Ransom

Social Escape Rooms - Alexandria (Sydney, Australia)

Time limit: 60 minutes

Age limit: None

Player limit: 3-8 (recommended 3-4)

Difficulty: Medium (45% success rate)

Awards: TERPECA Nominee (2021-2023), Best of Morty 2023

Date visited: November 2024

Having already done rooms at Cipher, Next Level, Elude, Expedition, and the Cool Space, there was still one Sydney establishment on the list that we were dying to try: Social Escape in Alexandria. We had heard fantastic things about their two most popular rooms, Ransom and Bank Heist, but we were wary of tackling them as we heard they were on the more difficult end of the spectrum.

Well, we decided we had waited long enough. On a lazy Saturday afternoon, our family ventured to Social Escape to play Ransom, which did not disappoint! It starts off with a highly unusual and interesting introduction, plunging players straight into the game with a touch of magic.

Designed and built from the ground up by the friendly owner, Mark, Ransom's biggest strength lies in the puzzles and game flow. There are loads of clever puzzles of different types to solve in the 60-minute time limit, keeping all of us busy and on our toes. A bit of logic, a pinch of arithmetic, some wordplay, hunt and seek, plus several others I won't spoil. There are number locks, letter locks, keypad locks, key locks, and even the dreaded directional lock, as well as mechanical and hi-tech puzzles, all of which flow wonderfully in the space and offers numerous clever and cool revelations. In short, it's a non-stop puzzle-solving ride that never feels repetitive or dull.

As it turned out, we didn't need to worry about the difficulty of the room, as we smashed through it without a hint in under 38 minutes, one of our best times to date. Sometimes the puzzles just align more with your way of thinking, and I think this was the case here. One of the best things about Social Escape is that they provide you with a detailed printout of how you performed compared to other teams. According to the stats, we placed in the top 7% of all teams and top 6% of all four-person teams, and were one of the 4.1% teams that didn't need a hint to complete the room. But we were still way off the record of 20 minutes (!!!), held by the owners and GMs of Next Level.

There really isn't anything negative I can say about the room, except that the theming and atmosphere are not quite at the level of the best we've experienced (eg. Cipher), though few rooms in Australia are. It's partially due to the space parameters (office-style buildings tend to be more restrictive in terms of what they can do compared to warehouses), and perhaps also because of the ransom theme itself. That said, the overall use of space and the craftsmanship of the props and puzzles are brilliant. That's why we can't wait to go back to try some of their other rooms, such as Bank Heist and Bellamy's Booty (pirate theme). Their oldest game, Baker Street Mystery, is also in the process of being redesigned/rebuilt with completely new puzzles and additional rooms.

In fact, we enjoyed Ransom so much that we decided to rent their portable escape room, The First of Them, for the night. That review is coming up next!

Escape time: 37 minutes and 50 seconds

Rating: 8.75

Player	Theming	Atmosphere	Puzzles	Creativity	Fun	Average
H	8	8	9	8.5	9	8.5
E	8	7	9	9	10	8.6
Z	8	8	9	8.5	9	8.5
J	8.5	9	9.5	10	10	9.4
Rating						8.75