The Escape Hunt Experience Sydney Review

  

Recently we went to play one of Sydney’s Escape Hunt games, “Murder in the Pub”. There are three games to choose from, and each has a 1900s theme and is set in The Rocks. It was our very first time playing a live escape game and we were super excited! (And we’re glad to say that they didn’t let us down.) We’ll provide our thoughts on the whole experience below.

  

First Impression 

Upon finding the discreet location wedged in the middle of the CBD, we were brought up to the second level by a cozy, perhaps a little rickety lift. The location, though smaller than expected (about the size of a small apartment), emitted a tone which aligned with the game following. The drawn curtains, dimmed lighting, along with around 6 glossy black lounges emanated an air of mystery – as if our mission to escape had already begun. The overall first impression was great. Perhaps we did imagine it to be a bit larger and more grand but we believe the coziness of the place simply added to the nature of the game. 

Difficulty 

We chose to play “Murder in the Pub”, which is actually the most difficult one out of the three they have on offer. It was also our first game, so we went in having no idea what to expect.

 

At first, we were a little overwhelmed by all the clues in the room and we started by tabulating all the information we had on the whiteboard in the room. After doing this, we weren’t really sure what to do next, so we buzzed and the game master gave us clues, most of which nudged us in the right direction, but didn’t quite give the whole answer away. Some instances we realised that we’d actually already figured out the clue and entered the correct combination on the lock, but Lily hadn’t pressed the lock down hard enough to unlock it.

 

There were times when we got stuck at the big moments, having gathered all the clues needed for that section but not able to make the connection to the next step. In these moments, we often asked for clues, which helped but also spoilt the experience a little. (More experienced escape room game players would probably have made the links – we didn’t know what we were looking for since it was our first time, but the solution was often quite neat!) Towards the end when we were running out of time, the clues from the game masters became more explicit.

 

We didn’t finish within the time limit but since it wasn’t very busy that particular time, we got a few extra minutes where, with help from the game masters, we managed to solve the game and escape! (Larkspur made the last crucial link which allowed us to escape – yay!)

 

Overall, at first, the sheer number of clues were quite confusing for us as first-time gamers. However, as the game progressed, we got a better understanding of how all the pieces fit together and what to look for, as well as what to ignore. It was a pretty challenging and exciting game, and clues from the game masters really helped.

  

Entertainment Value 

This was the first time we’d heard about a game like this in Sydney. It’s one of these things where people imagine about and would like to create but never really had the initiative to do so. To any Sherlock Holmes fan or crime drama fan in general, this place is certainly a dream come true. We had plenty of fun trying to figure out where to start and solving puzzles using the clues whilst pretending that we are real life detectives. And that satisfaction one feels when figuring out a puzzle is definitely a plus. Also, the pressure of a one hour limit made it all the more interesting. We also had to option of asking for help through an intercom in the room if we ever got stuck. An employee would come to help guide us in the right direction. However, we do believe the less you use the intercom, the more fun you’ll  have. We used it a couple times simply to find that we were on the right track and were only a step away from solving the problem. That of course is quite disappointing because then we couldn’t have taken full ownership of the solution. Although we must admit many of the problems weren’t at all realistic, it’s the nature of solving the puzzles which is entertaining. We would definitely recommend this game to anyone interested in puzzles, crime solving or who just wanted to see how far you’d go had you been Sherlock Holmes. It’s a one of a kind experience and we certainly had a blast!

Service 

We booked via the internet, and it was a very simple and fast process which only took a few minutes. The service was pretty great. They started by explaining the main concepts of an escape game (since it was our very first time) and the rules of the game. Our possessions were placed in a box outside the escape room and locked and the key was given to us to ensure no one else could open it while we were playing the game. During the actual game, whenever we pressed the buzzer for help, they responded quickly via the intercom and gave us clues. Their speedy responses really helped, especially during the last few minutes when we were panicking. It wasn’t very busy when we were playing, so they were extremely nice and even gave us many extra minutes (10-20) which allowed us to FINALLY solve it! 🙂

 

After the game, we dressed up in Sherlock-style hats, capes and skirts and got a few photos taken. They were very patient with us as we debated over what poses to make.  Before and after the game, you can eat some biscuits and drink some tea (tea-bags), which is nice if you want a small snack. (And of course, who wouldn’t be hungry after playing an hour of an intense escape game?)  There are also small puzzles on each table if you’re waiting for a room.

  

Overall, the service was really good and made the whole experience very enjoyable. 

Memory – The Method of Loci

Hi Lily,

So I recently read a book called ‘How to Develop a Perfect Memory’ by Dominic O’brien as well as a few other memory related books and oh my goodness did my perspective on memory alter. I used to think that memory is a ‘thing’ and that you are either good at using it or not. There is no such thing as a bad memory. Even if you think that you are at the brink of Alzheimers, using some of the techniques in the book, you can memorise an entire deck of cards. (Not that I’ve tried that.)

Anyway, the method that really blew my mind was the method of loci as suggested by the title. And no, it isn’t to do with geometry. Do you remember when I kept asking you about whether or not you’ve watched the last episode of Sherlock? Well that is because, (sorry for the spoiler) there was a man who could build a ‘memory palace’. And in the way they showed it in the show was incredible I think. Basically, I discovered that that is actually possible using the method of loci. Sorry if the following explanation of it isn’t clear, but you can always google it – or better still, read the book! It is actually amazing! I don’t remember if it was in this book but it actually teaches you how to win blackjack by ‘counting cards’. Beware if you decide to try this because apparently if casinos notice you doing that you’ll get ‘quietly escorted out’ and may ban you from the casino thereafter. (You know, because it is totally unfair that you’ve beat the casino at it’s own game.)

Okay now on to the actual method. The best way to teach it to someone I think is to do it as I teach it to you.

First step – imagine a place or a route which you are very familiar with – for example, your house or the route to school. I’m going to imagine my house. Now have a clear image of your house and imagine yourself walking through it. Close your eyes if that helps. Okay so say you’ve got something to memorise- something like a shopping list. For the purpose of this, I’m going to make up an impromptu shopping list:

1. Bananas 2. Tea 3. Spinach 4. Milk 5. Sugar 6. Spaghetti 7. Yogurt 8. Carrots 9. Grain waves 10. Apples 11. Ham 12. Almonds 13. Sultanas 14. Cheese sticks 15. Minced pork

So on average (as you probably know) a person’s short term memory holds up to a maximum of 7 items. That’s way it’s hard to just memorise this list of items plainly.

What I’m going to do is assign each item to a specific location in my house as I walk through it by attaching very vivid bizarre images of it to that location. The more the images interact was your senses e.g. smell taste touch, the more it’ll stick it your memory.

As I’m walking up to the deck of my house I’ll imagine 2 gigantic bananas in pajamas standing there to greet me and then once I step onto the deck they collapse into banana peels and I slip and fall on them. The second item is tea. So I’ll enter the house and step into the foyer where I’ll be standing in front of a huge mirror, staring at my bruises from the fall. There, the mirror will crack and teach will begin seeping from it and flooding the foyer until I am forced to go into the hall. From there, I walk into my dad’s room to find his sheets and the carpet replaced with spinach leaves! The smell of the greenery lingers in my nose as I exit the room to go across the hallway into my own room. As I open the door, I realise that it’s raining. My room is raining milk! I look around realising that my room is half filled with milk and so I swish around it, trying to reach my sunroom. When I open the sliding glass door, the milk flows into the sunroom and begins bashing onto the sugar filled room like waves onto the sand at a beach. I imagine myself lying down on the ‘sand’ sunbathing under the sun in the sunroom. Finally, I decided to move out of my room and back into the hallway. Before I reach the living room, I feel something prodding my on the shoulders and I look up to see that there is a curtain of spaghetti hanging down! I fight through the stabs of spaghetti to finally reach my destination – the living room! There I find some white pro-biotic bacteria hanging around watching an advert about yogurt. I greet them and they wave there tiny little pro-biotic hands back. Suddenly I turn to my left and see that the piano has turned orange! I look down and see my two little guinea pigs chewing on it because it’s turned into a giant carrot sculpture. Next, I head into my mum’s room and I smell the delicious smell of grain waves. It turns out that my mum was sitting on her bed watching tv pigging out on countless packets of grain waves around her. I immediately feel sick at the amount of junk food she’s consuming and sprint back through the hallway and into the bathroom…

Now try and finish the story and recall it from the beginning to end. You get the picture right? Trust me, you’ll still remember this two days later… or maybe even a week later because it’s sunken into your long term memory. The key is to make everything as vivid as you can and who cares if it’s crazy! You’ll remember it more that way! Anyway, basically the idea of a memory palace is that you join together a bunch of rooms with each room designated to a topic. Also for something as disposable as a shopping list, you can wipe the place clean in your memory and use the place again to memorise something else. I haven’t really tried the mind palace thing yet because basically I’m lazy. 🙂 But I will definitely try it in the future! Anyway I thought this was really worth sharing and I hope you thought so too! 😀

Larkspur

How not to get scammed

Hi Lily,

Although I’ve only been scammed a couple of times (that I know of), I’ve watched people max out their credit cards in a momentary spur of lust for something way out of their budget. Some sales people are quite literally trained to milk the pennies out of our wallets. Their words are like magnets pulling in everything green and paper-like in their wake. Most of the time we are all consciously aware of the fact that their true intentions are never to promote how efficient the vacuum cleaner is or how well the mop soaks up fluid, but as we watch the hair disappear from the square of carpet and the intentionally spilt can of coke vanish from the gleaming parquet floorboards, our amazement overrides our judgement and our remaining ounces of scepticism disintegrates into the clamorous shopping centre atmosphere. Here are just a couple of tell tale signs that the sales person might be trolling you.

1. “I use it at home” or “I have a friend who uses it”

Once I was walking past a vaporiser in a leading electronics store which I shall not name when I caught sight of a fifty percent off sign at the corner of my eye. I doubled back and at the same time, I noticed the sales girl gliding suspiciously towards me. “It’s really, really good.” she announced, stopping by my side. As I noticed her eager mannerisms and tthe slight nervousness lining her voice, a fleeting thought crossed my mind. She must be new here or something. Because I was curious, and because I heard my mum say that she wanted a vaporiser couple of weeks ago, I decided to continue with this conversation. “Oh? How so?” I replied. “Well, it’s really really good – it helps you to breath,” she continued and then paused. I took this overstretched pause as a cue to look over at the packaging, ‘sleep easier, BREATHE easier’ advertised the box in huge letters at the front. “-and I use it myself.” At this moment a bold red exclamation mark rose up above my head. I thought to myself, how many times have I heard salespeople say that to me? And out of those encounters, how many times did it increase my desire for the product? All of them, I realised. This is the art of selling – they play with your trust, they make you think of them as a friend – just a friend recommending a product to another friend. I never did end up buying that vaporiser.

2. A benefit which they are unable to prove

I was a tourist overseas and we were directed into a green tea company where they were advertising the tea they make.  Before I continue, I should note that this company was one of the many stops in the semi-rural countryside at the place I was travelling at and there was no way in hell that I’d be able to physically find my way back there. One of the main selling points of the tea was that it decreases your ageing and makes you appear younger. Amongst their lyrical words and siren-esque calls, I distinctly remember them saying “drink this tea every day for 5 years and I PROMISE you, you will appear healthier and younger” Then, they went on saying that half a years stock would equate to this amount of tea and a year’s stock would equate to that amount of tea, and bear in mind, this tea costed hundreds of dollars per kilogram’s worth. I was utterly convinced. Healthier. Brighter skin. Slower ageing. What’s there not to love? And as my wallet came involuntarily flying out of my jacket pocket, I grabbed it with both hands and desperately tugged for it to come back. A thought had occurred to me. Weren’t the benefits that they were describing exactly the same for any old green tea? What made that one worth hundreds of dollars when you can get basically the same thing for 2 bucks at Woolies? My hot headedness settled into an unwavering calmness. Besides, how would they know if it actually makes them healthier and younger. It’s not like in 5 years time we’d come back to sue them when we don’t notice the difference. And who knows what our older and more unhealthy self would look like if we’d have nothing to compare ourselves with.

Scammers, I thought with disdain.

Larkspur

 

 

How does the identity crisis affect us?

Our sense of identity is crucial to our wellbeing. We are all unique. DNA, environment, experiences – these form the parameters of our identity. Despite knowing that we are all unique, we often need to be reassured of who we are. After all, there are over 7 billion people in the world – where do the similarities between individuals end and the differences begin?

As Larkspur writes in her post, we are the culmination of our unique traits. Yet very often, a large piece of our identity is based not on all these characteristics, but rather on a few factors we view as being fundamental to our identity. Our passions, our hobbies, our talents. Self-confidence stems from knowing who we are. But what if we don’t know ourselves?

This is where the identity crisis comes in. Perhaps an unprecedented event occurs, removing a defining factor of our identities and leaving us wondering who we truly are. All that remains is a prevailing sense of emptiness. Fear. Uncertainty. We lose focus and motivation.

Very often, this impacts our relationships, especially the development of new ones. In order to compensate for our incomplete sense of self, we project what we subconsciously feel is missing onto others. Instead of being X who has a friend Y, we become Y’s friend, X. Or Z’s girlfriend, X. Other individuals become an intrinsic part of our identity so we can satisfy and ignore that pit of uncertainty in our stomaches. We allow others to define ourselves. 

An identity crisis may leave us feeling insecure and not-so-confident. It’s alright to feel confused about who we are. After all, life is a perpetual journey to self-discovery and our perceptions of ourselves are constantly changing. What we have to remember is that even if we don’t know much about ourselves, we should still love ourselves and be confident because we all have something to contribute. The most important thing in life is to be happy, not to limit and define ourselves based on others’ expectations.

I’m no expert, but I think taking risks is important when it comes to searching for our identity. If an identity crisis deprives us of our confidence and ability to take risks, should we not defy it? It works in the reverse as well: the more risks we take, the more we learn about ourselves and the more confident we become.

I suppose this is something I’m going through. I’ve grown careful – so, so careful that there is no room for mistakes, yet also no room for growing.

Do the one thing you think you cannot do. Fail at it. Try again. Do better the second time. The only people who never tumble are those who never mount the high wire. This is your moment. Own it.

Oprah Winfrey

 

Risks, whether physical or emotional, are necessary for an individual’s development. So take that risk! It’s much worse to regret not doing something than to do it and realise that it wasn’t so bad after all.

 

Lily

A Guide to self discovery

The identity crisis of adolescence is something I’m sure you’re familiar with. ‘Just be yourself’ you hear your friends echo behind you as you walk into the pit of abyss many would call their ‘first date’. ‘Just be yourself’ your mother coaxes you as you feel the anxiety of your first job interview seep into your bones and shake you up until you rattle like a piñata.

But who am I? What exactly is ‘being myself’? I hear you mope as you brush away this overused advice as if it were lint on your jacket.

You are the culmination of all your idiosyncrasies – a mound of all your memories, beliefs and experiences that are moulded into the shape of a human and stamped with your name on the packaging. In high school with the existence of cliques and the social hierarchies it is far too easy for one to label themselves with a single quality – the smart one (nerd), the hot socialite, the weird band geek are just some of the overused terms that don’t do our innately complex selves justice.

John Green says: “Imagine people complexly.” And that is exactly what you should do with yourselves. If you are dubbed the ‘quiet one’ at school don’t fall into the trap and let that one puny word define you and definitely don’t feel like you shouldn’t step outside of the boundaries that that word draws – be fun, funny, kind, compassionate, sassy, sexy, cheery, serious and whatever else you want to be. Be a walking contradiction for all I care.

Of course there are things that identify you and that you identify with that are unable to be changed, for example, your hair colour, eye colour, skin colour, height, weight, age and ethnicity. But those qualities are but your shell. I imagine people to be a Kinder surprise egg – the chocolate shell representing your physical attributes where people just gobble up without a second glance. The capsule located inside is what you’re after – what surprises will it bring? What kind of personality does this person have? Who is she?

But I don’t know who I am? How am I supposed to find out? I hear you mumbling over me.

Answer these questions:

What are you passionate about?
What do you have that the next person doesn’t?
What are you like around the people whom you are the most comfortable with?

If you observe yourself carefully around those situations you may indeed find yourself in the process.

But I’ve done that and I don’t like who I am! I hear you whining. That’s the beauty of life. You can be whoever  you want to be. Want to be more of a caring person? What’s holding you back? If you have the will then you have the means. Would you be more comfortable with yourself if you were a funnier person? Humour can definitely be developed. Your personality is as flexible as the neurons in your brains.

So I guess what I’m saying is that who you are can be found when you are feeling the most comfortable, but saying that, if you are unhappy with yourself then you can be whoever the hell you want to be.

Larkspur

Introducing Larkspur and Lily :D

Thought it was time for a new gravatar! 😉 Credits to Larkspur for this super cute picture! 🙂

How Speaking Only Kind Words Changed My Life – GUEST BLOG

What an amazing challenge! 🙂

Kindness Blog

How Speaking Only Kind Words Changed My Life

by Alison Cebulla

May 2012 I was at a party at a friend’s house and I set my purse down in the living room thinking it was a safe space. Later in the evening I discovered that someone at the party had gone through my purse and stolen $200 cash, my iPhone, and my digital camera. Rather than ask “why did this happen to me?” which is question to which there is no fulfilling answer, I thought “how can I use this experience to transform myself in some way so that I don’t feel terrible about it?”

I thought about the fact that my possessions were stolen at a party amongst trusted friends and what that symbolized for me. Was I always so good to my friends? I realized that more often than not I put down friends behind their backs with…

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Are women considered something less than men?

In this society, if a man is called a woman, that’s the biggest insult he could get… Is that because women are considered something less?

– Andrej Pejic

This is one of those ideas that have been hanging around in my subconscious for a long time now and have been influencing my perspective of life but which I have never really been able to articulate. Then I saw this quote and it all started coming together. If we consider the entire existence of the Homo sapiens, then the past few decades during which campaigns for anti-gender discrimination have made significant progress for women’s rights are a relatively short period of time. Patriarchal societies have been sexist for the majority of their existence (if we don’t consider the time when some societies were matriarchal). This gender inequality has been so deeply entrenched into society that it may even influence individuals in ways they may not have considered sexist.

Let’s consider a ‘tomboy’. According to the Oxford dictionary, a tomboy is: a girl who enjoys rough, noisy activities traditionally associated with boys. I’ve never heard the word ‘tomboy’ used as an insult – only affectionately by people describing their friends. If girls wear masculine clothing, it’s accepted in society. When we see girls who are sporty, courageous or outgoing, we admire them (as we should). These are qualities which were traditionally considered masculine. However, if there are guys who are effeminate, there are people who will use derogatory terms such as ‘nancy’ to describe them. It’s acceptable for girls to play with toy trains, yet many blanch at the thought of boys wearing dresses or playing with dolls. There are mothers who teach their children about gender equality yet who fail to examine this fundamental issue. Guys just don’t have the same liberties as women when it comes to displaying traits typically considered to be expressed by the opposite gender. And this is not so much about society’s expectations for males to maintain their masculinity as it is about the fact that feminine qualities are viewed as being a sign of weakness and undesirable. As Andrej Pejic puts it so eloquently, is that because women are considered something less?

Gender equality isn’t just about equal rights and equal wages for women. It’s also about appreciating traditionally feminine qualities such as empathy and accepting that they are universal human traits that are wonderful regardless of whether they manifest in females or males.
Lily

5 awesome gender-bender shoujo manga :D

Hi Larkspur,

Love your taste in movies! 🙂 I shall respond with 5 of my favourite gender-bender manga (including manhwa/ manhua).

Happy Mother’s Day to the all the wonderful mums out there! 😀

I am an absolute sucker for gender-bender manga, especially if there’s romance! They’re just so cute and it’s so fun rooting for your favourite pairing. And there’s just something sweet about a guy protecting a girl even when he’s dolled up in an elegant dress or something incredibly courageous about a girl crossdressing as a man to defy the gender inequality and strict customs of her nation (go for it, Mulan!). What I like most about the gender-bender genre (where one of the main characters dresses up as a member of the opposite gender for some reason) are the misunderstandings. What happens when a guy starts falling in love with a girl… who he thinks is a guy? Or when a girl from an ambitious family in ancient China dresses up as a male servant to enter the palace and become the Emperor’s wife? If a gender-bender is well-composed, there’s so much room for comedic situations that will result in you doubling up on the floor choking with laughter. And the vast number of opportunities for novel romantic developments will keep shoujo lovers up and reading into the night.

I have read a fair number of gender-bender shoujo manga, seeing as how it is of one my favourite genres. I took a break from reading manga until a short while ago, though, so I’ll only discuss in more detail some of the ones that I thoroughly enjoyed and which left a deeper impression on me. I’ll provide a list of other gender-bender mangas I liked at the end of this post.

Now it’s time to unleash my inner fangirl. I present you with (in no particular order):
1. Cherry Boy, That Girl

5 of my Favourite Movies

Hi Lily,

That dish certainly looks delicious!

As you know, I’m quite an avid movie watcher and so over the years I’ve accumulate a few movies that I absolutely adore. These movies I’ve watched at least twice and still occasionally ‘crave’ for them so they’re definitely good. (Plus IMDB can second me on it.) Please note that these are all my own personal opinions meaning that they skew more towards the romantic drama/comedy side rather than the gun shooting CGI explosion side. However, I’ll have to unwillingly contradict myself because I am also a huge fan of any superhero movie so maybe I’ll create an entire post dedicating itself to those. Yes Lily, I will now stop rambling and get to the point.

In no particular order:

1. Silver Linings Playbook

I get furious whenever anyone dubs this as a ‘romantic comedy’ because it is so much more than what that title connotates. Sure it is romantic and funny but David O’Russell is able to create a story that is so poignant and heart-rending with characters whom are so raw and genuine that it completely stands apart from its genre. The cinematography is fantastic and will tip my non-existent hat to the performances of Bradley Cooper, Robert DeNiro and Jennifer Lawrence because they are unequalled. I cannot recommend this movie enough.

 

2. Amélie

This again is a ‘romantic comedy’ and like I said, I believe a new genre should be created called the ‘ultra-romantic comedies’, not t meaning the movies are ultra romantic or ultra comedic but just less of the meaningless and glib ones that you usually come across. Amélie is a French movie so subtitles were needed for this non-Parisian personage whose French comes to an abrupt stop at ‘bonjour’. What I love about this movie is everything – from the miniscual nuances in life that they are able to so accurately capture to the beautiful mise-en-scene that is able to sum up this movie entirely. Beautiful, vibrant and utterly unique. The story is heart-warming and endearing in a way that it just makes you want to cuddle up in bed on a languid Friday evening with (again) a hot cup of tea and just keep watching it on repeat.

 

 3. The Social Network

I was in disbelief when I realised that this movie was the coming together of one of  my favourite directors, David Fincher (Fight Club) and one of my most admired  writers, Aaron Sorkin and let me just say, the result was a masterpiece. The  dialogue is fast and snappy and enviously witty as what Sorkin’s writing is  characterised by, and the story told with the intermittents of a double legal case  worked surprisingly well. I’ve watched this movie numerous times and each time without fail I’d be able to pick up ingenious snippets of the conversation that I’d  otherwise let go over my head. Furthermore, after my third re-watch I realised  the incredible feat that the movie had achieved by making me empathize with a character whom objectively speaking, is a complete asshole.

 

4. The Great Gatsby

My previous posts would undoubtedly suggest how big of a fan I am of this movie. The Great Gatsby is one of my favourite books and F. Scott Fitzgerald is one of my favourite authors of all time. This interpretation certainly did the modern classic justice. Baz Luhrmann’s directorial style is able to perfectly reflect upon Fitzgerald’s elaborately adorned words, and I believe that even the metaphors were represented well. I’d say one should see this movie just for the glitteringly sumptuous scenes of Gatsby’s lavish, decadent parties. This movie is quite frankly a visual feast.

 

5. Goodwill Hunting

Goodwill Hunting is about a young math prodigy who works at MIT as a janitor. I’m  not going to lie – every time I watch this movie I kid you not- I actually get an urge  to go do my math homework. It’s one of those inspirational movies that stays with  you for a long time. Matt Damon’s performance is fantastic and Robin William  moved my heart to Pluto. (However I found it difficult to see him as anyone else  but Mr Keating from Dead Poet’s Society – carpe diem.) On a side note, don’t be put  off by the lurid yellow theatrical poster like I did for years. This movie has a special  place in my Pluto-residing heart.

Larkspur