FOR anybody who’s ever watched a bank heist movie and thought they could do it better — it’s time to put your money where your mouth is.

Preston is home to Melbourne’s latest role-playing game, Small Time Criminals, with punters challenged to become cat burglars and ‘steal’ what they can from a corrupt fictional investment bank.

Small Time Criminals is the brainchild of Pop up Playground and is set in a two-storey former bank, complete with its original vault.

Pop up Playground spokesman Ben McKenzie said Small Time Criminals was the group’s “first foray into that sort of permanent installation game space”.

“We’ve intentionally created this fake bank to be full of really awful people who are into really awful stuff,” Mr McKenzie said.

After a briefing and some advice from an ‘intermediary’, burglars are given an hour in the bank to find clues, hack computers and avoid security, including a real security guard.

While many escape room games have single solutions, Small Time Criminals allows participants a raft of different opportunities and treasures to steal, including cash, jewels, antiques and some surprises.

media_camera Think you can crack a bank vault in less than an hour?

“I don’t want to give away too much, but there are a few things you would probably classify as something you’d be more likely to see in an Indiana Jones movie — there’s a little bit of supernatural stuff in there,” Mr McKenzie said.

Small Time Criminals, which partnered with the City of Darebin’s Active Spaces program to secure a lease at the Plenty Rd bank, crowdfunded the entire project.

“We had a pretty modest initial goal of about $4500, which we raised in the first day of the campaign,” Mr McKenzie said. “Then over the rest of the time we managed to raise about $12,500.”

Small Time Criminals is open Thursday-Saturday at 641 Plenty Rd.