Virtual Escape Rooms

Overview

What to do when your social life has once again reverted to virtual hangs with mates, but you exhausted most of the decent group activity options last time around? Enter: Virtual Escape — an Aussie website offering a digital version of the brain-teasing escape room experience.

Much like the real-life challenge rooms you'd have tried back in pre-pandemic times, Virtual Escape hosts a series of interactive puzzles requiring fierce teamwork and plenty of clue-solving to get you out of sticky fictional situations. Only these ones are played entirely online, with participants communicating via video call.

To play, you'll need a WhatsApp group, multiple devices and a way of viewing PDF documents. Each team of two-to-six players will be joined by their own facilitator, who'll provide the background info and set the challenge. Currently, there are two Virtual Escape experiences to choose from, one centred around a bank heist and the other featuring a bomb threat. A third, inspired by the humble hangover, is in development, to be released in the coming months. Each runs for a heart-pumping 60 minutes, priced at $45 per group of up to six.

Got a competitive streak? The top ranking teams for each online experience are published on the website, in case you want to strive for the glory of the leaderboard.