Hi all
I recently found myself in
Newcastle with some of my extended family members (who I haven't seen for years
in some cases). It was all very last minute, but I thought I would try
and get into Unexpected Exit, an escape room outfit I had been trying to get to
for over a year without success.
I called and the very kind game
master offered to stay open after their closing hours to accommodate my
team.
We were a team of 4 - me, my
sister (who had tried 3 rooms), my cousin (2 rooms) and my older cousin, who
had never been to an escape room before.
Given that our team was largely
full of newbs, I asked to try Unexpected Exit's simplest room, The Deranged
Scientist. Here is a summary of the room from their website:
Professor
Skoda has finally been captured – the mad genius behind the deadly outbreak of
Virus X. In just under 100 days the virus has claimed millions of lives across
the globe, with a cure still yet to be found. With the location of the
Professor’s lab now known, your team has been selected to search the lab for
the antidote. When your team arrives and enters the dimly lit room, the door
closes and locks behind you. A plume of gas fills the air and a taunting note
from the professor reads – “Enjoy your last 50 minutes on Earth…” This
room is an excellent starting point for those new to escape rooms or an
enjoyable challenge for the more experienced.
This was my 101st room in
Australia and my 71st room in (or around) Sydney.
Here are my thoughts on The Deranged
Scientist:
·
as far as the quality of theming goes, I think this room was about
on par with the average room in Sydney.
It was clearly a commercial office space that had been reused for a
science-themed room (but which could have just as easily been any other themed
room). The theming was left mainly to
the props rather than to the wall treatments, etc;
·
the room theme of a deranged scientist, whilst not an entirely
novel room theme (a similar theme has probably made up about 10% of the 100+
rooms I have tried to date), was fun. The
newbs in my team enjoyed the room theme and puzzles;
·
speaking of puzzles, there was a nice mix. Some were a little “inelegant” (in that they
were a little rustic and not 100% perfect), other puzzles were really
strong. There was one puzzle in
particular that I can think of that was unlike anything I had seen elsewhere,
which was great;
·
the room uses black light in a couple of puzzles. Anyone who reads this blog knows that I am
not a fan of black light UV torches in rooms (because they almost never suit
the room theme – I generally find it lazy puzzle design). That being said, the new players in my team
didn’t care the slightest and they enjoyed the puzzles like any other (maybe I should
get over my issues with black lights (although at this stage, it seems doubtful…));
·
there is a nice mix of hunt and seek as well as puzzle
solving. I was surprised that this room
was pretty tricky – our team only just made it out in the 50 minute time
limit. Whilst this was largely due to
our team not finding one particular hunt and seek piece, I do think that this
room should have a 60 minute time limit rather than 50 minutes. This room is clearly aimed at a beginner
level (and given it is the only current escape room outfit in Newcastle, I
think they are right to aim for the new player market with at least one of
their rooms). The extra 10 minutes would
greatly increase the escape (and reduce the number of hints required for newer
players);
·
the clue delivery system isn’t great in this room – you ask for
hints and a piece of paper is passed under the door with the hint scrawled on
it. This kind of thing breaks the
immersion of a room and whilst this was more common when escape rooms first
came out in Sydney, most now utilise the voice of God system (or other methods
that are even better suited to the theme).
By memory, teams are entitled to 3 hints in The Deranged Scientist;
·
this room is child friendly – there are no scary aspects at all. There is also a lot of space in this room, so
although I would recommend a team of 4 players, you could probably go as many
as 6 players given the space.
A nice touch is that at the end
of the experience, you get a small polaroid photo of your team which you then
get to stick anywhere in the premises that you like.
As always, the main test of a
room is whether my team had fun and the answer was that yes, we definitely had
fun. I look forward to taking my more
experienced team back to try Unexpected Exit’s other three rooms, which I
understand are much more difficult.
Where:
Level
1 Suite 1/810-820 Hunter Street Newcastle
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