The Fifth Wall Escape Rooms – The Houdini Trap [Review]

The Houdini Trap is one of the best games in the Detroit area. Here are our other recommendations for great escape rooms around Detroit.

A trap Houdini never escaped

Location:  Ferndale, Michigan

Date Played:  August 3, 2019

Team size: up to 10; we recommend 4-5

Duration: 60 minutes

Price: $20 per player Sunday – Thursday; $24 per player Friday – Saturday

Ticketing: Public

Emergency Exit Rating: [A+] No Lock

Physical Restraints: [A+] No Physical Restraints

REA Reaction

The Houdini Trap told a unique story in an unusual and beautiful space. The puzzles and props were solid and engaging.

In-game: Glowing red lights against an art deco wall about the exit door.

There were a few nooks that felt underdeveloped, and a handful of puzzles that could have benefited from additional refinement.

Nevertheless, this was a truly delightful game. If you’re in the area, check out The Houdini Trap; it was doing some magical things.

Who is this for?

  • Story seekers
  • Puzzle lovers
  • Scenery snobs
  • Any experience level

Why play?

  • An elegant set
  • Good thematic puzzles
  • Fifth Wall is a fully themed escape room establishment
  • An interesting take on the Houdini escape room genre
  • The story pulls from Houdini and Detroit history

Story

We entered a trap designed specifically for Harry Houdini by a mysterious individual. Sadly, history’s most famous escape artist passed away in Detroit’s Grace Hospital before he’d had a chance to take on the seemingly impossible challenge room.

Almost a century later, The Houdini Trap was rediscovered and we were given the opportunity to explore the room that Harry Houdini had never escaped.

In-game: a poster advertising Houdini's "The Grim Game."

Setting

The Fifth Wall Escape Rooms’ facility was fully themed around a secret society. (This made it 1 of 3 fully themed facilities that we found outside of Detroit).

The Houdini Trap was a pretty space. Honestly, I don’t think my photos fully captured it.

The Fifth Wall Escape Rooms built the space with an art deco aesthetic that had a slight otherworldly vibe.

Many of the interactions and props were built from metal and were incredibly solid.

In-game: Closeup of a gearbox.

Gameplay

The Fifth Wall Escape Rooms’ The Houdini Trap was a standard escape room with a moderate level of difficulty.

Core gameplay revolved around searching, observing, making connections, and puzzling.

In-game: Wide angle shot of the room, a water torture chamber in the middle of it.

Analysis

➕ The Houdini Trap was designed in an art deco style. We were immediately captivated by the details in the design.

In-game: A beautiful and ornate art deco wall.

➕ The Fifth Wall Escape Rooms introduced The Houdini Trap with an entertaining video with great art. It kept our attention despite being a tad lengthy.

➕ The puzzles were solid, but the set-based interactions were phenomenal. As beautiful as the set was to inhabit, it was that much more exciting to manipulate.

In-game: Closeup of a control panel with a few dials.

➕/ ➖ One interaction in particular worked as an in-game metaphor for the larger theme. It was unique, conceptually and physically. That said, the interaction needed additional refinement, in both cluing and mechanism.

➖ We were bogged down by substantial reading in The Houdini Trap. Much of the story was told rather than felt. Reading included printed materials, laminated paper, and a journal that, while not quite a runbook, sometimes behaved a bit like one. We also encountered a handwritten clue that caused confusion.

In-game: A water torture chamber hanging from the ceiling.

➖ The audio could be hard to understand, which was frustrating, as it was crucial to one segment.

➕ Although The Houdini Trap flowed linearly, The Fifth Wall Escape Rooms gated (and labeled) puzzles such that large teams could get a jump on later puzzles early without wasting time or breaking sequence.

➖ One nook of this otherwise impeccable space was left underdesigned, which was disappointing.

➕ We adored the timekeeping mechanism in The Houdini Trap. As time rolled forward, intensity mounted. We appreciated that the game displayed our progress as well as the time.

In-game: A tube that carries balls representing the timer.
The game timer: Every 10 minutes a ball fell through this contraption.

Tips For Visiting

  • They have a parking lot.

Book your hour with The Fifth Wall Escape Rooms’ The Houdini Trap, and tell them that the Room Escape Artist sent you.

Disclosure: The Fifth Wall Escape Rooms provided media discounted tickets for this game.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

%d