The Cipher Room - Newtown (Sydney, Australia)
Time limit: 60 minutes
Age limit: None
Player limit: 2-8 (recommended 2-5)
Difficulty: 5/5
Awards: TERPECA Nominee (2020), TERPECA Finalist (2019, 2021-2023), Best of Morty (2023)
Date visited: July 2024
Any risk of us falling out of love with escape rooms vanished after our very first experience at The Cipher Room, the premier escape room in Sydney. We had initially wanted to do La Rebellion, their 2022 TERPECA Top Room recipient, but were unable to secure a booking at short notice. And so we went with The Marlowe Hotel, their “film noir” room.
The word that best describes The Marlowe Hotel is “wow”. It is the word I first uttered as soon as I opened my eyes in the room. I knew I was stepping into a “black and white escape room”, but I saw simply blew my mind. Rather than just painting everything in black and white, it felt more like we had been transported into a black and white movie where the colour had been sucked out of the world. Apart from having every shade of grey, the textures of the all objects are also preserved, which is important because the nature of the puzzles actually requires you to touch and interact with them.
The Marlowe Hotel also has some amazing puzzles — extremely varied and with incredible flow, to ensure you are constantly on the move and engaged. Even though the room is not particularly big, its utilisation of space is genius. And though it’s also ranked as Cipher’s most difficult room, we were really on the ball that day and only needed one clue on a puzzle that apparently stumps the most people. Perhaps the only criticism of the room, if you can even call it that, is that it doesn’t have a jaw-dropping finale like some of Cipher’s newer rooms. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still quite clever and you know exactly when you’ve beaten the room, but it just doesn’t have the same “wow” factor that permeates the rest of the experience.
In short, The Marlowe Hotel is magical and truly unique. Everything — from the quality of the props to the immersion, atmosphere, and puzzles — is simply brilliant. We knew immediately after exiting the room that it is our new favourite, and that our escape room obsession is here to stay.
PS: Wear black and white to enhance the immersion!
Escape time: 51 minutes out of 60 minutes
Rating: 9.75
Player | Theming | Atmosphere | Puzzles | Creativity | Fun | Average |
H | 10 | 9 | 9 | 10 | 9.5 | 9.5 |
E | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 |
Z | 10 | 9.5 | 9.5 | 10 | 9.5 | 9.7 |
J | 10 | 10 | 9.5 | 9.5 | 10 | 9.8 |
Rating | 9.75 |
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