Puzzle storm.
Location: Morristown, NJ
Date played: July 31, 2017
Team size: up to 6; we recommend 3-5
Duration: 60 minutes
Price: $35 per ticket
Story & setting
As a tornado approached, we needed to navigate a corn field and secure ourselves in the barn’s storm cellar to survive.
Trap Door created a ominous atmosphere for F5. An abundance of corn stalks rustled in the dim light and loud wind of the impending storm. We were equipped with only a handheld radio, our strength, and our wits.
F5 was part escape room and part obstacle course. A pair of massive fans blew and the projections of a tornado drew closer as we climbed, crawled, and moved heavy objects to navigate the corn maze towards the safety of the barn’s storm cellar.
Puzzles
F5 was both mentally and physically demanding. We determined how items interacted and then we exerted the strength or dexterity necessary to accomplish each feat.
F5 also included some more typical escape room-type puzzles that did not require feats of strength, agility, or dexterity.
Standouts
We loved the premise of F5. We don’t often escape into shelter and we had never been chased by a killer storm before.
Trap Door constructed a compelling Midwestern landscape into their suburban building. They minded the set details. The lighting, sound, and giant fans added dramatic effects. We could easily imagine the impending tornado barreling toward us, which motivated us to move swiftly.
The hint system was funny and served to further the fiction.
There was an incredibly satisfying Zelda-inspired puzzle. David was a little sad that the Zelda puzzle sound didn’t chime when we solved it… until one of our teammates sang it herself.
The physicality of Trap Door’s puzzle-by-way-of-obstacle course design intensified the experience. These integrated challenges made F5 special.
Shortcomings
The final act of F5 abandoned the obstacle course aspect of the game’s design for a more typical escape room-style series of puzzles. In doing so, it shifted away from what made it exciting and the tension cooled before we made it to the finish line.
Toward the end, the puzzles relied on “escape room logic” rather than continuing to work within the environment as the previous puzzles had. The puzzles worked, but they didn’t feel natural within the game.
Should I play Trap Door’s F5?
F5 was unlike any other escape room we’ve visited to date. It was an obstacle course and a puzzle game, dramatically staged, and integrated into one complete adventure. It was more escape room than Boda Borg and more strenuous than… most other escape rooms.
If you like both physical and mental challenges, you will enjoy this.
While you don’t have to be physically fit to succeed in F5, you will need to climb over and crawl through obstacles. Your teammates can assist you, but they can’t do these things for you. I recommend bringing at least one teammate who actively seeks this type of activity.
Do not wear a skirt, heels, or other impractical clothing to F5.
Trap Door has taken necessary safety precautions in designing and constructing F5. It was a safe experience. That said, you could certainly get hurt, especially if, in the excitement of the moment, you aren’t smart about how you move through this adventure.
The gymnast-kid in me loved F5. The decidedly indoor-kid in David loved F5 too. We each tackled it in our own way and left smiling.
Book your hour with Trap Door’s F5, and tell them that the Room Escape Artist sent you.
Full disclosure: Trap Door comped our tickets for this game.
