The Young and the Restless

Cell-ebrate your escape 34 times

By Bree Harding

Jun 22, 2026

I don’t know if it’s my unfocused brain, my age or my lateral thinking wandering too far in the wrong direction, but I struggle to get out of certain kinds of pseudo pickles, like escape rooms, for example.

Hold tight - we’re checking permissions before loading more content

I’d like to think if it was a real life or death situation, I’d develop a bit more survival nous for such predicaments, but I’d probably be too panicked to apply any logical thought there, too.

My kids, on the other hand, seem to ‘get’ clues and riddles in a way that I don’t.

Rewinding to that earlier hypothetical, I could only hope one would be there to save my incompetent butt by pressing the right coloured button or entering the correct four-digit code determined by some hints hidden around the space if my life was hinging on accuracy and first-and-only chances.

Given the confusion these scenarios bring me, I tend to avoid putting myself into them.

Alas, last school holidays I didn’t just find one sticky situation for us to get out of; I found multiple.

Prison Island at Melbourne’s Docklands is touted as a team adventure.

There were 34 themed cells — or rooms — at the ‘prison’ complex, each with a unique challenge to conquer in a time limit, in order to pass and ‘get out’ (although, you could get out the door at any time you wanted once you’d passed, retried or failed each challenge).

It was school holidays, but the kids found themselves back in a classroom. Photo by Bree Harding

Some cells required strategy, some skill, and some, intelligence.

It meant everyone on the team had a valuable place there, contributing their own strengths when called upon.

Each cell suggests a minimum of ‘prisoners’ required to achieve a task and lists how many points you can gain by conquering it.

The points tally puts your team in direct competition with all other teams playing in the complex at the same time, and all other teams playing that day.

Those of us well versed in geography blitzed this cell. Photo by Bree Harding

The 90-minute time-limit meant we didn’t see inside every one of the 34 cells, but we solved clues using maths, geographical knowledge, common sense, physical co-ordination, accuracy and memory, to name a few.

One cell had an opaque window that cleared momentarily for us to take in the scene behind it.

When it clouded up again, we had to recall details in order to answer questions and pass the task.

One cell had giant tilting boards like a pinball table where we had to guide balls into holes.

Confusion reigned supreme in some of the cells. Photo by Bree Harding

Another had three passageways with monkey bars, swinging ropes and a rock wall to be traversed in a specific order.

The next showed images of places around the world that had to be matched with countries and continents by pushing buttons on a world map.

We even had to dance in one, pressing the floor buttons that lit up with our feet.

It was chaotic.

But the chaos caused side effects of communication, cackles and cardio, along with a healthy dose of constructive consideration.

We might have failed dismally on the leader board, but I reckon we came out winners anyway.

Looking at the crowd on our morning weekday visit during school holidays, it was obviously popular with teenagers, but the website suggests it’s also a good time for work team building, bucks’ and hens’ dos, birthday parties and large groups.

As with many things I take my kids to, I imagine the experience would be quite different with a partner or a group of friends, so they’re not necessarily one-and-done venues.

But one thing is for certain, Prison Island is not something I’d brave on my own.

Even though I’ve been there now, I’m still probably going to need a wing man or woman to help save my incompetent butt.

Prison is just not for me.