Room Escape Artist

Here are our recommendations for other great escape rooms in North Carolina.

Wearing a bucket on your head will not help you clean your room

Location: Wilmington, NC

Date Played: October 9, 2025

Team Size: 2-6; we recommend 2-3

Duration: 60 minutes

Price:  $34-51 per player, depending on team size

Ticketing: Private

Accessibility Consideration: None

Emergency Exit Rating: [A+] No Lock

Physical Restraints: [A+] No Physical Restraints

REA Reaction

Hangover at Riddler State hit home for me as someone who went to college and lived the #DormLife from 2014-2018. While still timeless and enjoyable for all ages, The Exit Games pulled on each adorable part of living in a dorm, staying out too late partying, and cleaning up the semester-long disaster for Parent’s Weekend. Each puzzle felt at home in the space. From cleaning up forgotten messes, to finishing homework, to doing laundry, Hangover at Riddler State transported us back. While the game will offer nostalgia for folks who once lived in a dorm, it would still be incredibly fun for those who didn’t, of any age.

We’ve loved the games that Tay and Josh of The Exit Games have created over the years in both Wilmington, NC, and Clearwater, FL, where their more renowned games Servants of Sleight and Pins and Needles are located. The Hangover at Riddler State shows another side of their design prowess with its goofy and lighthearted take on the medium. While not as large and extravagant as their Clearwater games, this experience left us filled with joy. If you’re in Wilmington, be sure to check this out!

Who is this for?

• Adventure seekers
• Puzzle lovers
• College dorm survivors
• Nostalgic nerds of the early 2000s
• Any experience level

Why play?

• Thematic puzzles fitting of a disastrous dorm
• Adorable details with nods to nostalgia of the early 2000s

Story

Passed out with no memories of the previous night’s party, we found our room in utter disarray with our parents visiting in only 60 minutes. We needed to clean the room and tidy up campus before Parent’s Weekend started!

Setting

Hangover at Riddler State was set in a disaster of a college dorm building, complete with a terrible laundry machine, broken elevator, bunk beds, and Guitar Hero III.

Gameplay

The Exit Games’ Hangover at Riddler State was a standard escape room with a moderate level of difficulty.

Gameplay revolved around searching, collecting, communication, making connections, solving puzzles, and avoiding the temptation to play Guitar Hero for the full hour.

Analysis

➕ Arriving at the dorm, the introduction was equal parts adorable and engaging. We laughed, we worried, and we cheered our way through the halls to clean up our disaster. This introduction did a fantastic job of setting the tone for the experience.

➕ Sometimes homework-themed puzzles can feel like homework. While still staying true to the subject matter, these multi-layered puzzles didn’t feel like a slog and kept all players engaged.

➕/➖ One puzzle left us wondering when we had all pieces of the answer completed. While this puzzle involved cute searching and counting thematic items, we found ourselves trying to put the answer in prematurely.

➖ Mid game, we had to wait for the gamemaster to come trigger the next step in-person. This may not be a problem for slower groups, but while it was a cute interaction, it left us wondering what to do next.

➕Every puzzle was multi-layered, complex, and on-theme with strong solve feedback. We were impressed by how many thematic and nostalgic puzzles The Exit Games was able to implement. Furthermore, the volume never became overwhelming.

➕/➖While some of the inputs were creative and well-labeled, there were a few locks that led us to question what answer went with which lock, and would have benefited from better lock-mapping.

➕ There was a fully functioning copy of Guitar Hero III. This brought our team so much excitement we almost didn’t finish the game. The little touches of joy sprinkled all over for the nostalgia of every generation was appreciated!

Tips For Visiting

• There is some street parking around.
• We recommend Dram Room for a lovely sit-down dinner, and Hidden Grounds for creative dinosaur-themed coffee!
• Apart from perhaps the title, there was nothing in this room that would be inappropriate for younger players.

Book your hour with The Exit Game’s Hangover at Riddler State, and tell them that the Room Escape Artist sent you.

Disclosure: Hangover at Riddler State provided media discounted tickets for this game.

Check out our interview with creators Taylor Pfyffer and Josh Skidmore on The Reality Escape Pod.