Fox in a Box Brisbane - Review of 6 Rooms

 

Hi all

Another escape room outfit that we checked out on our 3 days of escape room madness in Brisbane in November 2023 was Fox in a Box Brisbane.  We played a number of rooms over the space of a couple of days, including on our second full day where we played what I think is a record number of rooms in a single day in Australia….

Here is what I thought of each of the Fox in a Box Brisbane rooms that we played:

Prison Break (Room 232)

This was a very typical prison break-themed room.  We were split into 2 teams initially, each locked in a different cell.  We had to figure out how to escape from the cells and then I am pretty sure we had to find drugs at some point (I am not really sure).  The storyline was a little weak but the puzzles and quality of theming were strong.  We had fun (and we had a great game master who played along with our shenanigans).  We escaped in 37 minutes (of a possible 60 minutes).

The Other Side (Room 233)

This room was significantly creepier than Prison Break.  I really liked the theming in particular in this room.  At one point, one player is separated from the rest of the group (and that was me) – it was a relatively scary experience, particularly being alone.  The puzzles were all fun in this room, but the theming was probably the strongest aspect of The Other Side for me.  We all enjoyed this one.  We escaped in 37 minutes (of a possible 60 minutes).

Zombie Lab (Room 234)

This was probably their weakest room (along with their Bunker room).  The theming was very simple (think a white laboratory space).  I don’t recall there being any wow factor.  We were running late for this room (we hit traffic on the way and were told that we might have to lose some of our time, which we were fine with).  We escaped in 37 minutes and 32 seconds (and we started a little late).  We had a bit of attitude from the game master on this one, which was a shame (because the other game masters we had encountered were awesome).

Bunker (Room 235)

We didn’t have a great experience in Bunker.  The puzzles were ok, but there was one element in particular that ruined the experience.  Very early into the room, we found a key – we held that key and were focused throughout the experience on finding a lock for that key.  We ultimately escaped with the key still in hand, never having found its lock.  We were told when we queried this that this was probably a spare key (and maybe when resetting the room they couldn't find the primary key, so they accidentally reset the room with 2 copies of the same key) ☹  We escaped in 37 minutes (of a possible 60 minutes), but I would give this one a miss.

Zodiac Killer (Room 236)

This was one of the better rooms at Fox in a Box I thought.  The theming was creepy/spooky, not scary.  There were interesting puzzles and again at one point, one of us was separated from the group (which was pretty cool).  We did spend a fair amount of time scratching our heads on one particular puzzle, but we got there in the end and managed to escape in 31 minutes and 17 seconds (of a possible 60 minutes).  We had an awesome game master for this room who was kind enough to give us individual feedback on our performances (at our request).  One of my favourite memories of the entire weekend came from this feedback in fact, wherein my fellow player Aaron who, after having walked around the room for 10 minutes tapping two pieces of wood together, learned that our game master’s note of his performance was “Hoodie guy has absolutely no rhythm”.  Thus our team name was chosen for us…  

Tesla’s Mystery (Room 237)

I enjoyed Tesla’s Mystery.  It was an interesting room with some interesting puzzle elements, some of which I had not seen before.  I recall there being a reasonable amount of hunt and seek fun too.  There were elements of this room that were a little dark but I would not describe it as scary at all.  I thought it was a solid room - we escaped Tesla’s in 33 minutes (of a possible 60 minutes).

Final thoughts

We enjoyed the rooms at Fox in a Box for the most part, but Bunker and Zombie Lab weren’t great.  I thought the other rooms that we played were all pretty good, especially The Other Side and Zodiac Killer.  I think Fox in a Box has a mix of really awesome game masters and some less awesome game masters and I think that aspect had the biggest impact on our enjoyment of each of their rooms.

Where:                        Level 1, 150 Edward Street, Brisbane City

Duration:                    60 mins

Themes:                      9 themes

Cost:                            $42 per person (assuming team of 4)

Overall Rating:          Decently themed rooms of varying quality

More details:              https://foxinaboxbrisbane.com

 

Escape Manor Brisbane - Review of All Rooms

 

Hi all

The first place that we checked out on our 3 days of escape room madness in Brisbane in November 2023 was Escape Manor Brisbane.

I had heard good things about Escape Manor and although we were not planning on doing their rooms in our initial itinerary, we managed to fit in all 6 of their rooms over the course of the weekend.

Rather than review each room in detail, I am instead going to give my very high-level thoughts on each room:

Asylum (Room 230)

Asylum was a fun room. The puzzles and theming were all pretty good - it was a dark-theme but not super scary (maybe one jump scare in all).  We escaped in 23 mins (out of a possible 45 mins). 

Who puts a ladder in a room and is surprised when players (me) try to use it…

Cabin 13 (Room 231)

The next room we played at Escape Manor was Cabin 13.  This room had a live actor inside the room with us for almost the entire experience.  The puzzles were all good, but the highlight was the interaction with the game master/live actor, Alice.  I made her break character at one point, which I really enjoyed. We escaped this one in 29 mins (out of a possible 45 mins).

The Magician (Room 241)

The Magician was a straight-forward but visually pretty room.  I can see this room in particular being a hit with families and kids (I am sure mine would love it).  There were some interesting elements, although we breezed through in only 17 mins (out of a possible 45 mins) and beat the record by 2 mins 37 secs.

The Wine Cellar (Room 242)

This was the standout room for me at Escape Manor.  The puzzles were all interesting but the craftmanship in this room is awesome - there is one particular element of the architecture of the room that is just brilliant.  We escaped in 19 minutes and broke the record by just 7 seconds 😊  If you can only play one room at Escape Manor, The Wine Cellar is the pick.

Death Row (Room 252)

This was a fun room.  There were some interesting puzzle elements, some of which had us scratching our heads for a while (but we got there in the end). Of all of the rooms, this one felt like it stumped our team the most (although we still escaped in reasonably good time - 28 minutes (out of a possible 45 minutes). 

The Covenant (Room 253)

This was probably my least favourite of the Escape Manor rooms.  The premise is that you made a deal with the devil and you now need to find the contract and destroy it.  It was dark and spooky, but nothing really stood out as being awesome in this room for me.  We escaped in 19 minutes of the possible 45 minutes.  The Cabin, their other scary-ish room, was much better if you’re looking for a scary room (and the interaction with the game master/actor inside The Cabin makes for a much more immersive experience).

Final thoughts

The rooms at Escape Manor are really solid rooms.  The Wine Cellar is their standout room, The Magician is best for families and children and The Cabin is the best pick for a scarier experience. 

The other comment I will make is that I am not really a fan of 45 minute rooms – I think for the price players are paying, they should be provided with a 60 minute experience.  Escape Manor is no exception on that front.  I also think given that we escaped most of their rooms in less than half of the allowed time, they could do with adding some more puzzles to each room to fill out the 45 minutes (or better yet, convert all rooms to 60 minute rooms and add a heap more puzzles)…

 

Where:                        51 Edward Street, Brisbane City, QLD

Duration:                    45 mins

Themes:                     6 themes

Cost:                           $184 per room (assuming team of 4)

Overall Rating:           Decent quality range of rooms

More details:              https://www.escapemanor.com/brisbane/

32 escape rooms in Brisbane in 3 days!

 

Hi all

In November 2023, some fellow escape room enthusiasts and I took a trip to Brisbane to check out all of the best escape rooms that Brisbane (and surrounds) have to offer.  

The initial reason for the trip was that we had learned that Seraphim Escape Rooms in Ipswich were shutting their doors in January 2024.  I had heard so much about their rooms from other enthusiasts for so long that I knew I had to check them out before January.  Luckily for me, fellow enthusiasts and friends of mine, Philip and Casey, had organised a Brisbane trip.  I asked if I could tag along and they kindly agreed.  A few days before the trip, I caught up with Aaron (another escape room enthusiast who also happens to own some Sydney rooms) and I mentioned the trip.  And suddenly, we were a team of 4.

We headed off with the plan of trying to fit in around 20 rooms in a 3 day period (which would mean that I would hit my 250^th room on the trip).  Well, we might have got carried away a little and before we knew it, we ended up playing 32 rooms in less than 72 hours (including 13 in a single day, which I think might be an Australian record).

We had a great time – lots of great rooms, some great food and a lot of laughs along the way.

I will post my reviews of the Brisbane rooms here shortly, but I am also about to head off overseas with my wife and daughters for a 5 week Europe trip.  I have largely been in control of setting our Europe itinerary, which explains why I have managed to book in 17 rooms (so far) across the 4 countries we will be visiting, many of which are TEPERCA nominated rooms. It should be fun. 

Merry Christmas and happy 2024 to all.

Scott

 

Next Level Escape - Forest of Echoes Review (Sydney)

Hi all

In October 2023, my usual team of 4 returned to Next Level Escape to play their latest room, Forest of Echoes.  We have played all of the other rooms designed by Next Level over the years (including online rooms and even some pop-up rooms at cons) and we have always loved their rooms.  They are rooms designed by enthusiasts for enthusiasts, and it shows.

Forest of Echoes was our 229^th escape room.  The summary of the room from their website is as follows:

All right, scouts! Are you ready for your big adventure in the woods? Don’t mind the rumours about the forest being haunted by spirits, we’re pretty sure it’s all nonsense and poor old Sam will find their way back one day soon. After all, time can pass very quickly in there; morning to noon to evening to night and before you realise, it’s morning again! Stay safe in the woods, scouts – it’s everyone’s responsibility!

Here is what I thought of Forest of Echoes:

·        the famous Next Level Escape sense of humour that we have come to love and expect was included in our experience in Forest of Echoes.  Our game master (er, scout leader) took us through our mission briefing and then led the way into the forest…;

·        the space in Forest of Echoes is truly beautiful.  An immense amount of work has clearly gone into the construction of the room – all surfaces inside the space have been considered and hand-crafted, which really adds to the immersion.  Adding to this are the impressive lighting and soundscape;

·        there is a really strong backstory to the room and I think it is true to say that every single puzzle has been designed so as to link back to that backstory.  That sounds like a pretty simple premise, but this is something that so many rooms do not do well.  The backstory in Forest of Echoes is really strong and very well-considered [Quick side note – you can check out an interesting article by Scott Nicholson, a Canadian professor of game design and development, here with respect to the undeniable link between great back stories and immersive escape rooms]

·        the most unique element of Forest of Echoes is a mechanism which allows players to control the time of day or night.  The entire experience has been designed around this aspect, as different puzzle elements appear/react at different times of the day/night.  Purely from a design perspective, this is uber cool as it allows for various different experiences to occur within the same space.  The mechanism worked perfectly and it soon became abundantly clear just how much hidden tech there is in the space to make everything work; 

·        Forest of Echoes is a non-linear (or multi-linear) room, which tends to suit my team over a linear room (as it allows us to divide and conquer).  However, although the room is a non-linear room, some puzzles need to be solved (or even identified) at different times of the day/night, so our team generally worked together on each puzzle.  The signposting is subtle in the room, so players will need a keen eye and attention to detail in some aspects to discover all of the puzzles (and their solutions).  However, the game master (scout leader) is always available to assist newer players in particular;

·        as far as the difficulty level of the room, I think Forest of Echoes is pretty challenging. We escaped (from memory) in about 62 minutes of the allowed 90 minutes, but I don’t feel like we were speeding through at any point in time;

·        Forest of Echoes is certainly one of the most high-tech rooms that we have played.  The lighting (as well as other aspects) plays a really pivotal role in the space, given the time changing mechanism. On that front, this room will also appeal to that part of the market that that love magic magnetic/RF car reader mechanisms over more traditional padlocks (as there are none of the latter in sight in Forest of Echoes); and

·        the room is only available for players 16 years or older.  This is due to some light sexual and drug references, as well as the fact that there are many breakable elements in the room.

Our team was talking afterwards about Next Level Escape’s rooms and we agreed that their 5 rooms on offer (as well as their online rooms and previous pop-up rooms) are all so very different.  The common denominator to all though is their humour, great puzzles, high quality theming and the fact that they ensure that players have a great experience. We really enjoyed Forest of Echoes and can’t wait to play their next room.

Where:                        Next Level Escape

Duration:                    90 minutes

Themes:                      5

Cost:                           $60 per person (assuming team of 4)

Overall Rating:           A beautiful and unique narrative driven adventure

More details:              https://www.nextlevelescape.com.au/