Sweethearts Ice Cream Parlour

The Cool Space (Sydney, Australia)

Time limit: 75 minutes

Age limit: None

Player limit: 2-8

Difficulty: 4.5/5

Date visited: September 2025

We had been waiting for The Cool Space to release their new room ever since we played the brilliant and ingenious Seance nearly a year ago. Naturally, expectations were sky high, but thankfully, it was well worth the wait. Sweethearts Ice Cream Parlour was everything we hoped it would be — and more!

First off, this was a drop-dead gorgeous room. The design of the space, the decor, the props, and especially the colour scheme reflected painstaking thought and care in shaping the theming and immersive atmosphere. We have now played a few rooms with the bar/diner theme, but this was by far the prettiest. The whole look felt highly professional but still bespoke and intimate. Every single surface and item exuded quality.

Secondly, the puzzles were absolutely fantastic, and in my opinion the biggest strength of the room. There was a great mix of puzzles, some of which we had never seen before. There's your traditional hunt and seek, word and number locks, logical deduction, making connections, spatial recognition and awareness, but also some smooth hi-tech wizardry. The multilinear nature of certain parts of the room allows teams to choose whether they want to divide and conquer or work together, making it suitable for small and large teams alike.

From our post-game conversations with Josh and Daniel, the owners and room designers of The Cool Space, we understand that earlier versions of the puzzles were more complex and difficult, but they decided to simplify them to improve flow and avoid tedium. Consequently, the puzzles themselves were not particularly difficult — the real challenge of the room lay in the sheer volume of puzzles and navigating their multilinear design. All of Josh and Daniel's tireless testing and trial and error has culminated in an agreeable balance that maximises what is most important but sometimes forgotten by escape room designers: FUN!

Lastly, I would be remiss if I didn't mention the actual story of the room and the understated attention to detail and theatrics that enhanced the overall experience. Sweethearts started off with a simple, cheeky premise, but as always, there were delicious twists and turns to be discovered — all the way to the sweet end! The lighting, music, sound, and special effects also gave the room a theatrical flair that elevated the drama and tension. A lot of good escape rooms have such elements, but Sweethearts took it to another level by paying that extra bit of attention to the finer details and little touches that make players appreciate the passion and commitment required in crafting something truly special.

The escape room industry currently appears to be trending more towards big productions, immersive theatre, extreme horror, and heightened physicality. And while all of these things are great in their own ways, to me, there's still nothing like the thrill of solving an old-fashioned padlock. In this sense, Sweethearts comes across as a welcome throwback to the traditional escape room, albeit one supercharged with the advanced tech and innovative advancements of next-gen games. Blending both of these flavours makes Sweethearts a comfortably familiar yet refreshing experience that should satisfy escape room players across the entire spectrum.

Escape time: 43 minutes and 16 seconds out of 75

Theming	Atmosphere	Puzzles	Creativity	Fun
A	A	A+	A	A+

Verdict: An aesthetically pleasing, thematically unique, and narratively satisfying room that is, above all, super fun! It is precisely the kind of the room that made me fall in love with escape rooms in the first place.

OVERALL RANK:

H	E	Z	J
A+	A	A+	A+