[187] Riddle Room: The Hotel

Date: 08/06/2024

Company Name: Riddle Room

Room: The Hotel

Cost: $45 per person - Riddle Room were kind enough to offer us $10 off per person (Team of 4)

Time Allowed: 60 Minutes

Website Link: https://riddleroom.com.au/canberra/#rooms

Location: 8/160 Lysaght St, Mitchell ACT 2911

Best Parking: Street parking right outside the establishment or there is a complex out the back which has ample parking available

Succeeded: Yes, with approximately 5 minutes remaining.

Rating: 

• Hospitality/Gamesmaster: 9
• Room Quality: 9
• Immersion: 9 
• Puzzle Design: 8
• Fun Factor: 8

Overall: 8.60/10

Room Description: 

In an old abandoned Hotel lies a treasured stone. Tasked with the job of retrieving it, you enter the Hotel, but soon find that you might be an unwelcomed guest.

Comments:

There was a fire lit in our bellies, and we wanted nothing more than to redeem ourselves after unfortunately not being good enough to beat The Hideaway within the allocated time. Our team takes a loss quite hard—this was only our 5th unsuccessful outing out of 38 rooms.

As usual, the professionalism and hospitality at Riddle Room were exceptional. Coming out of The Hideaway, the place was buzzing with people—perks of having such a large establishment with 5+ rooms on offer at any given time. We sat humbly waiting, being checked on multiple times and given updates on when we'd get into The Hotel. Most of the staff had seen us popping our heads in and out throughout the day.

As mentioned in previous entries, Riddle Room uses a unique method of communication for Gamesmastering, utilizing a version of the "Voice of God" system. Responses to our questions are displayed on a monitor that also keeps track of our time. I quite liked this approach as it minimized miscommunication. However, the only drawback is that in a multi-room escape, you have to make your way back to the first room to see the monitor.

Hotel was our fourth room at Riddle Room and the teams 35th overall. The atmosphere in Hotel is both thematically intense and dimly lit, creating an eerie experience. There are a couple of jump scares, but they are pretty tame and only add to the overall ambiance. The room boasts a plethora of puzzles, encompassing a brilliant variety of both tech and more traditional observation puzzles.

The quality of the theming in Hotel is exceptional, reminiscent of the high standards seen in Cipher Room. We all felt like we had been transported to another place and time. The props all made sense in the space, and the sounds and lighting were perfect, as were the wall and floor treatments.

The room design and backstory are fantastic, continuing seamlessly throughout the experience. The puzzles all link to the backstory flawlessly, and all the spaces in the experience are well considered and well designed.

Overall, Hotel is a fantastic room. It is an escape room enthusiast’s dream, ticking all the boxes that enthusiasts look for—off-the-charts theming and immersion, a strong storyline, and unique puzzles. We were thrilled to manage an escape and redemption with about 5 minutes remaining.