About Us – Behind The Laneway Mysteries

You can learn more about how it feels to play our games on the How It Works page

The Laneway Mysteries Origin Story

Growing up, my family moved around a lot, and I loved exploring each new city with them. Noticing the little details, finding out the stories behind them. This fascination never left me, even as an adult while I built a career running a digital marketing agency and building software for projects at the University of Western Australia.

Then my girlfriend introduced me to escape rooms, and I fell in love (with both. Should clarify that in case she’s reading). One Christmas, we (she) decided it would be fun to do homemade presents, so I put my digital skills to work and made her an escape room, using the Perth CBD in place of the room.

I properly went for it – read every escape room design book I could get my hands on, researched the local history with resources and help from the Royal Western Australian Historical Society (thanks again!), got a few of my mates to test it first. You get the idea. She played it, and loved it.

Then some of my other mates started asking me if they could play it. Then some of her friends asked. I realised I could create something that was allowing other people to experience what I enjoyed, the thrill of exploring, noticing what others pass by, and solving mysteries

How A Laneway Mystery Is Made

Exploring The Area

I research, design and test every game. It starts with several walks through the location, ideally with my Dad. As well as being good company, he’s also weirdly good at spotting tiny details. When I was trying to get away with stuff as a teenager, that was massively annoying. As an adult making mystery games, it’s brilliant.

Together we photograph carvings, symbols, public art, and architectural features that we think could be useful for a clue. The aim isn’t to just visit famous landmarks, but to spot the detials thousands of people walk past every day without noticing.

Researching The Area

I research each area using sources like local-library archives, municipal heritage registers, historical newspapers and publications from historical societies like the Royal Western Australian Historical Society.

Where they fit naturally, these stories are woven into the game. Historical details are based on published sources, while the surrounding mystery narrative is fictional unless stated otherwise.

Key sources are acknowledged on each game page.

Building The Clues

Back at home, I turn the details gathered during each walk into a library of potential clues.

My custom-made design toolbox draws on years of playing escape rooms, reading design books and developing hundreds of clue ideas across categories like observation, matching, pattern recognition, ordering and wordplay.

I test each landmark against these categories, then combine suitable clue types. Easier puzzles may involve one clear step, while harder ones often chain several types of thinking together. The most difficult may also include a fair red herring to make the final “aha!” moment more satisfying.

The process is systematic without being formulaic. The checklists help me avoid repeating the same puzzle styles, while creativity and experience determine which ideas are worth developing and adding to the area’s clue library.

Testing And Grading The Clues

This is the really fun bit. Every clue is tested by people who were not involved in creating it. We try to get people from all walks of life, if you’d like early access to puzzles then you can apply to be a tester here.

I record solve times, hint use, common wrong turns and player feedback. Clues are then refined, tested again or removed.

Successful clues are graded from one to five stars based on how challenging they proved for real players, rather than how difficult I expected them to be.

For A Clue To Not End Up On The Cutting Room Floor:

Passes the vibe check from the testers
Doesn't assume any general knowledge- everything needed to solve it is found on a public landmark / on player 2's webpage
Its hints help without revealing the answer
Only has one right answer - no 'what was the person who wrote this thinking?'
Uses a landmark that will very likely still be there in 10 years

Building The Game

Tested clues are used to build mysteries at different difficulty levels.

A one-star game is built mainly from one-star clues. A five-star game uses mostly four- and five-star clues, but experience has taught me that even the toughest games benefit from a couple of easier puzzles added deliberately to vary the pace and give teams moments to regain momentum.

I also balance different puzzle types and plan a route that is enjoyable in its own right.

Most adventures are around 2-3 kilometres and take approximately 90 minutes to complete. They are purposefully flexible – stop for coffee, have lunch, go wherever the mood takes you, the game will be there when you get back.

During route design, I consider gradients, stairs, surfaces, road crossings, lighting and access to public spaces. Each game page includes more detailed route and accessibility information.

About Laneway Mysteries