Mayhem Manor

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 Moolap, Containaphobia looked and felt very different to your typical escape room venue. Indeed, the immersion and tension began immediately after we entered the blue door to the barn…

To be honest, I didn’t give much thought to Mayhem Manor before playing it, regarding it as merely an appetizer to main course that is Carnivorous later that night. How silly of me.

• Mayhem manor was an incredible room that would have easily been the highlight of my trip but for Carnivorous.

• Backstory: A friend has disappeared inside the notoriously haunted Mayhem Manor and you are going in to look for her.

• Just from looking at the external façade of Containaphobia, you’d never think Mayhem Manor would be so gorgeous. The set dressing was gothic and eerie, with a Victorian-era flair. The theming reminded me a little of Mission Escape’s Unplayed Melody and Quest Room's The Orphanage, but perhaps even more realistic, refined, and polished.

• Apart from the aesthetics, the tech in this room was also impressive. The lighting and sound design were fantastic, and everything was delivered so smoothly and organically that it came across as more supernatural than technological.

• This was a spooky room, offering both a chilling atmosphere and a handful of jump scares, delivered through tech as opposed to live actor participation. Don’t be fooled by the “scare factor” of 2 out of 5 on the website — it would probably be a 4 at any other non-live actor escape room in Australia (I guess Carnivorous may have skewed things...).

• This was also a sneakily difficult room with a range of puzzles, albeit leaning quite heavily into hunt and seek, which some might not like. Experienced teams might actually get tripped up more than newbies, because this was a room that did not follow the escape room conventions we were accustomed to. Paying attention to detail and checking and double-checking everything proved to be crucial.

• Some of the hints were built into the audio system, though we were also given a walkie talkie for additional assistance – which we definitely needed on a couple of occasions!

• What made Mayhem Manor stand out were the many surprises, both in narrative and design. It never led us where we thought the game would go next. The final part of the room, in particular, delivered a very cool “wow” moment.

• Unfortunately, the group before us broke some things, and as a result we missed out on another cool moment and had to be guided through one of the puzzles. I never understand why some people just can’t follow simple instructions!

Escape time: 63 minutes out of 70

Theming	Atmosphere	Puzzles	Creativity	Fun
A	A	B	A-	B+

Verdict: Visually stunning, technically brilliant, unexpectedly challenging, and frequently surprising, Mayhem Manor is an elite horror escape room designed and built with an abundance of passion and ingenuity.

RANK: A