Project Immersive’s Nuclear Enrichment escape room utilises laser beams and an evocative location.Credit: Project Immersive
The man in the white coat and the black rubber gloves looks pleased to see us when we pull up at the entrance to the crumbling scientific building.
“Things have gone catastrophically wrong here,” he says.
“One of our employees has locked themselves inside our reactor. They’re going to cause the entire place to overload and possibly explode …
“It may take out all of our facility – and a sizable chunk of Brisbane as well.”
This is the welcome you’ll receive at Project Immersive Escape Rooms, which have been set up inside the labs of the former Taubman’s Paint Factory in Yeronga.
The factory was built in the 1950s and ceased operations in the 2000s. The 3.5-hectare site was purchased by a private owner in 2015.
“Things have gone catastrophically wrong here” – escape room owner Damian Bowden greets players in character at the entrance to Project Immersive at The Paint Factory in Yeronga. Credit: Project Immersive
Earmarked to become an integrated arts facility in the style of the Brisbane Powerhouse, the Paint Factory’s empty warehouses and offices have in the meantime been made available as studios to a number of Australia’s leading contemporary artists.
Its former laboratories, meanwhile, are being leased to Project Immersive. Escape room manager Damian Bowden was first shown the laboratories one night late in 2021.
“It had been almost totally abandoned for, like, 10 years before we went in with torches,” he recalls.
“There’s a very long corridor that has two blinking red lights in it. And at 9 o’clock at night, that is horrifying, that hallway. That’s what made us fall in love with this location.”
An escape room, for the uninitiated, is a room containing puzzles that must be solved by two to six players to achieve an ultimate goal. The puzzles might unlock padlocks or doors to other parts of the experience. Most escape rooms have a theme, ranging from horror to mystery to science fiction.
“It’s like going into your favourite book, or your favourite movie.”
Damian Bowden
Project Immersive’s escape rooms, Nuclear Enrichment and The Portal, make excellent use of the Paint Factory’s corridors, heavy doors and other industrial trappings, such as emergency eye-wash stations.
Additional props were obtained from junkyards, op shops and movie sets.
Escape rooms went through a rough patch during COVID – Bowden and his business partners all lost jobs in the industry before going into business for themselves.
But when done well, an escape room is thoroughly engrossing, great for team building – and addictive. “By my last count, I’ve done 209 different ones,” Bowden admits.
While many escape rooms in Brisbane come “off the rack” from overseas, several were designed and built locally. Here are five that are more than worth a look.
But be warned: the clock is ticking …
Project Immersive, Yeronga
Project Immersive escape room Nuclear Enrichment has been set up inside a former paint factory.Credit: Project Immersive
Game we tried: Nuclear Enrichment
Did we solve it in time? Yes.
Hint: Don’t touch the laser beams.
The retro location of the Paint Factory adds enormously to the atmosphere of these games, and the staff stay in character as scientists at a facility, adding to the immersion of the experience. Expect lasers, jumper leads, ageing scientific equipment, countdowns and some mild scares. Missions include deactivating security systems to prevent a nuclear meltdown, and finding a missing research scientist.
115 Hyde Road, Yeronga. Wed-Sun, $55pp.
Quest Room, Spring Hill
Quest Room’s Steampunk escape room has puzzles utilising anachronistic technology.Credit: Quest Room
Game we played: Steampunk
Did we solve it in time? No, but they kindly gave us a few moments extra to finish it.
Hint: Be sure the symbols match exactly.
This beautifully designed game for two to five players makes good on the promise of the title – lots of Edison-era electrics, cogs, dials and light bulbs. The puzzles are befuddling at first but reveal their secrets with a bit of close examination and contemplation. The number of electrical gadgets is truly impressive and the ending, which has cogs unlocking the door to freedom, is highly satisfying.
56 Little Edward Street, Spring Hill. Mon-Sun, $46-$55pp.
Arcadium Adventures, Spring Hill
Arcadium Adventures in Spring Hill has an elaborate backstory and staff who stay in character.Credit: Nick Dent
Game we played: The Pursuit for the Elixir of Life
Did we solve it in time? Yes – with a few moments of extra time.
Hint: Birthdays are important.
The immersive experience begins when you enter a beautiful art deco house in Spring Hill and head downstairs to the bar. Your guide stays in character as they explain your mission, which begins in a Narnian fashion (if you catch our drift). The ‘Elixir’ challenge involves horoscopes, fabulous creatures and mixing up alchemic ingredients to make an actual potion. Padlocks open boxes leading to more puzzles, but there is also a virtual reality aspect to the challenge. Hints come via a video screen.
97 Wickham Terrace, Spring Hill. Fri-Sun (other days by arrangement), $45-$49pp.
Escape Hunt, West End
Escape Hunt is one of the longest-running escape-room businesses in Brisbane. Credit: Nick Dent
Game we played: Bomb at Government House
Did we solve it in time? Yes, with six minutes to spare.
Hint: What’s left behind when you’ve paired everything up?
One of the oldest escape rooms in Brisbane has had a refresh recently. If you’re new to escape rooms, this one is a good place to start. The idea is to find a bomb concealed somewhere within the elegant rooms of the governor’s stately residence. Look around at the photos, paintings, wallpaper, furniture and crockery, and find the hidden codes needed to expose the threat and diffuse it. This is one of two Escape Hunt games designed locally – the other, The Jewel Thief, is a hunt for missing gems, and reputedly more challenging.
77 Russell Street, West End. Mon-Sun, $40-$46pp.
Puzzled Room Escape, Holland Park West
Escape rooms such as Puzzled Escape Room in Holland Park are a good team-building exercise.Credit: Nick Dent
Game we played: Mirrored
Did we solve it in time? Not even close.
Hint: Some clues are of a general, not specific, nature.
Reflections of all kinds are the theme of Mirrored, an escape room that takes you into the study of a missing professor researching light waves (missing professors are a major escape-room trope). Look in the mirrors; what do you see? One of the most difficult rooms we’ve done, it has a truly startling reveal halfway through that takes things in a different direction. The room is solved by only about 50 per cent of people who take it on – bring your smartest friends.
5/1177 Logan Road, Holland Park West. Wed-Mon, $37-$45pp.
Other escape rooms in the Brisbane region
Seraphim Escape Rooms, Ipswich
Seraphim has reputedly the scariest room in Brisbane – The Executioner’s Toolshed – as well as a cheerier Santa Claus-themed room.
Fox in a Box, Brisbane
This Swedish-run franchise has rooms fitted out with several cameras so that Game Masters can see when you’re stuck and give you helpful clues.
Mystic Escape, South Brisbane
This independent business has three escape rooms with supernatural themes for players aged 16 and up: City of Ashes, The Fairytales and Yokai Izakaya.
Padlock’d, Surfers Paradise
Owner Sean Wilson is a graduate in technical production who designs and builds his own rooms – no less than 11 in two locations – including the terrifying Buried: Coffin Escape.
Did we get it right? Did we forget something? Let us know at nick.dent@nine.com.au.