Trapped

Mission Escape - George Street (Sydney, Australia)

Time limit: 70 minutes

Age limit: Suitable for 15+ (at least 2 players 15+ required)

Player limit: 2-4

Difficulty: 4.5/5

And… we’re back!

After a long and agonising wait due to a very busy school term, our family finally got the chance to play another escape room. For our glorious return, we chose Trapped at Mission Escape, which is considered to be of advanced difficulty and has fairly good reviews.

The premise is simple: There’s been a death at in a commercial building elevator and you’ve been sent to investigate. Along the way, you will of course find yourself “trapped”, and your mission is to escape and solve the mystery.

We had a lot of fun in Trapped. Size-wise, it’s a relatively small room, as you spend a large chunk of time confined in a lift. And since you’re in a commercial building, there’s nothing particularly flashy about the theming, even though what you do see matches theme and looks realistic. However, those looking for extravagant or elaborate props might come away a little disappointed.

That said, what Trapped lacked in wow factor it more than made up for with its cool puzzle design and game flow. It’s the kind of room that makes you appreciate the technical aspects more than the aesthetic ones. And for anyone concerned, even though you can only have a max of four players, it’s actually surprisingly spacious and did not feel claustrophobic at all.

Like Mission’s other rooms, Trapped is a hi-tech room, but I felt like the tech here was more seamless and much less frustrating to navigate. Like Unstoppable, many of the puzzles were task-based, though in Trapped they were more logical, made more sense in the space, and aligned more with the overall theme. The result was a smoother experience with better overall game flow, one where each puzzle led logically to the next.

Looking back, we didn’t count too many puzzles, but there were quite a few advanced head-scratchers that required us to think outside the box and pay attention to our surroundings. It’s no wonder that our GM told us afterwards that 30%-40% of teams barely make it past the halfway mark. We ended up doing quite well and escaped with over 19 minutes to spare and requiring no clues. I’m not sure if it’s because we’ve grown more accustomed to Mission’s puzzle style, or if we were more switched on as it was early in the morning. Either way, we really worked together as a team and played to our strengths, with each member contributing to different puzzles and in different ways. It’s the best kind of family escape room experience.

On the negative side, I don’t have much to report apart from the usual Mission nitpicks — less than perfect English on the background story card, and a couple of in-game typos here and there. We also had a GM mishap when our walkie-talkie suddenly started saying some very weird things without us asking for anything, which really confused us until we realised they were trying to give guidance/clues to people in a different room. I guess that’s what can happen when you still use walkie talkies and don’t have dedicated GMs or a GM control room.

On the whole, however, we had a fantastic time, and can’t wait to try Mission’s new room (hopefully released some time in 2025), as well as Sacrifice and Intruders when the kids get a little older.

Escape time: 51 minutes out of 70

Verdict: Proof that challenging puzzles, good flow, and clever game design can elevate an otherwise fairly average-looking room into a fun and satisfying experience.

Rating: 8.825

Player	Theming	Atmosphere	Puzzles	Creativity	Fun	Average
H	8.5	8	8.5	8.5	8.5	8.4
E	9	9	9	8	9	8.8
Z	8.5	8.5	8.5	9.5	9	8.8
J	9	9	9.5	9.5	9.5	9.3
Rating						8.825