The Order of Arcadium Brisbane Chapter
Located in a beautiful heritage building on Wickham Terrace in the centre of Brisbane,
Arcadium Adventures is an escape room venue with a difference. Their adventures are all part of an ongoing story about the mysterious Order of Arcadium. There is a whole back story, and adventurers can choose to join one of four
houses within the Order. While I have not yet taken part in one of their in-person adventures, I was given the opportunity to try an at-home adventure.
Arcadium offers at-home adventures as either 'Puzzle by Post', where they send materials to your home, or as instant downloads. I was given access to their new online adventure, The Lost Map to Pandora's Box.
You, the adventurer (or a small team of adventurers) need a home internet connection to take part. A member of the Order of Arcadium needs your help to locate the map to a lost artefact (Pandora's Box). Initially, you are provided with a series of clues, such as photographs and handwritten documents, as well as guidance and hints from the Order.
At first, I attempted the adventure alone, but being tired from my day job I got frustrated and gave up about a quarter of the way through the adventure. When I tried to resume the adventure later my computer had died on me (for reasons unrelated to the adventure) and I lost the notes I had taken. I started again from the beginning, this time with my mathematically-minded 12-year-old daughter helping, and we completed the adventure in about an hour and a half. While the puzzles can be tricky and might be too difficult for younger children (or weary, stressed-out adults), there was nothing in this adventure that was unsuitable for children.
We were both impressed with the level of detail in the clues and how authentic some of the websites we visited in the course of the investigation seemed. There was a nice variety to the puzzles, and we found the adventure challenging and a lot of fun. I would quite like to try another of their at-home adventures, and I hope to get to Arcadium in person and try my house's signature cocktail from the basement bar.
The Lost Map to Pandora's Box adventure was fun for us as mother and daughter, but I think it would also work well for a quirky date night for a couple or an evening with a few friends. Lifetime access to the adventure is currently
available from Arcadium for $30.
