We had heard a few other Sydney parents talking about Power Play before we booked, so we went in with fairly high expectations. It still managed to surprise us. Nine rooms, two kids, one very sweaty hour later, we walked out already talking about when we’d go back.
If you’re after something for the school holidays that isn’t a trampoline park or another indoor pool session, this is worth putting on the list. Here’s what it’s actually like, what it costs, and a few things we wish someone had told us before we went.
What Is Power Play Sydney?
Power Play Sydney is a new interactive games venue right in the CBD, at 48-58 Druitt St, a few minutes’ walk from Town Hall Station. It’s not an escape room and it’s not a trampoline park either. Think of it as nine separate mini arcades, each one built around lights, sound, buttons and a bit of running around, and each with its own scoring system tracked on a wristband.
You book a room slot, work through the games inside as a small group, then move to the next room. According to Power Play’s own site, each room is designed for groups of two to six players, and the whole venue is set up for birthdays, team building days and families looking to burn off some energy, which is exactly what we used it for.
The Nine Game Rooms: Our Favourites
Every room is a different challenge, so nobody gets bored halfway through. A few stood out for us:
Evil Eye was the one our kids talked about for days. It’s basically a red-light, green-light style memory and reaction game, and yes, it does play music that will feel very familiar if your household has watched a certain Korean survival drama. Four oversized “eyes” watch the room, and you have to hit a sequence of numbers in the right order without getting caught moving. It sounds simple. It is not.
Mega Grid is a floor covered in LED panels, and the aim is to avoid the lit-up squares while they change under your feet. It’s the closest thing to “the floor is lava” we’ve played as adults, and our legs knew about it the next morning.
Laser Crossing had us properly out of breath. You’re weaving through a grid of laser beams to reach the other side without setting anything off, which is a lot harder once your heart rate is up and your hands are sweaty from the room before.
Control needs a genuine team effort. Someone has to climb, someone has to press buttons at the right moment, and someone usually ends up shouting instructions across the room. It’s the room where you actually see who in your group works well under a bit of pressure.
There’s also Throw, where you’re aiming balls at a lit-up wall of targets, Climb, which adds a bit of a workout to the puzzle-solving, plus Cylinder and Pipe Ball, both worth a go if you get the chance. Nine rooms in one hour goes by faster than you’d think.
Price, Hours and Booking
This is the bit most people search for, so here it is plainly.
Power Play Sydney charges $38 per person during off-peak sessions, and $48 per person on Friday evenings and Saturdays. If your group is having too much fun to stop, you can usually add another 30 minutes for around $15 per person, subject to availability.
Opening hours are Monday to Friday from 12pm to 10pm, and Saturday, Sunday, school holidays and public holidays from 10am to 10pm. That last part matters if you’re trying to fill a school holiday morning, since it means you don’t need to wait until midday like you would on a regular weekday.
We’d book ahead through their website rather than turning up, particularly during the Sydney school holiday periods, when slots fill quickly.
Is It Suitable for Younger Kids?
Power Play is set for ages six and up, which lines up with what we saw on the day. Most of the challenges need a bit of reading, quick decision-making and coordination, so younger children can find some rooms tricky, but our six and eight-year-old both managed fine with a bit of guidance in the trickier rooms.
If you’ve got a toddler or preschooler who isn’t quite ready for something this fast-paced, we’d point you toward something gentler first, like the Bubble Planet exhibition, which suits littler ones far better.
Getting There
Power Play sits on the ground floor at 48-58 Druitt Street, right in the Sydney CBD, and it’s an easy four-minute walk from Town Hall Station. If you’re coming from anywhere along the train line, that’s genuinely the simplest way in. Driving is possible, but you’re looking at CBD parking rates, so we’d only bother if we were making a full day of it in the city.
Our Tips for a Better Visit
A few things made our visit smoother, and we’d pass them on to anyone going for the first time.
Wear proper sneakers, not sandals or thongs. There’s a fair amount of running, jumping and quick direction changes, and the wrong shoes will slow you down or trip you up.
Dress light and breathable. We were sweating within the first ten minutes, and by room five it genuinely felt like we’d done a gym session rather than a family outing.
Go in expecting to compete a little. Your score shows up on the leaderboard at the end, and once our kids saw where they ranked, there was no chance of a casual, half-hearted second lap through any room.
If you’re planning a work team day rather than a family visit, it’s worth knowing groups of 12 or more can access a free party room for two hours as part of a booking, which makes it a solid option for an office outing too.
Is Power Play Sydney Worth It This School Holidays?
For us, yes. It ticked the box we needed most these holidays: somewhere that would properly tire the kids out, without us standing around checking our phones for an hour while they climbed the same play equipment they climb every other week. Nine rooms is genuinely enough variety that nobody in our group had a favourite that dragged on too long.
It’s not cheap for a big family, so we’d treat it as an occasional splurge rather than a weekly outing. But as a one-off for the school holidays, a birthday, or a rainy Saturday when the usual options feel a bit tired, it earned its place on our list. We’ll be back before this Squid Game soundtrack leaves our heads.
Planning the rest of your break? Have a look at our full guide to Sydney school holiday activities, or if you’re travelling further afield, Hijinx Hotel in Brisbane is a similar interactive challenge room concept worth checking out.