Update 7/4/23: If you enjoy 5 Wits we hope you’ll check out our interview with CEO Matthew DuPlessie on The Reality Escape Pod.
An awe inspiring game, with Disney-level production value and family friendly puzzles.
Location: Syracuse, New York
Date played: May 15, 2015
Team size: 2-15; we recommend 4-6
Duration: 30 minutes
Price: $17.99 per ticket for one adventure, discounted if you play multiple adventures
Plot
Prove your worthiness and survive to tell the tale!
Enter a 3,000 year old tomb with only a flashlight and your wits to guide you! At an archaeological dig, you find yourself deep in an Egyptian tomb… face to face with the spirit of an ancient Pharaoh! Are you brave enough to make it out alive?
The only way to survive will be to best the Pharaoh at his own game and prove your worthiness… but watch out for traps along the way! Test your skills in this amazing adventure thousands of years in the making!
Tomb
Tomb is an Indiana Jones-esque crypt raid where you disturb the ghost of a dead pharaoh who puts you through a series of challenges. This is billed as the more cerebral 5 Wits offering, and has more mentally challenging puzzles than their other games. Still, escaping the tomb isn’t difficult.
The experience
The game feels like you’re in a pyramid. It’s kind of nuts. The look, the feel, and the sounds are all on-point.
I have to imagine that the experience must be intensely cool for children (and maybe a bit too much for sensitive kids).
Literally every single puzzle is physically involved.
The game has a production value that is a few orders of magnitude greater than anything we have seen from any other escape game company.
Automation
A team of 2-15 players will begin with a recorded briefing (with solid, kid friendly acting), and advance into the first room. Everything from this point in the game is fully automated; the game mechanics push the team into each of the subsequent three rooms. Each team completes the game in 20 – 30 minutes.
The game mechanics are designed so that players reset the room for the next team. This allows 5 Wits to have a team in each of the four rooms at one time. It’s impressive. It is designed such that teams can’t butt up against each other.
Should I play 5 Wits Syracuse’s Tomb?
Yeah, you probably should.
If you’re an escape game designer, and you want to understand how high the bar is set for production value, go to 5 Wits.
If you have kids and want to do something fun and mentally stimulating with them, then you must go.
If you’re a live action puzzle enthusiast, this isn’t going to present a serious challenge to you, but I think you should see it if you’re near one of their locations (Syracuse, NY, Foxboro, MA, and they will be opening in West Nyack, NY soon). However I wouldn’t recommend rounding up a whole team and traveling specifically to play Tomb.
If you’re going to 5 Wits looking to test your mind, you’re profoundly missing the point. This is about the experience, family-friendly fun, and the brilliance of a fully automated escape game that reset itself.
No need to book in advance, just head over to 5-Wits Syracuse and tell them that the Room Escape Artist sent you.
Images via 5 Wits Syracuse
