It has come to my attention that a new location-based entertainment venue called 5Wits has opened up in Boston. The venue aims to offer interactive, physically immersive, walk-through adventure experiences on an annual basis. Its first show, Tomb, challenges your team of explorers to overcome challenges as you work your way to the pharaoh's tomb.
I'd be there in a heartbeat, but regrettably I'm on the wrong coast-- and I'm not flying across the country for a 40 minute experience unless the words "hot seat" and "millionaire" are involved. I know a number of Zombie readers are in the Boston area, however-- you are hereby charged with visiting the attraction and returning with a report.
Posted by Peter at December 2, 2004 02:36 PMYes, sir!
I'll have to see if I can scare up some other puzzle nuts to go with me - there are plenty around here but I wouldn't be surprised to find most of them hav gone already.
Posted by: Dan Blum on December 3, 2004 06:37 AMI am actually already planning on going tomorrow and can report after but a friend who has already gone and I asked wrote the following:
"It's a mixture of trivial and mildly interesting puzzles. I think it
had to be dumbed down to be commercially viable, though I wonder if it
really is. I think it's interesting enough as a concept if you have
the time and don't mind the cost. If you want to go on the weekend,
you probably will need a reservation.
Some of the things you need to do are truly trivial. Some are easy (a
4-level Tower of Hanoi, e.g.) but require some teamwork, which may not
be easy to come by, depending on who's there. There are a few mildly
challenging puzzles, which suffer from a lack of time. There's a lot
of narration by the "pharaoh" that takes up too much time.
The special effects are nothing to write home about, basic funhouse stuff.
When I was there, I had to wait for the owner, who also runs the
software and I think provides some human input, to finish working with
a marketing class that has taken on 5-wits as a class project. That
was at least as interesting as the tomb game itself.
Bottom line: a disappointment, not surprisingly, but not a complete dud."
Posted by: Aaron on December 3, 2004 08:07 AMI wrote up a longish comment on my blog on the experience. I overall generally agree with the comments I posted earlier.
Posted by: Aaron on December 6, 2004 01:00 PMHa. I deny all your comments. I am going to go there in January with a number of friends, with exceptionally high hopes that this will be a radically brilliant gaming experience and knowing that the buzz about this from the cognoscenti is unremittingly positive.
(Or I might not bother and just save a decent chunk of change, but I want this to be a Wonder Of The World, dammit.)
Posted by: Chris M. Dickson on December 7, 2004 02:21 PM