Rush Escape Games - Mission:Possible Review

My group of friends (4 adults) checked out Rush Escape Game’s Mission: Possible room in November 2015.  This was our 23rd escape room so far in Australia and our third escape room in Melbourne.

The foyer area looks great.  We were greeted by the very enthusiastic Chloe and Aaron who gave us a briefing before taking us in to start the escape.

They currently have 3 rooms – Da Vinci Down Under, Lost in Paradise and Mission Possible.  We tried all 3 rooms back to back (and we did them in that order, being the order in which the rooms were opened to the public). 

First off, I'll say what I enjoyed most about Mission:Possible:

• it was heaps of fun - the theme was unlike any other theme we had done before, which I really liked;
• the room design is incredibly simple but very clever - it is initially overwhelming when you walk in, but it's very logical and linear;
• there is a really good variety of puzzles in this room - not too much by way of hunt and seek though as it is a very puzzle-heavy room;
• there are some cool low-tech and semi high-tech puzzles (many of which we had not seen before);
• we managed to escape in 38 minutes and 58 seconds.  Before going into the room, Aaron told us that he wanted us to beat the record that had been set back in April for this room - we accepted the challenge and we were successful (much to our surprise), shaving almost 4 minutes off the previous record (and we didn't ask for any hints);
• the theming was awesome - the props, wall paper and puzzles all added to the overall feel of the room;
• the use of walkie talkies for communication was simple but effective;
• I think they have the right number of puzzles for this room (unlike many other escape room outfits who just don’t have enough puzzles to fill out an hour);
• the owners are very passionate about their rooms and it shows from the quality of this room; and 
• having done all 3 of their rooms back to back, we really liked how different each of the rooms are (very different themes and quite different puzzles in each).

This room was one of our favourites in Melbourne and in my opinion, Rush Escape Game's best room.  There isn't much that can be improved with this room.  I honestly think it's their hardest room, but we just got lucky with a few puzzles.  I think this room would be pretty tricky for first-timers to solve (without at least a few hints), so I'd suggest warming up on other rooms before trying to tackle this one.

We loved this room - it was truly awesome and a crap load of fun.

Where:                   Suite 4 – 230 Toorak Road, South Yarra 

Duration:                60 minutes

Themes:                 3 themes 

Cost:                       $128 (4 players)

Overall Summary:  Truly brilliant room - one of the best rooms in Melbourne!

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

Rush Escape Games - Lost in Paradise Review

My group of friends (4 adults) checked out Rush Escape Game’s Lost in Paradise room in November 2015.  This was our 22nd escape room so far in Australia and our second escape room in Melbourne.

The foyer area looks great.  We were greeted by the very enthusiastic Chloe and Aaron who gave us a briefing before taking us in to start the escape.

They currently have 3 rooms – Da Vinci Down Under, Lost in Paradise and Mission Possible.  We tried all 3 rooms back to back (and we did them in that order, being the order in which the rooms were opened to the public). 

First off, I'll say what I enjoyed most about Lost in Paradise:

• it was heaps of fun - the theme was unlike any other theme we had done before, which I really liked;
• the room design is very clever;
• there are a really good variety of puzzles in this room - a combination of hunt and seek as well as low and (semi) high tech;
• we managed to escape in 38 minutes (and I don't think we asked for any hints);
• the theming was great - the props were all perfect, they made sense and really added to the overall feel of the room;
• the use of walkie talkies for communication was simple but effective;
• there were some locks and puzzles that I have never seen before, which still make me smile thinking about them now;
• I think they have the right number of puzzles for this room (unlike many other escape room outfits who just don’t have enough puzzles to fill out an hour);
• the owners are very passionate about their rooms and it shows from the quality of this room; and 
• having done all 3 of their rooms back to back, we really liked how different each of the rooms are (very different themes and quite different puzzles in each).

As for some of the things that could be improved in this room, I think the answer is not much at all.  This is a truly fun room that has a cool, unique theme and will make your team laugh at times during what can only be described as a true adventure.  

We loved it.

Where:                   Suite 4 – 230 Toorak Road, South Yarra 

Duration:                60 minutes

Themes:                 3 themes 

Cost:                       $128 (4 players)

Overall Summary:  Awesome theme, really cool puzzles/locks (and monkeys!).

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

Rush Escape Games - Da Vinci Down Under Review

My group of friends (4 adults) checked out Rush Escape Game’s Da Vinci Down Under room in November 2015.  This was our 21^st escape room so far in Australia and our first escape room in Melbourne.

The foyer area looks great.  We were greeted by the very enthusiastic Chloe who gave us a briefing before taking us in to start the escape.

They currently have 3 rooms – Da Vinci Down Under, Lost in Paradise and Mission Possible.  We tried all 3 rooms back to back (and we did them in that order, being the order in which the rooms were opened to the public). 

First off, I'll say what I enjoyed most about Da Vinci Down Under:

• it was a lot of fun and a great start to our weekend full of escape rooms;
• the room design is clever (although simple);
• there are a really good variety of puzzles – all of which really match the theme well;
• there is a good mix of “hunt and seek” fun and puzzles (which were challenging but not overly difficult).  We managed to escape in 45 minutes and we asked for one hint (we always do poorly on the hunt and seek aspect of the room and this occasion was no different);
• the theming was great - the props were all perfect, they made sense and really added to the overall feel of the room;
• the use of walkie talkies for communication was simple but effective;
• I think they have the right number of puzzles for this room (unlike many other escape room outfits who just don’t have enough puzzles to fill out an hour);
• the owners are very passionate about their rooms and it shows from the quality of this room; and 
• having done all 3 of their rooms back to back, we really liked how different each of the rooms are (very different themes and quite different puzzles in each).

As for some of the things that could be improved in this room:

• there isn't much to say here - it's a really high quality room;
• of their 3 rooms, I liked this particular theme the least (mainly because I have tried other Da Vinci rooms in Sydney and I feel that the theme is not a particularly novel one).  That being said, this was by far the best Da Vinci themed room we have seen;
• there was no real “wow” moment for me in this room.  It was a lot of fun and all of the puzzles and theming were of a truly excellent quality – but it didn’t have any truly standout moments for me; and
• one or two high tech (or slightly high tech) puzzles would be a great addition to this room I think.

Overall, we really enjoyed this room.  Based on the amount of time it took us to escape each of their three rooms, I think this is one of their more difficult rooms.  However, it really does depend on your team - I find that my team does best with linear escape rooms (where there is a clear order in which to solve puzzles), rather than rooms like this that are less ordered.

I would definitely recommend this room!

Where:                   Suite 4 – 230 Toorak Road, South Yarra 

Duration:                60 minutes

Themes:                 3 themes 

Cost:                       $128 (4 players)

Overall Summary:  Awesome but lacks the “wow factor”.

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

Welcome

Hi all

For those of you who have never read one of my reviews before, I should probably introduce myself.  My name is Scott and I'm an escape room addict.  It all started with a multi-location "mystery tour" that I did in Vegas in about 2009 - it wasn't quite an escape room (in that you weren't trying to escape a room per se), but it had many similar puzzle elements and it was truly awesome.  When I heard that escape rooms had hit the Australian market, I tried one and at the time of writing this blog entry (less than 12 months after trying my first room in Sydney), I have now tried 30 rooms.

I try all rooms with the same team - my wife and our 2 friends (also a couple) in our early/mid 30s.  Each of us has different skills to offer (which is important in an escape room team) - the lateral thinker, the "maths/science" person, the person who has a light touch and can open any lock thrown at them, etc.  After having done so many rooms, I'm now comfortable describing our team as "experienced" or "expert" in the ways of escaping from an escape room.

My reviews are spoiler free and I try to be fair at all times.  However, like any other person, I am biased - I'm attracted to certain themes more than others (which means I'm naturally more likely to enjoy certain rooms over others).

I have historically used a 5 number rating system when reviewing rooms.  However, I've now formed the view that this system is not overly useful - comparing escape rooms is like comparing apples and oranges in many respects.  So I'm going to try something a little different going forward.

As always, the most important element for any escape room for me is the fun factor (theming, immersion, quality/variety of puzzles are all important too!).

Send me a note or post comments if you have the time - I'm always keen to hear if others had different experiences to me in the rooms I'm reviewing.

Also check out my Sydney-based escape room blog for those who are interested in checking out the best escape rooms that Sydney has to offer: http://escaperoomsydney.blogspot.com.

Thanks
Scott