The best escape rooms in Melbourne

If you're after the horror variety, Lost has three rooms that are sure to scare your socks off. As you descend the stairs into the dimly lit basement, faint screams from other hopeful escapees echo off the walls, serving as the first clue that you're in for one hell of a ride.

The rooms are rated based on difficulty, level of physical activity involved and fear factor. We did Survivor, which is considered the least terrifying of the bunch, but that's not saying much. The year is 2024, and a deadly zombie virus has spread rapidly across the globe, decimating much of the world's population. But there's good news: a doctor has successfully developed a vaccine to fight the virus.

Of course, there's a catch. The hospital he works in was attacked and he was killed, leaving the cure trapped within the hospital's zombie-infested halls. You and your friends are among the world's few survivors, and you've bravely decided to help track down the cure and help save what remains of the human race. 

Before you begin, one member of your team will be asked to volunteer as a prisoner who starts the game chained to the wall. Don't worry, it won't be long before he rejoins you — as long as you remember to set him free. You start the game in the back entrance to the hospital, and from this point forward, it's a race against the clock. Unlike most escape rooms where the entire game basically takes place in one space, Survivor spans multiple areas, each with its own set of challenges.

While it's not an unfamiliar story — in fact, it sounds a whole lot like the plot of I Am Legend — it remains exciting thanks to a frequent change in environment and a range of unusual puzzles. Thanks to eerie soundscapes, unsettling décor and a few well-timed jump scares, you and your mates are likely to be those same faint screams that the next group hears on its way in. It's also a very approachable room for beginners, and our team managed to escape with nearly a half-hour left to spare. 

And if you really want to up the ante and try something nightmare-inducing, opt for the creepy Shanghai murder mystery 'Before Midnight' room or the Annabelle storyline, oft-considered the scariest escape room in Melbourne. 

Outcome: Success! 
Atmosphere: 4/5
Creativity of puzzles: 4/5
Difficulty: 3/5
Fun: 5/5
Best quote: "....Guys?" "Oh, I forgot we had to set you free." 
Our tip: If you want to race against the clock — and potentially beat the room's record for the fastest escape — don't be afraid to split up and try to solve multiple puzzles simultaneously. 

There's no guarantee of happily ever after

There are four rooms here at the Mystery Rooms, and the fourth, A Grimm Finale, is the culmination of the previous three. You are only allowed to book the fourth room once you've completed the others, and it's in the briefing for this one that we learn what the purpose of those quests was. In the previous quests, we picked up three precious objects, which will help us defeat the evil Snow Queen, the ultimate boss in A Grimm Finale. 

We start off in the Big Bad Wolves' headquarters, temporarily empty as the wolves have gone off to do some sort of evil mischief. There are fairytale objects galore – we spot things from the Three Little Pigs, the Princess and the Pea, Jack and the Beanstalk, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, the Chronicles of Narnia, the Princess and the Frog, Pinocchio, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Rapunzel and Cinderella.

There's a magic mirror on the wall, who will offer help if we get really and truly stuck. Symbols help us determine which clues go with which locks and puzzles (eg the picture of Pinocchio goes with the Pinocchio doll, and really pay attention to where all those frogs are). Often the clues and the puzzles are on opposite sides of the room, so we need to work together to call out what we're seeing. The room has three levels (a main level, an upstairs and a subterranean dwarf mine), and there's a clever communications device to help you talk to your teammates on a different level. 

The Mystery Rooms advises you to bring a warm top with you, and it's advice you should follow. If you escape the wolves' lair you'll end up in Narnia, which has been taken over by the Snow Queen. And, well, they don't call her the Snow Queen for nothing.  

Outcome: Success! (Well, technically we were one minute, 35 seconds over, but what's a few seconds between magical friends?)
Atmosphere: 5/5
Creativity of puzzles: 5/5
Difficulty: 4/5
Fun: 5/5
Best quote: “What do I do with all these frogs?”
Our tip: Try all the buttons, doors and objects when you first get in – the whole room could be useful, and you need to know what you can open before you begin.

Did you know that there's an escape room centre tucked away on the third floor of Melbourne Central? Neither did we, and the first challenge is finding it. Our ragtag team of hopeful escapees struggled, but we'll give you a hint: it's nestled within the expanse of Strike Bowling.

Once you've managed to track it down, you'll have a choice between two challenging rooms: Shutdown, where a critical AI system has been sabotaged and you're tasked with bringing it back online, and the Old Haunt, where you seek refuge from a storm in an old abandoned mansion filled with secrets.

We opted for the Old Haunt and were led into a room by the gamemaster, eyes closed, through a cacophony of thunder and a mist simulating the harsh conditions. Once inside the door slams shut behind you, and when you open your eyes, you're in a dark, dilapidated mansion that seems frozen in time. As you begin to explore, you realise that you're not alone: the spirit of Alice haunts the property, and she begs you to reunite her with her long-lost love, John.

If you want to help her, you must solve around 20 puzzles within 60 minutes. We're no mathematicians, but we can tell you that works out to solving about one puzzle every three minutes – a bit full-on, but you can use up to three clues if you get stuck. And if you still can't solve the puzzle, it will eventually solve itself to ensure that your team keeps moving along the story at the right pace. 

As you move through the sequence of puzzles, more is revealed about the ill-fated couple, and this room's poweerful storyline is perhaps its strongest selling point. There's a wide array of challenges, including magnet retrieval, deciphering of dates and codes, tracking down hidden objects and even completing physical tests. While some challenges may start to feel a bit pedantic or repetitive, and it was sometimes tricky to know if you solved the puzzle yourself or if it was solved for you, the room still excels at ensuring all players can participate. 

Outcome: Success!
Atmosphere: 3/5
Creativity of puzzles: 3/5
Difficulty: 4/5
Fun: 4/5
Best quote: "We're not responsible for any friendships getting broken" 
Our tip: If you're a completionist and want to solve every puzzle, make sure to use your clues before the puzzles have a chance to solve themselves. 

Beware the screaming painting

Real talk: Its Nightmare is genuinely scary, so if you can’t make it through a horror movie without wetting yourself then we suggest trying another of Rush Escape Games' rooms. There are six at the South Yarra location, and themes span everything from regal mediaeval halls to superhero hangouts (a favourite for kids). There’s even a super tough room available that was so hard (it had a 5 per cent success rate) Rush had to modify it slightly.

But back to 60 minutes of puzzling, R15+ terror that is Its Nightmare, the escape room. Time Out's bravest decided to review. After being led down a dark, glowing red corridor, our intrepid escapees are informed that not only do many people receive bad news shortly after exiting this cursed room, but even the CCTV is said to cut out occasionally (though we had plenty of assistance when needed).

After making our way down an even darker hallway (with bonus creepy crawlies at our feet) we emerge into the set of a horror flick, complete with bloody handprints and possessed paintings. Genuine screams occurred more than once as we picked our way through the room’s puzzles and tried not to freak out when we had to pat down faceless, creepy child mannequins (anything for a clue).

The flow of each escape room varies at Rush. Its Nightmare is a more intuitive room where you enter with little instruction or direction – a choice that adds to the overall unsettling environs. Read all notes you find carefully for clues, and don’t be afraid to stick your hands into strange holes – if you want to escape alive, that is.

Outcome: Success!
Atmosphere: 5/5
Creativity of puzzles: 3/5
Difficulty: 3/5
Fun: 5/5
Best quote: “I like that room because of the aircon, but I don't want to be in there because I don't like all the screaming.”
Our tip: Double check everything, some clues are easy to overlook due to your sheer terror.

The Crumbling Prince Part 1 (yes, there's a part 2) room is set in a beautiful Japanese garden. There's a cherry tree in full blossom in the corner, and a real waterfall burbles gently into the stream that bisects the room. The centre of one wall is dominated by a humanoid figure with glowing eyes in a robe – this is the titular Prince. He's very interactive, answering and asking questions. He's an ally – kind of. 

But he's not the only one in the room. Each of us is given a vulpine mask to wear in the room, and these contain secrets of their own. The Mask of the Lost and Mask of the Wild have headphones inside, and voices direct these players towards certain puzzles and provide warnings and information. The Mask of the Moon and Mask of the Sun contain special lights to help discover secret messages and markings hidden throughout the room. The player wearing the Mask of the Lost is given the most information, but be warned – the voices might be helpful, but it's important not to let the Prince know that you can hear them. The Prince himself has very keen hearing and eyesight, and he gets jealous and pouty if he doesn't know what you're doing. Keeping the Prince on side while appeasing the voices in your mask can be a tall order.

Outcome: Success!

Atmosphere: 5/5
Creativity of puzzles: 3/5
Difficulty: 3/5
Fun: 4/5
Best quote: “Hang on, I can't hear you, the voices in my head are talking to me.”
Our tip: If you get stuck, just ask the Prince for help. He's full of useful info and on your side. Maybe.

Dive deep into a war veteran's fractured mind

There are three different rooms to be done at this venue, and we are trying our luck at Fractured: Remember Me. Players are trapped inside the mind of Robert, a World War II veteran who has suffered from PTSD and is in a coma. The object of the game is to make connections between his memories, wake him up and reconnect him with his family. 

We are initially brought into a small room with white walls and little adornment. A plinth in the middle contains a sepia-toned photo album and a one-sentence instruction on a piece of paper. On one wall is an old-fashioned radio, another contains a military jacket, hat and canteen, and a spooky video projection plays on the main wall.  

That's about it, but the deceptively simple room holds some pretty cool secrets and a very impressive reveal. It's a race against the clock (70 minutes), but more than that, it feels like a race against Robert's potential death. It somehow feels like a very personal story, and we are emotionally invested in bringing Robert out of his coma and reuniting him with his loved ones.  

Outcome: Success! But, dear reader, we must confess. We cheated just an eensy bit. Four different puzzles delivered four different numbers for a lock, and we got three of them and their order. Rather than do the last puzzle (which was multistage and was eating into our time), we locked in the three numbers we knew and used trial and error to find out the last number. Our deception was immediately noticed – the walkie talkie we had for hints crackled to life, and our host said, "Um, how did you get that open?" We do not condone cheating. But we're just saying, it can be done. 
Atmosphere: 4/5
Creativity of puzzles: 5/5
Difficulty: 4/5
Fun:  5/5
Best quote: “God, old-timey people are super creepy.”
Our tip: Pay attention to the audio as it plays. It adds to the story but will also help you solve your puzzles.

We hope you've got a strong stomach

First things first: despite the name, you will not die if you fail to escape in time at Escape or Die. Though Evan Raif, the creator and head of Escape or Die, says people have definitely called up asking just that. And having worked our way through the escape room, the great storytelling means that there are definitely moments where you feel like your life is in peril.

Escape or Die pitches itself as a little different to your average escape room, but the core concept is the same. Your team enters a room and you have a set amount of time to escape from said room by solving puzzles. Where Escape or Die differs is in how it’s more story-based, and your ability to follow the story plays a big role in your success. 

The premise of the room is that you and your mates are new employees at a haunted house, and you’ve just started your first day of work. What first appears as a delightfully hammy attraction, however, soon becomes increasingly sinister as you realise all is not right with the haunted house’s staff. There are quite a few video interludes between puzzles (think of them like cutscenes in a video game), which really do place you right in the narrative, thanks to some clever techniques featuring recorded audio and video. The videos are varied too, switching from advertisements to found footage to quirky (yet disturbing) animations. 

Escape or Die doesn’t have the hardest puzzles we’ve encountered, but they are creative and require a healthy dose of lateral thinking – and some teamwork – to solve. Again, you’ll be rewarded for paying attention to tiny details and for not disregarding items at face value. We loved the fact that while the game starts out pretty normal and unthreatening, by the time you enter the second room there’s absolutely no time for chit chat as you race to escape from what might be the goriest escape room we’ve tried. At times we had to remind ourselves: “It’s only a game, it’s not real, it’s only a game.”

Outcome: Success!
Atmosphere: 5/5
Creativity of puzzles: 4/5
Difficulty: 3/5
Fun: 5/5
Best quote: "I think he just blew his eye out... and presumably his brain."
Our tip: Pay special attention to the story – even when things get a little hairy. Doing so might just save your skin.

Try the OG

When Melbourne’s first escape room opened back in 2014, it sent an electric current of rumour through the city. What even is an escape room, we asked – and are they all situated in granny flats in the back of someone’s mum’s garden?

This one sure is. Intrigue builds to slight unease when we rock up to a house in suburban Flemington, but sure enough, we’re greeted by puzzle-master and psychologist Owen Spear.

He leads us through his mum’s home and all the way to the bottom of her garden. He explains that, together with his girlfriend Ali Cheetham (also a doctor of psychology), he converted the space into an escape room after falling in love with the concept on a trip to Budapest. Handing us one walkie-talkie, he gestures to the door, wishes us luck and reassures us that he’ll be watching us “the whole time”.

The room is pitch black and eerie cello-driven music rises from an unknown source. Torchlight captures glimpses of our surroundings: a dusty book; a feather-filled birdcage; a locked trunk.

A crinkled letter sits on an antique table. It’s a message from our uncle, who has left us a series of clues that we’ll need to solve in order to return to reality.

The clues are nowhere, and everywhere. Nothing looks out of place, but hidden within objects and paintings are clues that lead us deeper into the mystery. Like children we’re soon completely lost in the story, pacing excitedly, talking in whispers, barely aware of the time that is slipping away. The puzzles are intricate and challenging, but there’s nothing that can’t be solved with persistence and logical thinking (plus one or two prompts over the walkie-talkie). The experience doesn’t rely on shock tactics or complex mathematics: at its core, Escape Room is grounded in a deep curiosity about human behaviour. When we finally do escape, we emerge grasping each other by the arm and squinting into the sunlight. Owen congratulates us and receives our stunned faces with a knowing look. He’s seen this reaction before, and we're sure he'll see it many times again.

Outcome: Success!
Atmosphere: 5/5
Creativity of puzzles: 5/5
Difficulty: 3/5
Fun:  5/5
Best quote: “There’s no way this code will work oh my God it works.”
Our tip: When you find something that doesn’t seem to fit with anything else, don’t despair; it’ll come in handy later. Unless, of course, it’s a red herring…

A mother lode of intrigue

Months after creating Melbourne's first escape room in Flemington in 2014, Owen Spear and Ali Cheetham opened a second one inside a converted factory in South Melbourne. The couple meets us out on the street, then leads us down a dark corridor. We stop at an unassuming door, grasping torches and a walkie-talkie. Deep breath – here we go again.

The door clicks shut behind us and instantly we’re transported to the control station of an old mine. Low, yellow light picks up a typed note sitting on a desk, warning us that there’s been a blockage inside the mine: our mates could be inside. We must locate the source of the fault – or else. At times our three-person team ponders puzzles alone, but at others, we’re huddled over a rock, a jar, a map, waiting for that moment when the answer comes to one, two or all three of us at once. We encounter audio-based clues, physical challenges and strange symbols. Eventually, it all comes down to a final code that we’ll need to save the mine. With sweaty palms, we punch in the numbers for the third time… and we’ve done it! We’re safe, and our puppet masters enter the room with smiles on their faces. These guys have as much fun watching us as we do solving their puzzles. 

Outcome: Success!
Atmosphere: 4/5
Creativity of puzzles: 4/5
Difficulty: 4/5
Fun: 4/5
Best quote: “These rocks are trying to speak to me.”
Our tip: Look outside the box. Look outside the room. Look… outside.

A gory escape room not for the faint-hearted

Saw, arguably, is the original escape game. Heck, the film franchise’s Jigsaw Killer even infamously says “I want to play a game”. So it makes perfect sense that Rush Escape Game drew inspiration from the classic horror film to create an escape room for its second venue. 

Hacksaw is the first escape room built at Rush Escape Game’s second venue in Hawthorn (the original Rush is still open for business in South Yarra). As with the movie it’s inspired by, you’ll start Hacksaw chained up and will have to solve some very creative riddles if you want to escape alive (don’t worry, for legal reasons all guests do escape alive). 

The set design in Hacksaw is genuinely creepy and true to the feeling of the films, with the whole room built by hand. The escape room takes place inside a shed decked out to resemble a dingy bathroom complete with a shower and toilet (which, as we’re gently reminded, does not work, so please pee beforehand). Steel yourself if you’re irked by dirt, blood, needles, dead bodies or small spaces, as the room pulls no punches in creating its eerie atmosphere. 

Teamwork is key to solving the puzzles, but for the average escape room player, we would suggest a max of four people so that everyone can feel involved. Rush also informs us that the gory escape room is also popular with couples looking for an alternative date idea. Nothing brings you closer than trauma, after all. There’s a smidge of math involved too, so keep that in mind when deciding who to play with. 

Outcome: Success!
Atmosphere: 5/5
Creativity of puzzles: 5/5
Difficulty: 3/5
Fun: 5/5
Best quote: “Have you checked under the dead body?”
Our tip: Don’t forget about clues at the start – you may need them again later.