ParaPark Sydney - Crime Scene '95

My group of friends (4 adults) checked out ParaPark Sydney’s Crime Scene ‘95 in November 2015, some 10 months after we had first been to ParaPark to try their Gateway 9A room (which was a truly superb room).  Parapark is a world-wide franchise and is known as the original escape hunt room operator (the original being based in Budapest).

They have a great atmosphere at ParaPark.  When you arrive, you sit down in a waiting room and are given instructions on the room and the background story of the room you are about to embark on.  Noemi and Laszlo, the owners of ParaPark Sydney were our game masters for this room, together with the lovely FiFi (their adorable dog). 

They currently have 2 different themed rooms - Gateway 9A (which also has an identical room Gateway 9B for larger teams of up to 12 people who like to go head to head), and Crime Scene 95, which has only recently opened.

This was out 22nd room in Sydney (and our 32nd room in Australia) so far...

First off, I'll say what I enjoyed most about ParaPark Sydney’s Crime Scene ‘95:

·         it was really well run - they utilised a combination of TV screens and walkie talkies for communicating while in the room.  This was really effective and it really helped to maintain the immersive nature of the room’s theming;

·         without giving away and spoilers, the back story to this room was awesome - it was truly original and ingeniously simple;

·         the theming was excellent - the puzzles and props in the room were great (they were not too scary and I think they would be suitable for kids from say 10 years of age, with parental supervision);

·         the quality and variety of puzzles and challenges in the room was also excellent - there was a great mixture of low and high tech puzzles and they used some elements that we have never seen used before by other escape room outfits.  I also really liked that they used very different puzzles in Crime Scene ’95 compared to their Gateway 9A room.  The quality of the puzzles was again excellent - clearly many hours of work had been spent in designing and making the home-made puzzles, which we appreciated;

·         we got stuck on one particular puzzle and we all gave ourselves a forehead slap when we realised what we had missed (again, this was an awesome puzzle); and

·         the owners of ParaPark Sydney were really enthusiastic about their business (as they have been for the past year) and as always, they are genuinely receptive to our feedback.

We again had a great time at ParaPark Sydney.  I don’t have anything negative to say about Crime Scene ’95.  When we tried their Gateway 9A room, I made the comment that it was a little on the easier side for our team.  I’m really pleased to say that Crime Scene ’95 is significantly more difficult than Gateway 9A.  Our team managed to escape with about 3 minutes left on the clock – so it is definitely a pretty challenging room.  We also had to ask for a couple of hints.  That being said, I do not think this is the hardest room we have tried in Sydney (personally I think Enigma Room’s Dr Disaster and Escapism’s Forensic for example are much more difficult – but again, this is REALLY subjective).    

We had a heap of fun once again at ParaPark Sydney.  For new players, I would definitely suggest that you try Gateway 9A first before working up to Crime Scene ’95.  ParaPark Sydney has another room scheduled to open at some point in 2016 – we can’t wait to go back and try what will no doubt be a third great room from ParaPark Sydney.

One other thing I thought some of you might find cool.  They have Christmas gift vouchers currently available on their website.  Not only do I think they’d make a great Christmas present, but the gift vouchers themselves have an awesome design, so that you can hang them on your tree (like a cool mini pyramid)!  See below photo.  You can purchase gift vouchers on their website!

Where:                    2 / 119 Wicks Road Macquarie Park

Duration:                60 minutes

Themes:                 2 themes (one of which has 2 identical rooms)

Cost:                       $140 per team (4 players)

Overall Rating:       A truly excellent and challenging room!

More details:          http://paraparksydney.com.au/