Monday 18 March 2024

Puzzled Room Escape - Review of All 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 Puzzled Room Escape.  They are based in Holland Park West, which was about a 10 min drive south of Brisbane city.  We ended up playing all 7 rooms available at Puzzled Room Escape pretty much back to back, with a short break for lunch. 

On the day that we played their rooms, we also played 6 other rooms at other locations, which meant that we ended up playing 13 rooms in a single day.  We had initially aimed to play 10 rooms, which I think would have equalled what we think is the Australian room record for most amount of rooms played in a day.  But after we began escaping rooms early, we managed to find some extra space and so we just kept adding more.  Let’s see how long the 13 rooms in a day record stands….

Here is what I thought of each of the Puzzled Room Escape rooms that we played:

Puzzle Tech Murder (Room 243)

The first room of the day was Puzzle Tech Murder.  This room was based in an office space, so the theming was pretty simple.  There were some nice puzzles (and some were a unique take on what we had seen elsewhere).  On one particular puzzle, one of my fellow players tried to convince me of something that she could see (but which I could not).  Thankfully, she persevered and proved me wrong.  The room was pretty straight forward on the difficulty side of things and we escaped in 17 minutes and 50 seconds (of a possible 60 minutes) and broke the room record by about 7 minutes.

Dr Irov’s Laboratory (Room 244)

We found this room probably the most difficult of all 7 rooms available at Puzzled Room Escape, at least if you go by our escape time (we escaped Dr Irov’s in 37 minutes and 10 seconds of a possible 60 minutes). The room initially was pretty non-linear and we broke out into 2 teams and worked our way through the puzzles.  However, the final puzzle, which is a kind of meta puzzle, was more of or a chore than a fun puzzle.  There was a lot of trial and error (and I largely left if to much more capable team members to solve this one).  One cute element of this room is that there is glass between this room and their Monkey Run room and you can both see each other while playing the rooms. The rooms are also linked thematically (we were the scientists and those in Monkey Run were the subjects).  In fact, you can even throw bananas to the monkeys through a hole in the glass…

Haunted Academy (Room 245)

This was probably our least favourite room at Puzzled Room Escape. The puzzles themselves were fine, but it was one of those rooms where there is such a low level of light that it makes it hard to read or see anything. I appreciate that game designers are aiming for a certain ambience, but there really does need to be a minimum level of lighting, otherwise it seriously detracts from the enjoyment of the room.  We managed to escape this one in 39 minutes and 53 seconds (of a possible 60 minutes).

Monkey Run (Room 246)

Monkey Run was a fun but very simple room.  On the day that we played, we saw two kids birthday parties and Monkey Run was their room of choice.  It’s a really bright and colourful room.  We felt like we were on fire in this room and we escaped in 15 minutes and 27 seconds (of a possible 60 minutes), and broke the room record.

Mirrored (Room 247)

Mirrored was one of their better rooms I thought.  The premises of the room is that you attend a Professor’s office in light of a recent breakthrough that he has had, only for the Professor to be nowhere to be seen.  The puzzles in this room were really nicely done, but the standout aspect of this room is that as part of the story, you step into a different dimension, with that dimension being a mirror image of the first room you were in.  It’s really nicely done and it makes for interesting puzzle design.  We escaped in 21 minutes and 29 seconds (of a possible 60 minutes).

Treasure Hunter (Room 248)

This was probably my favourite room at Puzzled Room Escape.  This room is quite unique in that players are not trying to escape, but are instead trying to find as many artefacts as they can in 60 minutes (with each artefact having a prescribed monetary value).  Before we played the room, we were told by our friendly game masters that no team has ever found all artefacts – challenge accepted! This room is packed full of puzzles – we started off by getting stuck on a map puzzle and then we picked up our pace.  The room is very much non-linear, which meant that we were able to divide and conquer.  We managed to find all artefacts in about 61 minutes, but in fairness to us we had a technical issue with one of the puzzles (something was supposed to open but didn’t), which slowed us down by a few minutes).  Luckily, we had an escape room owner in our team who identified the fault and fixed it, securing our victory.  I really liked this unique take on an escape room, which I had noy seen too many times before.  We managed to earn $653,500, and were the first team to score a perfect game 😉


Operation Check  In (Room 249)

Operation Check In was the final room that we played at Puzzled Room Escape. Needless to say, we were a little tired (and I would be lying if I said that I didn’t take a little rest on the bed in this room at one point).  There were some nice elements to this room, which reminded me of different puzzle elements I had seen around the country.  The quality of the puzzles and theming were strong and we managed to escape in 42 minutes (of a possible 60 minutes).

Final thoughts

I thought Treasure Hunter and Mirrored were the standout rooms at Puzzled Room Escape. I would also recommend Monkey Run for newer players, especially families and younger players.

Where:                        5/1177 Logan Road, Holland Park West

Duration:                    60 mins

Themes:                     7 themes

Cost:                           $37 per person (assuming team of 4)

Overall Rating:           A well-themed, fun mix of games at different difficulty levels

More details:              https://puzzledroomescape.com.au


Seraphim Escape Rooms - Review of All Rooms


Hi all

Another escape room business that we checked out on our 3 days of escape room madness in Brisbane in November 2023 was Seraphim Escape Rooms in Ipswich.  On the day that we played all 3 Seraphim rooms back to back, we ended up playing 10 rooms in total all up that day (which was my record by a long margin).  Spoiler alert though – we broke that record the following day….

I had been itching to check out the rooms at Seraphim for years.  I had met Keziah, the owner, years before at a meet up in Melbourne.  In fact, I think one of the main reasons that this trip of ours was organised was to check out Seraphim before they closed their doors (and I am aware of a bunch of other enthusiasts and owners who have also been to Ipswich recently for the same reason).

We played all 3 Seraphim rooms back to back.  Here is what I thought:

Santa’s Cottage  (Room 238)

Santa’s Cottage was a fun Christmas-themed room.  It was a largely linear room, designed more for families and players who are newer to escape rooms.  There was a really nice mix of puzzles in this room and despite being linear, we were all kept pretty busy.  There was a standout logic puzzle that I recall that we solved a little differently to others who had come before us.  Our team blitzed through this room in 16 minutes and 50 seconds (of a possible 60 minutes).   

The Executioner’s Toolshed (Room 239)

The Executioner’s Toolshed was the room that I had heard was very scary, so I was a little apprehensive going in.  In good news for our team, we managed to escape the room so quickly that our Executioner friend was only able to come and scare us just the one time (I understand that most teams get multiple scares).  We managed to escape the room in 19 minutes and 20 seconds (of a possible 60 minutes), which meant we had broken the room record by 2 minutes.  The room was very dark and pretty scary and we spent most of it handcuffed to a fellow team member.  The puzzles all very much matched the theme and were a lot of fun to solve.

Atonement (Room 240)

Atonement was another pretty scary room, although it didn’t contain the jump scares or live actor interaction that we encountered in The Executioner’s Toolshed.  Something our team is incredibly proud of is that before the intro to the room had finished being explained to us, we had already made our way into the second room(!). We were told by Keziah that that was a first 😊

The room was uber spooky without the jump scares.  One aspect of Atonement that was interesting is that before going in, players draw tarot cards and they then have to follow instructions on those cards during the game.  This might explain why at one point I was dancing (which I am not known for)….

There are some really bespoke elements of Atonement which we all REALLY liked too.  We escaped Atonement in 26 minutes and 57 seconds (of a possible 60 minutes), which meant we had broken the room record by about 5 minutes.

Final thoughts

The rooms at Seraphim were all awesome.  They offer a nice range of family-friendly rooms right through to pretty scary adult rooms. 

We really enjoyed all of the puzzles, which were really varied and fun to solve.  The standout aspect of the Seraphim Rooms experience though is that our game master Keziah spent her time during our experience typing up very detailed notes of our every move – what funny things we each said, the unusual ways that we solved puzzles, what our time was at each of the main puzzles.  It was something truly unique – I have never seen this level of detail in a debrief anywhere else to date.  And as well as our game master reading through the notes at the end, the notes were handed to us to take away with us as a memento.

Also, in good news Seraphim Escape Rooms is not closing down after all and has instead found new owners.  If you’re heading to Brisbane or Ipswich, I highly recommend checking out their rooms!

Where:                        1 Prasser Lane, Ipswich

Duration:                     60 mins

Themes:                      3 themes

Cost:                           $55 per person (assuming team of 4)

Overall Rating:           From Christmas fun to a scary executioner!

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



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/