Plagued

Scram Escape Rooms - Penrith (Sydney, Australia)

Time limit: 60 minutes

Age limit: None (best suited to 13+)

Player limit: 2-8 per team

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 but rather creepy, with an ominous and morbid atmosphere permeating the entire experience. There were some jump scares involving the GM, but I’m sure you could ask them to omit or tone down the live acting as it’s not essential to the game.

• The backstory is that your home has been sealed shut after someone in the family falls ill, and your mission is to break out and find a secret cure hidden in an apothecary. A cursory search on Morty revealed that the plague theme is very rare, so it’s always great to try something a little different.

• The set design was pretty cool and aligned with the 17^th century aesthetic, with most props made predominantly of wood. It’s not pretty but it’s not meant to be. The lighting was quite dim, but it fit the theme and did not make things more difficult.

• The puzzles were mostly of the traditional type, with an assortment of padlocks and mechanical contraptions. There was a wide mix including elements of hunt and seek, sequencing, pattern identification, and even dexterity puzzles. All tech was well-hidden so as to not break immersion. Definitely on the more challenging side.

Escape time: 39 minutes out of 60

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

Verdict: A unique theme with solid set design, an eerie atmosphere, and a good mix of challenging puzzles. We came out of Plagued all agreeing that it was the best Scram room we had played to date (though this would not last long — see my next review)!

OVERALL RANK:

H	E	Z	J
A-	B-	A-	A-