Melbourne escape rooms were awesome :-) :-) :-)

Hi all

If you have read my blog recently, you probably know that I was planning on heading down to Melbourne to try out a few escape rooms.

Well, I went down there this past weekend (actually, it was a 3 day long weekend) in which we tried 9 rooms and beta tested a brand new room.

The rooms were awesome and met (or exceeded) my pretty high expectations.  The room owners/game masters were all great too and provided awesome experiences.

I'm tired now (we only flew back a couple of hours ago), but I'm keen to get cracking on my reviews.  It will probably take me another week or two to write them all, so watch this space.  Or more correctly, watch this space: http://escaperoommelbourne.blogspot.com

I figured it's more logical to set up a separate escape room blog for the Melbourne rooms.  I'll post updates here though to let you know once I've posted each of my Melbourne reviews.

I'm also trying another room at Break the Code Plus later this week (with my colleagues at work, which is a first for me).

Thanks
Scott

Labyrinth Escape Rooms - Mad Scientist has opened

Hi all

Just a quick update to let you know that Labyrinth Escape Rooms in Parramatta are now taking bookings for their second room, Mad Scientist.  The room summary is as follows:

A crazed scientist is on the run! As watchmen track his path, you and your team are to go back to his lab to find his secret chemical concoction.

Nothing’s for certain; but we’re told this liquid substance has the power to rewind human ageing – for good! The clock is ticking to outsmart the mad scientist before it’s too late!

Their first room, Insane Asylum is a great room so I'm sure Mad Scientist will be of the same quality. 

Go to their website to book:  http://labyrinthescaperooms.com.au/ 

And as always, if you check out the room, post a comment here and let me know what you thought.

Thanks
Scott

ParaPark Sydney - New Crime Scene '95 room

Hi everyone

I'm VERY happy to let you all know that ParaPark Sydney will be officially opening up their third room on Tuesday 20 October 2015!!  

The new room is called "Crime Scene '95".  I managed to find some information about the new room on an international ParaPark website, which summarises the room as follows:

Welcome to Wicks Road, Macquarie Park! The inquiry team has just arrived on the scene of a terrible crime. The police are helpless and they have stopped the investigation, so it is up to you to find out:

1. what happened?
2. who the murderer was?
3. who the victim was?

Oh no…??? A sudden change is about to happen on the scene… Discover all the traces of evidence and don’t let any evidence disappear – and please, don’t let anything take your mind off the investigation! Come to an exciting crime scene investigation and stop the murderer before he comes back and stops you! 

Tick tock - time is ticking and the evidence is increasing…

Like Gateway 9A, this room has a rating of 5/5 for difficulty.

Gateway 9A is easily one of the best rooms in Sydney.  Check out my earlier review of Gateway 9A here - loads of different hand-made puzzles, brilliantly themed and run by enthusiastic owners who ensure that all teams have have a great time in their rooms.  

My team cannot wait to check out Crime Scene '95!!!

Go here to make a booking!

Scott

Review of Break the Code Plus Mission Stealth [CLOSED]

My group of friends (4 adults) checked out Break the Code Plus' Mission Stealth Biohazard Virus in October 2015, about a month or so after they opened.  This was our twentieth escape room in Sydney (so far!).  

We found the place very easily - they are hidden at the end of a short alley way (take a right before you come to the shop at the end of the alley way and go to level 1 in the lifts).  There is plenty of signage so you shouldn't have any problems.

They currently have 6 rooms (one of which is an outdoors escape).  We did their Indiana Jones room and after a Coke break, we came straight back and tried Mission Stealth.  

First off, I'll say what I enjoyed most about the Mission Stealth room at Break the Code Plus:

1. Their front of house and online booking system were excellent.
2. The theming was pretty good - not the best, but better than most.       
3. All of their puzzles were hand-made and some were really different to others we had seen elsewhere.  Some of the puzzles required an element of skill (so you can't get through on your brain alone), but I really liked this aspect because it was quite different from most other escape rooms in Sydney.  That being said, I can see how it could annoy a lot of players.    
4. I think they had a good mix of high tech and low tech puzzles.  They didn't rely too much on hunt and seek.
5. We were handed a photo of our team after our escape - this is a nice touch and by memory, Mission Sydney is the only other room that hands out photos after the escape.

And now for what I think can be improved:

1. They need to provide more of a back story upon entering the room to set the scene.
2. They have a really bad communication system.  Unlike their Indy room, we were given a walkie talkie at the beginning of the room.  However, rather than communicate via the walkie talkie, the game master just came into the room when we asked for a clue - this really ruins the immersion aspect and detracts from the flow of the game.  Also, when we used the walkie talkie, we had to wait a few minutes for a response.  In fact, we ended up knocking on the door (which got a quicker response).  Good rooms require dedicated game masters - they seemed to have plenty of staff, but none were actively watching on cameras (and they weren't responsive when we used the walkie talkie).  This was a real shame.
3. The room design is cool - it reminded me in some respects of Paniq Room's Supercell 117, but it wasn't executed nearly as well.  I won't give away and spoilers, but in the first part of Mission Stealth, the team is split and separated.  It was REALLY hard to communicate with each other though because the rooms were too sound proof - they also had music blaring which got on each of our nerves.  Even after they turned off the annoying music, we still had to scream to be heard.  A few drilled holes in the perspex would improve this no end.
4. Whilst I love home-made puzzles, one in particular we managed to break (ie solve in a way that it was not intended to be solved).  However, this was just freakish luck actually.  They had a 3 digit lock on a puzzle and we managed to interpret the clue and guess the code.  Unfortunately, the particular lock is not supposed to be opened by players - it was merely how the game master resets the game.  The chances were 1 in 1000 that we would guess the code, which we did.  This meant that we could skip the whole puzzle (being a puzzle that we tried after the game ended and which took us ages to complete - this puzzle that requires a lot of skill and working as a team).  It can be really confusing to have additional locks in a room when they aren't part of the game - they need to make this clear.  It also confused us because once we had used the clues to "solve" this puzzle, we didn't consider the clues again (which were of course needed for a later puzzle).
5. And now for the biggest problem in this room for us - one of the high tech mechanisms did not work.  This really did ruin our experience.  It was the final mechanism - we flicked a switch and.....nothing happened.  We were later told that the flicking of that switch then opens the exit door, but that was not our experience.  The danger with all high tech rooms is that this kind of thing happens I suppose.  But it was a real shame.  They did let us record an exit time of when we flicked the switch though (44 minutes), which put our team at the second best time so far for this room.  But we were all left disappointed by the anti-climax.
6. Like the Indy room, there definitely aren't enough puzzles to fill out a full 60 minutes.  They need at least another puzzle or 2.  This room has significantly less puzzles than most other good escape rooms in the market, which was a downside for me in this room.

After having escaped from Indiana Jones an hour before, this room was a huge let down by comparison.  Even ignoring the mechanism failure, none of my team liked this room nearly as much as Indy (and it wasn't just that we preferred the Indy concept over a biohazard concept). 

 

We still have another 2 Groupon vouchers for Break the Code Plus, so we will be back soon.  I'm also trying out this place with my work in about a month, so hopefully they sort out some of these problems before then. 

Overall, this is a middle of the range room compared to others we have tried.

Where:                   Level 1, 741 George Street, Haymarket, NSW

Duration:                60 minutes

Themes:                 6 themes (which will apparently change often)

Cost:                       $180 (for a team of 4) (although we had a Groupon for $80)

Overall Rating:      3.5 out of 5 stars

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

Review of Break the Code Plus - Indiana Jones Journey to the Secret Chamber [CLOSED]

My group of friends (4 adults) checked out Break the Code Plus' Indiana Jones - Journey to the Secret Chamber in October 2015, about a month or so after they opened.  This was our nineteenth escape room in Sydney (so far!).  In doing this room, my group had now tried at least one room at all 12 escape room outfits in Sydney!!!

We found the place very easily - they are hidden at the end of a short alley way (take a right before you come to the shop at the end of the alley way and go to level 1 in the lifts).  There is plenty of signage so you shouldn't have any problems.

They currently have 6 rooms (one of which is an outdoors escape).  We did a second room there straight after this room (see my separate review on their Mission Stealth room).  

First off, I'll say what I enjoyed most about the Indiana Jones room at Break the Code Plus:

1. Their front of house and online booking system were excellent.
2. The theming was great.  I love the Indiana Jones series (well, the first 3 anyway...).  Of all of their rooms, this was the theme that I was most looking forward to and it didn't disappoint.  The theming was up there with the best in Sydney.
3. All of their puzzles were hand-made and all worked perfectly.  Some of the puzzles required an element of skill (so you can't get through on your brain alone), but I really liked this aspect because it was quite different from most other escape rooms in Sydney.  That being said, it was certainly frustrating for my team at times and I can see how it could annoy a lot of players.  My tip here is to think outside the box...  
4. The room design is great - some of their mechanisms were unlike any we have seen in Sydney (and they brought a smile to each of our faces).  They definitely had the wow factor.
5. I think they had a really good mix of high tech and low tech puzzles.  They didn't rely too much on hunt and seek.
6. There is a heck of a lot of attention to detail in all of the puzzles and props.
7. We were handed a photo of our team after our escape - this is a nice touch and by memory, Mission Sydney is the only other room that hands out photos after the escape.
8. Overall, my team had a lot of fun, which is always the measure of a great room.

And now for what I think can be improved:

1. They need to provide more of a back story upon entering the room.  We were walked into the room, given a couple of directions and that was it.  I think a 30 second summary of the theme would have helped to set the scene.
2. They have a really bad communication system.  We were given a token with a button on it and were told that we only get 3 clues per room.  When you hit the button, the game master then enters the room and speaks with you in person.  This really ruins the immersion aspect and detracts from the flow of the game.
3. Whilst I love home-made puzzles, they need to tweak their home-made puzzles (as currently, you can break them).  And by break I don't mean destroy - I instead mean solve the puzzle in a way other than was intended by the game designer (I can't really say any more without spoilers).
4. Whilst I really liked this room, there definitely aren't enough puzzles to fill out a full 60 minutes.  They need at least 2 or 3 more puzzles (and preferably one more entire room within the Indy experience). We managed to escape in 33 minutes (which incidentally put us in first place on the hall of fame leader board, at least for now).  Apparently we took the top spot from one of the actors in Twilight who had been through recently.  In my view, if people are escaping from your room in half the allocated time, then there aren't enough puzzles in your room.  In fact, this room has significantly less puzzles than most other good escape rooms in the market, which was the major downside for me in this room.

After having read some "not so glowing" comments on this blog from others who had tried out Break the Code, I went into this room with pretty low expectations.  Those expectations were greatly exceeded - I REALLY enjoyed this room.  So much so that if they had 2 or 3 extra puzzles and fixed the other problems outlined above (which are very easy to fix), this room would be in my top 3 rooms in Sydney.  Unfortunately, the lack of puzzles puts it down the list a little further, but I still really enjoyed it.  I should say here that Andy (a frequent commenter here on my blog) had mentioned that the owners give a little too much by way of directions at the start, so I specifically asked for no information at the start - I think this helped a lot. 

I liked this room more than the rest of my team - but hey, I am a sucker for Indy.  Now if only someone would do a Goonies inspired room...

Where:                   Level 1, 741 George Street, Haymarket, NSW

Duration:                60 minutes

Themes:                 6 themes (which will apparently change often)

Cost:                       $180 (for a team of 4) (although we had a Groupon for $80)

Overall Rating:      4.25 out of 5 stars

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

Review of Labyrinth Escape Rooms' Insane Asylum

My group of friends (4 adults) checked out Labyrinth Escape Rooms’ Insane Asylum room in September 2015, about 2 weeks after they opened.  This was our eighteenth escape room in Sydney (so far!).

We found the place very easily.  They have plenty of off-street parking right in front of the premises, which was great.

They currently have just the one room, but they are putting the finishing touches on their second room, Mad Scientist, which should open very shortly.  They also have plans to open a third room in the future, the theme of which sounds really cool (and unlike any other theme we have heard of in Sydney).  I'll leave it to the owners to announce their third theme in due course.

First off, I'll say what I enjoyed most about Insane Asylum at Labyrinth Escape Rooms:

a)    we had an awesome time, which is always the most important measure of a great room.  It had been a while since we had tried a really good quality room, so we were all really pleased with this room;

b)    the room design is clever.  The theming is spot on – all of the props make sense in the space, the eerie music is really effective, the vibe suits the theme precisely;

c)    they did the simple things really well, like good website design, excellent service, all torches worked well, etc (you would think that this is a given, but so many places ignore the simple stuff);

d)    they have a heap of home-made puzzles, which I always appreciate.  All of the puzzles were of an excellent quality and many of them were of a type we had never seen anywhere before;

e)    whilst difficult, the puzzles were all clear and worked as they were designed to;

f)     there was a lot of attention to detail in the design of the props and the puzzles, which was great;

g)    their communications system is easily the best that we have seen.  There are no walkie talkies, phones or iPads – you simply talk and listen.  They have a state of the art communications system.  After we escaped, they showed us exactly how good their cameras are (particularly the infrared cameras in very low light);

h)   the owners, Joan and Frank are very passionate about their business and it clearly shows.  Their front of house was excellent and they took the time afterwards to take us through the room and explain every single puzzle (and answered my many, many questions).  This level of service is something that only the very best escape room outfits provide.  Their enthusiasm for their rooms is infectious.

As for some of the improvements that could be made to Insane Asylum, there really is very little to report here. We had some issues with a multi-directional speed lock in one of the puzzles (which just wouldn’t open for us despite us having the right combination).  This was a shame because it slowed us up in the early section of the game (and caused me to panic and ask for more clues than I otherwise might have).  Speed locks are always temperamental (although it certainly didn't ruin our experience).

My only other comment is that this room is pretty challenging, so first timers would be pretty hard pressed to escape without a hint or two (we had 3 hints so don't feel bad in asking for them - better that than to only progress part way through the room!).  

This is a great room and I'm really pleased that western Sydney has such a great escape room outfit on offer now.  We loved the room and I’ve received feedback from 3 other people (friends and readers of this blog) who all agree that this is up there with the best rooms in Sydney.

Where:                    Suite 3/85-93 Victoria Road, Parramatta

Duration:                60 minutes

Themes:                 1 theme (so far) 

Cost:                       $35pp for a team of 4 (although there is currently an opening special)

Overall Rating:      5 out of 5 stars

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

Break the Code Plus - Groupon deal on now

Hey all

A week or two ago I posted about a new escape room outfit that had opened up recently at Haymarket, called Break the Code Plus.

I contacted the owner recently who told me that they would be doing a Groupon campaign this month and true to their word, they are (thanks Kiara and Andi for forwarding me the link to the Groupon campaign!).

The deal is a good one too - around $20 per head (which equates to around 50% off).

You'll have to be quick though, as the Groupon runs out this Sunday night!  Any unlike many other Groupon campaigns, the vouchers are good through til 31 January 2016 (which is really generous).

Click here for the Groupon.


Thanks
Scott