This paper assesses the relationship between the game-related factors present in an educational scape room and students’ intrinsic and intrinsic motivation. In the introduction, the authors thoroughly describe the dimensions of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, and their relationships to self-determination, which justify the interest of introducing gamification and shows a good engagement with recent, relevant literature. However, it is not obvious why the different dimensions of the game enhanced through the educational scape room should be positively related to the three types of IM and negatively to the three types of EM. Indeed, game-related dynamics offer, in a way, an external benefit (in this case, some tenths in the final mark, plus the non-quantified effect – not negligible in first year students – of doing what the teacher expects from one). In relation to that, the objectives could be more clearly written (by removing and placing before the fragments the three hypotheses have in common). Likewise, in their current form, it is not clear what does H3 add to H1 + H2. The major concerns are related to the methods and the way the results are presented: • Please clarify the sentence “As has been shown in other impact research (Chou and Feng, 2019; Pozo-Sánchez et al., 2022), the sample size does not imply a bias in this type of study” (l.162). Small sample sizes always impose a cost on the reliability and transferability of the results, unless specific statistical approaches are used. • Sociodemographic variables should be considered, if any, independent variables. However, they are not used in either role. • Please explain more clearly how the intervention was designed. I.e., was the questionnaire answered before or after the intervention? Were the items general statements (I come to the college…) or referred to the game (During this activity, I have come to class because…)? This question is relevant because it involves assuming (or not) that gamification has a durable effect on motivation, beyond the intervention. • Although it is not explicitly said, it can be deduced that variables are composed of several items. But how are the values of the variables computed? (averaged across items, summed…). Moreover, and although many authors use Likert scales as quantitative indicators, they are qualitative in nature. As such, it is debatable whether they can be used in correlation and regression analyses. Last, there is no indication as to whether the data follow a normal distribution and thus the Pearson correlation coefficient can be used. • As for the procedure of model selection, it would be necessary to clearly define what does it mean “the models that explain a higher percentage of the variance”. It would be advisable to apply standardized procedures and indicators for selecting the best models (understood as the most efficient & most parsimonious), and, above all, provide indication of the comparative performance of the various models considered. • When it comes to the visualization of the data, it would be more readily interpretable if the variables related to EM and IM were visually distinct. When it comes to the conclusions, a broad statement is made that that the emotional system of students is activated through participation in this gamified experience creating self-determined motivation, and that fun, absorption, creative thinking, emotional arousal, and mastery experienced during the game acted as factors associated with IM toward knowledge, IM toward achievement, and IM toward stimulating experiences, giving the wrong impression that there are generalized links, while the Table 2 and the selected models show that only some variables are interrelated. It is advised to be more specific about the existing relationships.

Finally, for this study to have a wider impact, it would be advisable, if possible, to derive practical recommendations for practitioners, i.e., to identify the features of scape rooms that in practice have an impact on the students’ motivation.

As minor comments, there are small typos or incoherences (Zaragoza/ Saragossa), and I am not sure that some terms have the right meaning (“enhanced” in “dimensions of the game enhanced through the educational scape room”.