Strange World Escape Rooms - Darlinghurst (Sydney, Australia) Time limit: 70 minutes Age limit: Recommended 18+ (jump scares, coarse language); under 17 requires adult Player limit: 2-8 (recommended 4-6) Difficulty: 3/5 Date visited: November 2025 One of our most anticipated new rooms of the year was the new entry by Strange Worlds, which impressed us last year with their first room, Mrs Claws , a fun, campy horror-comedy. For the longest time, we thought the new room would

Escape Games Melbourne (Melbourne, Australia) Time limit: 60 minutes Age limit: Under 16 requires adult Player limit: 2-7 Difficulty: 4.5/5 Date visited: October 2025 We were still amped up after our transcendent experience at Carnivorou s in Geelong the night before, so my friend V and I decided to do one more room in the morning before my return flight to Sydney. As a two-man team, we decided upon Motel at Escape Games Melbourne to take advantage of a Groupon deal that ma

Containaphobia (Geelong, Australia) Time limit: 80 minutes Age limit: 18+ Player limit: 3-4 Difficulty: Expert Date visited: October 2025 Be prepared to run...   Some time over the past year, a legend began to grow about an escape room so wild, so insane, and so terrifying — yet so brilliant — that it had to be played to be believed, probably even multiple times. Countless people cried and gave up just minutes into the game, or worse, assaulted the live actor. Meanwhile, esc

Containaphobia (Geelong, Australia) Time limit: 70 minutes Age limit: 15+ (under 18 requires adult) Player limit: 2-5 (3-5 on Friday, Saturday, Sunday & Public Holidays) Difficulty: Hard Awards: TERPECA Nominee (2021-2024), Best of Morty (2023) Date visited: October 2025 After our first room in Queenscliff, we immediately headed to Containaphobia to play Mayhem Manor  as a team of 3 (as one team member is horror-averse). Situated in a massive barn in the Geelong suburb of Mo

Scram Escape Rooms - Penrith (Sydney, Australia) Time limit: 60 minutes Age limit: None (best suited to 13+) Player limit: 2-8 Difficulty: Hard Scare Factor: 4/5 Date visited: October 2025 It was only a few days before our scheduled trip to Scram Penrith that I discovered they had just opened a brand new room called The Butcher , a huge surprise considering their previous room, Plagued , was released not that long ago. Being the escape room degenerates that we are, I simply

Scram Escape Rooms - Penrith (Sydney, Australia) Time limit: 60 minutes Age limit: None (best suited to 13+) Player limit: 2-8 Difficulty: Hard Scare Factor: 3/5 Date visited: October 2025 Plagued  is one of Scram’s new rooms and one of the main reasons we decided to make the drive to Penrith. We had never played a Black Death room before and were curious to see how such an experience would be designed and executed. Here are my thoughts: This was a great room, not very scary

Fox in a Box (Gold Coast, Australia) Time limit: 60 minutes Age limit: None Player limit: 2-6 Difficulty: Hard Date visited: September 2025 Our final game on the Gold Coast was a last-minute addition (escape room addicts doing what escape room addicts do). I’ve always had a fascination with the Zodiac Killer, and this was one of their other rooms that got decent reviews, so we ended up choosing it over Wild West Saloon , which is apparently on the easier side. Here are my tho

Eclipse Escape (Gold Coast, Australia) Time limit: 60 minutes Age limit: None (but there are horror elements) Player limit: 2-9 (would not recommend more than 6) Difficulty: Medium to Advanced Awards: TERPECA Nominee (2024) Date visited: September 2025 I still remember when we first visited Eclipse over a year ago, the reason we avoided playing Retro Revenge  — despite it looking like a really cool room — was because we were terrified of the concept of having a live actor in

DarkPark Games Age: 14+ recommended Players: 1-4 Play Time: 1.5-3 hours Difficulty: Medium Awards: Golden Lock Award - Tabletop (2024) This was the second DarkPark tabletop escape game that our friend the Escape Room Explorer lent us while we were on the Gold Coast and our third tabletop game (played the next morning).   After Witchery Spell , our expectations were quite high, so I’m glad to say we enjoyed Never House  even more. Personally, I think the two games are probably

Lost Locks (Gold Coast, Australia) Time limit: 60 minutes Age limit: None Player limit: 2-8 Difficulty: Medium Awards: TERPECA Nominee (2024) Date visited: September 2025 Gripped with a sense of FOMO, I decided to book in a room at Lost Locks towards the end of my planning for our Brisbane/Gold Coast trip. I had heard good things about a couple of the rooms at this venue and wanted to see for myself. So was it worth it? The first thing to note is that Mad Monster  is a singl

Fox in a Box (Gold Coast, Australia) Time limit: 60 minutes Age limit: None Player limit: 2-8 Difficulty: 4/5 Date visited: September 2025 Right after playing our very first escape room at Eclipse in July 2024, we asked our GM which other rooms she recommended, and she said one of her favourites was The Other Side  at Fox in a Box. It’s taken us more than 14 months, but we finally got to play The Other Side  on our Brisbane/Gold Coast trip in September 2025. My thoughts are a

Quest Room (Brisbane) Time limit: 60 minutes Age limit: None Player limit: 2-5 Difficulty: Hard 5/5 Awards: TERPECA Nominee (2024) Date visited: September 2025 This was our third and final game at Quest Room during our Brisbane/Gold Coast trip. It’s also their newest game, released in late 2024. Here’s what I thought: We could really tell this was their newest room. It had a new-generation feel, with quality props and cinematic techniques that really enhanced the immersion a

Mission Escape - Pitt Street (Sydney, Australia) Time limit: 80 minutes Age limit: Recommended 12+ Player limit: 2-6 Difficulty: 4/5 Date...

Cubic Escape Room (Sydney, Australia) Time limit: 80 minutes Age limit: 15+ recommended (flexible; under 18 requires 2 adults) Player...

Limitless Escape Room  (Taipei, Taiwan) Time limit: 60 minutes Age limit: None Player limit: 3-6 (recommend 4-5) Difficulty: Expert Date...

Mission Escape - George Street (Sydney, Australia) Time limit: N/A (the experience takes around 90 minutes) Age limit: 15+ (at least 2 players 15+ required; flexible) Player limit: 2-6 Difficulty: 3/5 Awards: TERPECA Nominee (2023-2024), Best of Morty (2023) Date visited: June 2025 When I inquired with Mission Escape about the kids doing The Sacrifice and Intruders , I was told that they should have no problem with the former, but that the latter would be too scary for them.

Mission Escape - George Street (Sydney, Australia) Time limit: 100 minutes Age limit: Suitable for 15+ (at least 3 players 15+ required; flexible) Player limit: 3-7 Difficulty: 4/5 Awards: TERPECA Nominee (2022-2023), Best of Morty (2023) Date visited: June 2025 When we first started playing escape rooms, "scary" and "live actors" were two things we wanted no part of. Over time, however, my stance on that has softened, especially as experienced players have told me that thes

Escape Rooms Canberra (Canberra, Australia) Time limit: 60 minutes Age limit: Recommended 13+ Player limit: 2-7 (Recommended 2-6)...

Riddle Room (Canberra, Australia) Time limit: 60 minutes Age limit: 16+ (negotiable) Player limit: 4-8 (4-6 recommended) Difficulty: 3/5...

Scram Escape Rooms - O'Connell Street, Parramatta  (Sydney, Australia) Time limit: 60 minutes Age limit: 13+ recommended (flexible)...