[187] Elude Escape Rooms: Torquay

Date: 13/07/2024

Company Name: Elude Escape Rooms

Room: Torquay

Cost: $55 per person (Team of 4)

Time Allowed: 60 Minutes

Website Link: https://eludegames.com.au/escape-rooms/

Location: 11e Mid Dural Rd, Galston NSW 2159

Best Parking: On-site parking available

Succeeded: No (Yes with bonus time)

Rating: 

• Hospitality/Gamesmaster: 10
• Room Quality: 9
• Immersion: 9
• Puzzle Design: 8
• Fun Factor: 9

Overall: 9.00/10

Room Description: 

Travel to the English Riviera to help Emma find her grandfather’s fortune. The eccentric Major Gowen used to take his granddaughter to Torquay beach, he has set up a treasure hunt for her to find the gold bar. The only clue you have is a photo of Major Gowen taken at the beachside location of Torquay.

Comments:

Fresh off Perpetual Motion, we sat eagerly in the lobby, ready to head to Torquay. I must mention the exceptional hospitality provided at Elude, which definitely added to the overall experience—something you don't often encounter.

Given the heads-up from both Darren and Julia, we knew that to succeed in this room, we needed to average about three minutes per puzzle. We tried to pump ourselves up for the challenge.

Walking into Torquay, I couldn't help but mutter, "Wow." This room is absolutely beautiful, and without giving anything away, you must play this room to truly appreciate its gorgeous aesthetics. The colours and overall design are stunning, making us almost forget how cold it was outside.

After taking a moment to admire our surroundings and watching our mission brief, we (attempted to) hit the ground running. Torquay has a significant amount of content, even more than Perpetual Motion. The puzzles were challenging, unique, varied, and fun. More than once, we encountered puzzle elements we had not seen used anywhere else, which is rare these days. Thanks to subtle signposting, we were able to focus more on solving the numerous puzzles rather than figuring out which combination or answer went where.

Elude implements a hint system similar to what we encountered at Riddle Room in Canberra: you talk to the walls for any questions, and the monitor used for your time and mission brief provides a helpful push in the right direction. I quite liked this approach as it minimized miscommunication. However, the only drawback is that in a multi-room escape, you have to return to the first room to see the monitor.

With a bit of bonus time added—something we greatly appreciated as it allowed us to savour our sense of accomplishment—we managed to get through this beautiful room. Julia met us afterward and spent a lot of time with us in our debrief, discussing the room, their future plans, and escape rooms in general. We loved this and will definitely be back for the remaining two rooms.

[187] Elude Escape Rooms: Perpetual Motion

Date: 13/07/2024

Company Name: Elude Escape Rooms

Room: Perpetual Motion

Cost: $55 per person (Team of 4)

Time Allowed: 60 Minutes

Website Link: https://eludegames.com.au/escape-rooms/

Location: 11e Mid Dural Rd, Galston NSW 2159

Best Parking: On-site parking available

Succeeded: No (Yes with bonus time)

Rating: 

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

Overall: 8.20/10

Room Description: 

A revolutionary breakthrough is set to change the course of history as a local engineer claims to have invented a Capacitor which enables cars to run on tap water.  Following the sudden disappearance of the engineer, police received a ransom note from kidnappers. The only chance of saving him is to recover the Capacitor before time runs out.

Comments:

Our inaugural visit to Elude saw us heading out on a Saturday night to tackle two of their rooms, following the suggested order on their website. Traveling to Galston was a refreshing change from our usual escape room experiences in the city's CBD, and with a similar travel time, we enjoyed the trip. Elude's ample signage and on-site parking were a welcome change from the hustle and bustle of the CBD.

Situated on a decent-sized acreage, Elude's pre-game lobby is as beautifully set up as their escape rooms. We were greeted warmly by Julia, and later Darren took over to prep us for our first room of the night.

Elude implements a hint system similar to what we encountered at Riddle Room in Canberra: you talk to the walls for any questions, and the monitor used for your time and mission brief provides a helpful push in the right direction. I quite liked this approach as it minimized miscommunication. However, the only drawback is that in a multi-room escape, you have to return to the first room to see the monitor.

Perpetual Motion was a linear escape experience that truly tested our team. The layout, props, and setting were absolutely amazing and looked fantastic. The room is well-designed and features puzzles that are as clever and challenging as any of the best escape rooms in the city. Although Perpetual Motion is more of a low-tech experience, this suits the room and its spaces perfectly. The flow of the room is well considered, with several puzzles unlike anything we have seen in other Sydney rooms.

The service provided by Darren and Julia was exceptional. After we escaped, with a bit of bonus time added, Darren spent time with us in the debrief, going over puzzles, explaining different aspects, and discussing areas where we got a bit caught up. Their passion for escape rooms is evident and greatly appreciated.