Working from home has a lot of perks (and a few drawbacks, don’t even get me started on how my kitchen is conspiring against me), but one thing I wasn’t expecting is that these days I look forward to leaving the house on weekends!

When I worked a corporate job, often with long hours, weekends were for catching up on housework and rest so I tended to hermit for most of them. Now that I’m holed up here for a lot of the week though, I look forward to getting out and about on weekends to try some of the many things there are to do in Melbourne — new things and old favourites I haven’t done for awhile.

What’s an escape room?

The first thing I want to share with you is a really fun discovery — escape rooms. Known as adventure games, an escape room is a themed room that you make your way out of by solving clues and puzzles. They can be riddles, odd-one-out clues, number games, map-based clues, or a physical puzzle (like fitting blocks together). Each will reveal a code to a combination lock or point you to the next clue.

There are escape rooms all over Melbourne if you look for them and we’re on a mission to try them all. Chris has tried 6, and I’ve done these four.

Rush Escape Game, South Yarra

Room: Lost in Paradise

Time: up to 1 hour

Team: 2 – 6 people

Cost: $129 per team (Monday to Thursday) or $198 per team (Friday to Sunday).

Scenario: This video explains it better than I could:

I was part of a team of five, although this room would work for a team of any size (be warned though, it’s not a big space). The clues were easy to discover, but not too easy to solve. They followed a sequence as well, so for the most part you could move from one to the next pretty smoothly. We ended up going slightly over time but we did find our way out. Book your Rush Escape here.

Trapt Bar and Escape Rooms, CBD

Room: Biohazard

Time: 45 minutes

Team: 2 – 6 people

Cost: $32 – $38 per person, depending on the team size.

Scenario: You’re part of a special team sent into a secret government lab after the scientists aren’t heard from for days.

This time there were four of us, which I think was a good number for this room — the first few clues are in a very small area so if you had six people packed in there it would be extremely cosy! We had a bit of trouble with this room because it was hard to discern what was a clue and what wasn’t; we had to ask for help a few times because we couldn’t pick what the next step might be.

The puzzles, once we found them, were quite challenging, one or two frustratingly so. Because we spent a fair bit of time dithering about we went over but the manager let us stay in to finish the room. It was fun but be prepared for a challenge!

What I particularly liked about Trapt is that all of the rooms open out to a cosy underground bar. It’s the perfect place to meet some friends for a challenge and debrief over a delicious espresso martini afterwards! Get Trapt here.

Escapism at Strike, CBD

Rooms: Forensic and Butcher’s Burrow

Time: 50 minutes

Team: 2 – 6 people

Cost: $100 per team (Monday to Thursday) or $150 per team (Friday to Sunday)

Scenarios: (from the Escapism site) Forensic – You are part of a team of investigators on the trail of a serial killer. You are close to identifying him and he knows it. Can you catch him before he gets you?

Butcher’s Burrow – You’ve been kidnapped and chained up. You can smell the fear in the room. How did this happen? Why did you end up here? There’s a severed hand on a plate. You might be next. Now is not the time to be afraid.

These rooms were fun but pretty challenging, especially Forensic. This time there were 4 of us, which was a good number. We had to ask for help to get started in Forensic but once we were on a roll we did pretty well I think (although we didn’t finish the room in time, so will definitely be back to have another crack!)

Similarly, Butcher’s Burrow took us a little bit to get going but then we knocked the clues over pretty well, finishing with 10 minutes to spare. While easier it was still challenging enough to be fun, and apparently only 20% of people finish that room in time – although maybe the manager was just flattering us!

Escapism is part of Strike at QV so you can grab some yummy snacks and drinks once you come out of the room or add on some bowling to make a day of it. You can hear the crash of pins from inside the rooms but I didn’t find that off-putting. Explore Escapism rooms here.

Tips for escape rooms:

I’m not going to give anything away, but here is a few things to keep in mind when you tackle an escape room.

\\ Take a moment to check out your surroundings. If you jump straight onto the most obvious thing you might be missing some important or handy items.

\\ Don’t be afraid to ask for clues. I know, you want to figure it out for yourself, but you’re on a time limit! There’s not point wasting several minutes going around in circles if you’re truly stuck. Getting a clue will keep you on the right track so you know whether to persist or if you’re wasting time on a red herring.

\\ The combination locks can be sticky, so be firm! More than once we entered a combo that didn’t work so we kept hunting around for the ‘right’ clue. After we gave up and asked for help it turned out we were right the first time, the lock just didn’t open. You have to tug pretty hard to get some of them to pop so if you feel confident you have the right combo, persist!

\\ Remember you’re a team – everyone approaches things differently so be sure to include everyone in the discussion. You never know who will be able to solve the puzzle, especially if it calls for some abstract thought.

And there you have it guys — next time you’re looking for something to do in Melbourne (especially with winter approaching),  definitely check out an escape room or two.

Have you tried any escape rooms? Share your tips and your favourite rooms below!

Image via Unsplash