need to back up to see all five monitors at once.

What order do you pull the levers in the Server Room? Pull them in this sequence: E, B, D, H, F, G, C, A. A single wrong lever sends you back to the start, so slow down for the final phase of this Escape Academy Lab Rat walkthrough.

Clear the Server Room and you're done — Lab Rat checks off one of the campaign's most satisfying mid-game rooms, and it doubles as solid practice for the hacking-heavy puzzles waiting later in the story.