Social Escape Rooms - Ransom Review (Sydney)

Hi all

My team returned to Social Escape Rooms in April 2021, having last been there in May 2018 when we played their Bank Heist room.  You can check out my reviews of all of the other Social rooms here:  Paris, Baker Street and Bank Heist.

We have always had great experiences at Social Escape Rooms.  The owner Mark is a fellow escape room enthusiast and he genuinely cares that players all have a great time in his rooms.

Ransom was my 182^nd room to date.  The theme of the room is as follows:

Disaster has struck; an unexpected disappearance of your loved one. How could this have possibly happened?

 

The delivery of a mysterious box, which contains a cryptic ransom note, will start you on a fast paced thriller that will have you gripped 'til the end. With great elements of action, a lot of suspense and intriguing puzzles, you will be kept on your toes for the entire 60 minutes.

 

Prepare to be challenged as you work your way through the kidnapper's demands, all while unravelling the clues to save your loved one.

Here’s what we thought of Ransom:

• we really enjoyed Ransom!  We loved the use of misdirection, which was really unique;

• Ramson is packed full of puzzles.  We were kept very busy during the entire experience.  I would describe the room as pretty non-linear, but with some bottle neck points (which require players to come back together);

• the quality of the theming and props were all strong.  All of the puzzle elements made sense in the space.  The space itself looked awesome;

• we escaped in about 38 minutes, which probably means the game is of about average difficulty (compared to all of the other rooms we have played).  That being said, we were guilty of that old rookie error of putting a relevant puzzle piece down (and totally forgetting about it for a while).  That really threw us off at the end, but we did get there eventually; and
  

• I would describe Ransom as being challenging but not impossibly hard, so I think it is suited to newer players and experienced players alike.  It’s also not dark and scary, so it’s therefore fine for younger players.

As always, the test of a great room is whether we enjoyed ourselves and we definitely did.  It’s always great to have the owner and designer walk us through the room afterwards and point out all of the puzzle elements, easter eggs, etc.  It was also great catching up with Mark (who we hadn’t seen for 3 years (!)). 

Where:                         Level 1, 62 Wyndham Street, Alexandria

Duration:                      60 minutes

Themes:                       4 different themes

Cost:                            $45 ea (4 players), but we played at the kind invitation of the owner

Overall Rating:             An awesome room of misdirection and challenging puzzles

More details:                http://www.socialescape.com.au/