Escape rooms are a popular form of physical theatre and puzzle solving. In your typical game, 2-7 participants have 60 minutes to solve puzzles and challenges to ‘escape’ a series of themed rooms.

Best described for newbies as a mash up between an Agatha Christie locked room mystery and Resident Evil puzzle room experience (without zombies).

Perth’s Escape the Tiki Room features a cool 1960s décor and Polynesian backstory. The designer has put a lot of thought into his puzzles. However, at the time of reviewing, tweaks were still in progress making gameplay clunky and difficult.

Another thing that makes Escape the Tiki Room a unique Fringe experience was the members of the group are random (unless you buy all the tickets for an event).

Random participants added an extra layer of uncertainty to the mix; I was not personally into the idea of working with six people I had never met before. While my group did not win the escape room, it is best advised to bring someone who has reasonable logic, geographical and mathematics skills.

If you do choose to bring lots of friends, escape rooms are a great way to test family, friend and co-worker relationships. A great partner will really amplify this experience – while a bad choice in partner might lead to a commiseration party at one of Perth’s many venues after the hour is up.

Here are a few things to know before participants attempt Escape the Tiki Room:

This experience is limited to participants over the age of 15.

The room is air conditioned.

For participants who get frightened easily (like me), or may suffer from claustrophobia, this experience is not designed to be scary and you can leave at any time.

Communication is the key to winning an escape room; and is often the reason why most teams fail.

Pōmaikaʻi! (Good luck in Hawaiian).