The Flaming Pearl

Eclipse Escape (Gold Coast, Australia)

Time limit: 60 minutes (formerly 75 minutes)

Age limit: None

Player limit: 2-12 (would no recommend more than 6)

Difficulty: Medium or Hard

Awards: TERPECA Nominee (2024)

Date visited: September 2025

Much to our disappointment, weren’t able to play The Flaming Pearl at Eclipse last year we were on the Gold Coast because its release was delayed. We had heard many good things about the room since then, and were very eager to play this Chinese Zodiac-inspired game. Did it live up to expectations?

• The Flaming Pearl was a pretty room, filled with props and ornaments that align with the theme, though players should not expect crazy gorgeous aesthetics or narrative immersion. It looked a bit like a Chinese antique store, somewhat chaotic and filled with many pieces of furniture and objects, but fortunately, also very bright, so everything was easy to see. There was a small staircase in the room, however, so running around is not advised.

• The centrepiece of the room was a giant wheel with symbols of the 12 animals of the Chinese Zodiac lined along the outer edge, an ingenious signposting device that would light up in different colours to let you know which set of puzzles you could do next, which ones have been completed, and which ones were not ready to be tackled yet. The goal of the game was to make all 12 symbols light up before time runs out.

• Originally a 75-minute game, the time limit has been reduced to 60 minutes, with a couple of puzzles taken out (the owner, Kerri, showed them to us afterwards).

• The main selling point of The Flaming Pearl, for us at least, was the glorious puzzles. So many puzzles, so much variety, so much fun. Not only did they test all kinds of abilities from observation, hunt and seek, and logic, to pattern recognition and other sensory functions, the puzzles were also mostly related to their corresponding animal.

• Our team of 4 decided to divide and conquer in groups of 2, which allowed us to crush it and make the official leaderboard. But it’s definitely a very busy and challenging room, and I think we would have struggled had we done everything together. We were fortunate in that Kerri gave us some time afterward to go through the puzzles that each other missed so we could understood all the puzzles in the room.

• This was quite a high-tech room with delicate items, and players are advised to not use excessive force on any of the puzzles or props. It was unfortunate that those before us had caused a couple of things to malfunction, though any issues were resolved quickly and did not detract from the overall experience.

Escape time: 35 minutes out of 60

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

Verdict: The wait was well worth it. The Flaming Pearl was an absolute delight to play, filled with clever, innovative, and interactive puzzles that challenged and impressed us. If you’re into the puzzle aspect of escape rooms, this one is guaranteed to satisfy.

OVERALL RANK:

H	E	Z	J
A+	A	A+	A+