Mafia: The Golden Ring

Adventure Rooms - Melbourne (Bourke Street) (Melbourne, Australia)

Time limit: 60 minutes

Age limit: None (rated PG with adult themes; children under 16 require an adult)

Player limit: 2-7 (Recommended 2-4)

Difficulty: 5/5

Date visited: September 2024

When we planned our trip to Melbourne, the only must-do escape room on the list was Extraction at The Curium Experience. As we didn’t intend to hire a car this time and kids are still a little too young to do the hardcore horror rooms, we were largely confined to the CBD and its outskirts. And so I consulted Morty for the best escape rooms in the Melbourne CBD, and ranked No. 2 and 3 after Extraction were Mafia: The Golden Ring and The Abandoned Cabin, both at Adventure Rooms.

This came as a surprise, as this ranking was not just for the Melbourne CBD, but for all of Melbourne, and Adventure Rooms is not as well-known among enthusiast circles as say Ukiyo, Escape or Die (now part of Ukiyo), Containaphobia, Rush, ERM, etc. But in Morty we trust, so I booked both rooms for the remainder of the trip.

First up, Mafia: The Golden Ring, their most difficult room. The premise is simple: You are part of the mafia and have been tasked with infiltrating an enemy base to steal back your boss’s “Golden Ring”, which allows him to wield power over all the mafia families of New York. I thought it was a pretty cool idea, and what makes it even cooler is that the enemy’s headquarters is hidden behind the facade of a simple Italian diner, and that’s where the adventure begins.

Our entire family came away utterly impressed with Mafia: The Golden Ring. The props and set were of a very solid quality, but what made it stand out was the wonderful room design and layout, as well as the varied and interesting puzzles that fit the theme incredibly well. You can tell everything was designed with a lot of thought and care, as it really pushes players to be extra perceptive and utilises some clever concepts I had not contemplated before.

An interesting thing about Adventure Rooms is their clue system. There is no direct communication with the GM, nor can you ask for clues. Instead, the GM will provide subtle hints on your timer screen if they feel you are stuck or running behind on time. While some people might not like the presence of a digital screen, which can break immersion, this method actually also preserves immersion by keeping the GM’s presence hidden, and you can also simply choose to ignore clues by never consulting the timer screen.

Anyway, we found Mafia: The Golden Ring to be highly challenging — in a good way. I just love that exciting but overwhelming feeling when you first enter an escape room but have no idea where to start. We took one clue from the timer screen when we got stuck quite early on, but managed to make up time and escape in the final minute! What a thrill!

We went into Adventure Rooms with moderate expectations and came out singing its praises. The theming and atmosphere, in my opinion, are almost on par with Cipher in Sydney (perhaps just a tad rougher around the edges), with the puzzles that are arguably just as good. Mafia: The Golden Ring is now E’s new favourite room along with Cipher's The Marlow Hotel, and in my opinion is absolutely deserving of its high rating on Morty.

Escape time: 59 minutes out of 60

Rating: 9.45

Player	Theming	Atmosphere	Puzzles	Creativity	Fun	Average
H	9	8.5	9	9	9.5	9
E	10	10	10	10	10	10
Z	9	9	9.5	9.5	9	9.2
J	9.5	9.5	10	9.5	9.5	9.7
Rating						9.45