The Cartel

Scapegoats Escape Rooms (Upper Hutt, New Zealand)

Time limit: 60 minutes

Player limit: 2-6

Age limit: Under 14s require adult supervision

Difficulty: 6/10

Date visited: December 2025

We booked a lot of escape rooms on this New Zealand trip, and the one establishment I knew the least about was Scapegoats in Upper Hutt, about a half-hour drive north of Wellington. At the time I booked, there were hardly any reviews on Morty, and I couldn't find anyone on enthusiast forums who had played or recommended it. However, it was one of the only places open on Boxing Day, plus it was located in a massive complex called Brewtown, which had restaurants and tons of activities such as go-karting, paintball, bowling, arcade games, etc.

I ended up booking 2 rooms there based on staff recommendations, and the first one we played was their newest room, The Cartel. We've played a couple of gangster rooms before, and they've all been quite fun. So how was this one?

• Surprisingly good! The Cartel was a very solid escape room, with quality theming, realistic props, challenging puzzles, and a thrilling ending. We did not know what to expect when we went in, but came out impressed.

• The set looked professionally, starting off in a biker bar complete with a dancer's pole. The props were all very sturdy, polished, and mostly aligned with the theme. There was a bit of a macabre vibe due to the presence of fake body parts, which I found to be more realistic and well-made than the average escape room.

• We found the puzzles quite difficult, and actually ended up needing a couple of hints, which were delivered through an iPad (not my favourite method). There was a surprising amount of hunt and seek — our main weakness — some of which felt intentionally tricky. A couple of other puzzles came across as a little vague or difficult to decipher, but we enjoyed the challenge nonetheless.

• The room itself was also much bigger than expected (at least compared to the average NZ room we had played by that time), with multiple spaces of varying settings.

• It had a very cool ending that made the room more memorable than it otherwise would have been. The fact that it kind of came out of left field made it even better.

Escape time: 52 minutes out of 60

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

Verdict: A very solid gangster themed room that ticks the right boxes — quality set design, spacious, challenging puzzles, and a memorable finale!

OVERALL RANK:

H	E	Z	J
B+	B	B+	B+