Wild West SaloonFox In A Box Gold CoastEscape roomIRLGM was great. We came back and played another game with Fox In A Box on the Gold Coast because the staff were so lovely and generous with their time. Wild West Saloon is your typical Wild West themed escape room, you can kind of imagine the sorts of items that might be used for puzzles (if you guessed playing cards, whisky bottles and a pistol, you are good at this game of guessing items that might be in this sort of room). That said, it was still a bunch of fun. We also managed to accidentally solve a puzzles seconds after stepping into the room, which was a new record for us.
BunkerFox In A Box Gold CoastEscape roomIRLThe staff at Fox In A Box Gold Coast were the best. Really lovely and helpful. Bunker was a fun room, not the most glamorous looking spaces but a good mix of puzzles. To be perfectly honest, we almost certainly completed one puzzle very much incorrectly; we got the right result but did it in a way that was not intended. That's less a comment on the room itself and more a comment on how good we should feel about our time.
Arcade: BlackLost LocksEscape roomIRLReally fun idea. Just smash a bunch of different puzzles into a room and that's it. No theme. Just complete as many as you can in the time you have. We were having such a good time, but boy the staff were a let down. Have never felt like more of an inconvenience. We were thinking of doing a second room right after this one, but the staff couldn't have acted more put out by us, so we went elsewhere. The GM got us out of there as quickly, and as disinterestedly as possible. Which, hey, I totally understand, I've had a job before when I was a teenager, I know how much better work is when the customers aren't there; but being on the receiving end of it left a sour taste in the mouth of what otherwise was a fun experience.
Area 1: Nuclear EnrichmentProject Immersive Escape RoomsEscape roomIRLThere's so much about the space that adds to the experience. Our GM was top notch. He was so perfect introducing us to the game, and then so open discussing it with us afterwards. There's a lot to like about this escape, especially the atmosphere. However, there is something about the room that left us wanting more but it's hard to pinpoint. A couple of the puzzles were a little underwhelming but I'm not sure that's it. It's possible that we'd read too much praise of the room before stepping inside - expecting to have our socks knocked off, and then when our socks remained on and we simply enjoyed a fun escape room, that it felt like a slight disappointment, rather than if we'd gone in expecting nothing that would have made it feel like those socks, from before, had, in fact, been knocked off.
Steampunk: Alchemist RevengeQuest RoomEscape roomIRLThis is very much a case of contraptions over story. There's not a lot of story to speak of - there's a bomb that's going to go off and you do have to stop it, but it's really just a series of rooms with a bunch of stuff in them. But what incredible stuff! The thingies and devices and whatnots that make up each of the puzzles are all really well made and enjoyable (with one frustrating exception) to interact with.
Legend of The SwordEscape Hunt - Gold CoastEscape roomIRLRock solid. There's a fun starting condition where you're separated from the other half of your team, but that mostly only results in you each completing puzzles separately more than it does working together to be reunited. The escape is thematic in a very Escape Hunt kind of way, in that there are swords in stones and shields and wizardy things but you can see how if they changed 'King Arthur' to 'Sherlock Holmes' the puzzles wouldn't change but the paraphernalia would. An enjoyable time but you don't need to seek it out.
The Puppet MasterEclipse EscapeEscape roomIRLWe were blessed to be the first non-friends and family people to get to play test this room and it was an absolute treat. There were so many fantastic elements. Were we stumped? You betchya. Did we finish long after the allocated time? Absolutely. But we were incredibly grateful to get a peak behind the curtain.
The Magic MoonstoneEclipse EscapeEscape roomIRLWe're big fans of the folks at Eclipse Escape. Lovely people who really care about escape rooms. The Magic Moonstone was on the lighter side puzzle wise but the room itself was another great space to spend some time in. There's obviously a level of care and consideration that goes into the set decoration that makes these rooms such enjoyable places to solve puzzles. Especially when compared to some of the more cramped experiences you can find at other Gold Coast escapes.
The Temple of the Sun GodVamoose Escape RoomsEscape roomIRLDense. The week we did the game Vamoose had just opened their doors. We were the last ones through the door for the day and the family team at Vamoose let us play longer than would normally be allowed to see how long the room would take with no hints. It's dense. A lot of puzzles jammed into the room. Not sure if that's changed since it first opened to streamline the escape, but this room was a rewarding puzzle solving experience that really made our brains work.
The Forbidden JunglePadlock'd Escape roomIRLReally fun room. Padlock'd blindfold you and lead you into the room, which isn't really necessary, but does really add to the experience because the room is small; but because you've just appeared all of a sudden in the middle of the room, and the entrance is now hidden, it does help you feel like you haven't just stepped into a closet. It's a very clever use of space. It was disappointing to find out that the escape itself is a pre-packaged "Jumanji" themed room companies can buy fully formed and that appears in malls across the globe, but that's only disappointing because we hated the idea of accidentally doing it again whilst visiting some other city. If you're just on the Gold Coast, if you haven't done a lot of rooms, if you steer clear of all jungle themed board game rooms after this one, then it is still a fun experience.
The Valley of Steam and StoneVamoose Escape RoomsEscape roomIRLWe attended very soon after Vamoose opened their doors so they were a little run off their feet. Our escape started a lot later than we were expecting but the staff were very apologetic. The room itself was a nice idea but ultimately disappointing. Some of the puzzles were too obtuse (especially for what is billed as their 'family room') and one puzzle in particular relied on clearly differentiating similar colours whilst in lowlight; which we found tricky to do (not the puzzle, just figuring out which colour was which) and I could imagine it becoming impossible for anybody with colourblindness.
The Flaming PearlEclipse EscapeEscape roomIRLFantastic. It's hard to properly articulate what it is about The Flaming Pearl that is so special. There are a wide variety of unique and clever puzzles, and that's what makes the game fun, but what makes the room special is that those puzzles are in an environment that makes solving puzzles a joy. The room itself is so aesthetically pleasing that there's a feeling of tranquility that washes over you as you race against the clock. It's not that it's surprising, it's that it's spacious and carefully designed, and is the sort of environment you'd love to spend an hour in. Some escapes can be cramped but The Flaming Pearl gives you room to breathe and think and take it all in.
Nautilus CryptoriumEscape roomIRLIt was disappointing to learn that Nautilus and the other room at Cryptorium were just pre-packaged escape rooms that you can order online for your escape room business. We could be anywhere in the world and accidentally stumble our way 20,000 leagues under the sea into the exact same experience. It's mostly disappointing because other escape room companies in the area are creating original hand-crafted experiences and this was just shipped over fully formed from a company in Poland. This isn't to say that the room itself is bad, the aesthetics are great, the puzzles are fun enough, but it was a bit of a letdown. It also felt overly pricey for a pre-packaged one room escape.
The OrphanageThe Great Escape - Bendigo [prev. Breakout Bendigo]Escape roomIRLWe don't normally do scary rooms, but we were on a hot streak of toppling monthly records at The Great Escape and wanted to keep the party going. The big worry for us going in was 'jump-scares' and there weren't any in this room but it still does an effective job of being creepy. The opening moments were especially effective. It wasn't until a couple of hours later, after we were done, that it dawned on us how deeply disturbing the story for The Orphanage in, but in the moment the rush to complete the puzzles and avoid the scares didn't allow that to sink in.
A Wizards QuestThe Great Escape - Bendigo [prev. Breakout Bendigo]Escape roomIRLWe got cocky. We had been on a The Great Escape run. We'd played all of their other rooms. We were feeling pretty good about ourselves. And we did A Wizards Quest with the "monthly record" in our eyes. The escape room gods saw our hubris and brought us back down to earth. Glad we did the room, and much like all of the spaces at The Great Escape in Bendigo, you can see the care and work that's gone into creating it. This was our least favourite escape of all the ones we did (and not just because we fell on our faces) but it didn't quite pop in the same way as the others, it felt a little samey. It doesn't help that it is yet another "wizards & whatnot" theme, and while it isn't the room's fault that we've seen this theme before, there still wasn't anything that really separated it from the other magic wand based experiences out there.
Bank HeistThe Great Escape - Bendigo [prev. Breakout Bendigo]Escape roomIRLOne of the best things about the games at The Great Escape is that once or twice a room they have an element that makes you go 'oh that's clever'. You can see the love for the games even in how clues are given. There's a moment involving a parrot in this room that has really stuck in my mind in the months since playing. It was a real 'oh that's fun!' situation. Only complaint with Bank Heist is that it ends a bit abruptly, but up until that moment it's a lot of fun.
Pirates of The MediterraneanThe Great Escape - Bendigo [prev. Breakout Bendigo]Escape roomIRLTo begin with, we loved the staff at The Great Escape - Bendigo. This was our first experience with them and we had such a good time we came back and completed all of the rooms during our short stay in the area. While "pirates" isn't the most interesting of themes, this was a really fun room absolutely packed full of all sorts of different puzzles. The only criticism we have of The Great Escape is in their use of AI artwork; the rooms themselves are so clearly put together by human hands that love escape rooms, and that same human passion shines through in your interactions with the staff, that it's such a shame that the artwork used to sell the rooms themselves is so decidedly non-human.
Eureka!Escapade Escape Rooms BallaratEscape roomIRLOur game master was very nice. It's great that the theme of the room is Ballarat specific, and there are a couple of fun interactive moments in the back half of the experience. The main issue with the room is that there is a piece of equipment that is needed to solve the major puzzle of the first room that is busted. It just doesn't work properly. We worked out how to get the solution we needed to progress but due to the faulty equipment there was actually no way we could have solved the problem without outside assistance. At the time we did the room it hadn't been open for very long so hopefully they've resolved this issue since our visit.
cQ OrigenesclueQuestEscape roomIRLThe promise of the premise is greater than the reality of the experience. Being shrunk down to the size of a mouse and interacting with a once small world turned huge is so fun that before even setting foot in the space your imagination gets a little carried away. It's not that the room is poorly designed, it's just that when you imagine being micro machine sized you'd hope to get to do more than match different designs on the spines of now big books. The first half the escape is very fun and innovative, but the second half under-delivers.
Roll Out the BarrelEscape PlanEscape roomIRLThere are so many great things about the games at Escape Plan. The use of wood makes everything in the room very tactile and aesthetically pleasing, like children's toys from yesteryear. It's a fun way of helping transport your imagination into the past through sensory interaction with material. Each time we've played a new game with Escape Plan the staff have been fantastic. The only downside we've found with these games is the order in which we've approached the games themselves. If you plan to be a completist and go one by one through the rooms we'd recommend starting with the rooms that are listed as being "easier" and then going up in difficulty, mostly because the scope of the games themselves increase along with the difficulty level.
