Category: Room 5280

Room 5280 – The Dark Room (Review)

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Location: Raleigh, NC

Players: 2-6 (We recommend 3-4)

Price: $28 per person

Time to Escape: 60 minutes

In the dark of the night!

Theme:

Something strange happened in this mysterious dark room, and it’s up to you to determine what. The previous occupant is long gone, but the mystery endures. Follow their lead, and you might just make it out. There’s more than meets the eye to unearth within, but you’ll have to discover the path within an hour, otherwise you might become part of the mystery itself!

First Impressions:

The Dark Room, like Classified, is slight on details in order to heighten the mystery of the room. From what we could gather, however, this would be a spooky, though not outright scary, adventure. Further, the room was based on a true story, with psychological roots, so we were very excited to uncover the mystery behind this escape!

High Points:

The atmosphere of The Dark Room is excellent, as the pitch darkness coupled with creepy props and designs quickly immersed our group within the world of the room. It became immediately clear that the previous captive of this room had left bread crumbs for us along the way, and these were hidden well, but highly intuitively for the most part! The theme of the room was pretty great, with subtle hints as to what might be going on buried within the puzzles and props. We liked the idea that someone had already escaped, and we were following in their footsteps, as it sort of flipped the ubiquitous kidnapping genre on it’s head.

Once again, we appreciated the trademark streamlined set and game flow of Room 5280, as well as the great use of almost everything in the room to contribute to the puzzles, connecting everything together cleverly. Each clue along the way feels important, ensuring that the experience was light on filler. The game flow works very well, if mostly linearly, and kept us all engaged until the very end with original and finely crafted puzzles. The climax of the room is appropriately exciting, and the interaction at the end was simple, but very much on theme and a lot of fun to experience.

Low Points:

The four of us were only given a couple flashlights in order to explore this dark room, and though this is sometimes done in the name of promoting teamwork, everyone in the room should have their own flashlight, as it alleviates frustrations. I know that I, personally, want to look at and poke everything, so not having a flashlight can make you feel like you’re missing out. One particular puzzle was a lock we hadn’t seen before in a room, which is saying something! Unfortunately, there wasn’t really an intuitive way to open the lock, so it got completely bypassed and we missed out on some key story notes. As it has been said many times, it’s important that you solve puzzles, not locks in escape rooms. This particular lock would benefit from being part of another puzzle, or a clue or two about how to pop it open. One early puzzle involved some particularly hard to find markings that could be made more intuitive with a clue or extra puzzle to determine where they are.

Verdict:

Room 5280 continues to impress with their newest room, delivering a spooky and historically based story that is sure to entertain. Though this one is a bit easier, I think enthusiasts will enjoy the excellent and original puzzles on offer, and newcomers will appreciate The Dark Room as a thrilling introduction to the world of escape rooms. I absolutely recommend giving this and the other three rooms at Room 5280 a shot if you’re in the Raleigh area. Unravel the mystery here!

8/10 (Great)

Full Disclosure: Room 5280 comped our tickets for this room.

Room 5280 – The Heist (Review)

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Location: Raleigh, NC

Players: 2-8 (We recommend 4-6)

Price: $28 per person

Time to Escape: 60 minutes

Gold, Cash, Diamonds, and Puzzles! What more could you ask for?

Theme:

An eccentric millionaire lives on the edge of town, and like any good burglar, you’ve been staking his home out for weeks. A man of habit, he always steps out for an hour long walk just before dark, and after much preparation, you’ve decided that now is your time to strike! Once inside, you’ve found that there are so many puzzles and traps hiding away the goods, so you’ll have to be smart and quick if you’re going to leave this place rich! That is, if you’re even able to leave at all.

First Impressions:

The Experiment and Sherlock were some of the most elegantly paced and well crafted escape rooms we had experienced in the area, so we were obviously excited that we had one more room to go during our night out at Room 5280! After a short break, we were led into another spacious and streamlined set, and got to puzzling!

High Points:

The excellent game design philosophies of Room 5280 are yet again exemplified by The Heist. A clean, spacious set where everything matters is married to a very tightly designed game flow that is packed with creative puzzles. Many times as an enthusiast, it is rare that you come upon a puzzle that is 100% something you’ve never seen before and usually there’s a basis of meta-knowledge one uses to solve even the most creative puzzles after a while, but in every room at Room 5280, there is something within the design that manages to be 100% brand new. Though this was the easiest of the three rooms we experienced, it was not without it’s fun challenges, and required a fair amount of thought and logical deduction.

The room was non-linear in some places, but did have a base that was mostly linear. Our team of four stayed engaged with almost every puzzle throughout, however, with each of us taking on a role for each step of the experience. Teamwork was highly encouraged by the design, and the variety between the puzzles themselves rewarded a team with divergent ways of thinking. Slowly gathering new riches during the room was a lot of fun, and a great way to keep the excitement high during the experience. The whole experience was chock full of intuitive ah ha moments and great interactions, ending on a high note of escape!

Low Points:

The directions for one of the late game puzzles come off very vague, and though some of my teammates were able to wrap their heads around it after we went over it several times, (for which I’m eternally grateful, I’d have never figured out that one,) I don’t think any of the challenge would be lost with some tighter wording to better direct players. There is definitely one particular puzzle that would benefit from slightly more cluing, as the connection can be easily made, but from there, a lot of guess and check is required.

Verdict:

Room 5280 absolutely gets my vote as the best escape room business in the city of Raleigh! All of their experiences deliver a steamlined, tightly designed, and overall enjoyable puzzling experience from start to finish. With a fourth room coming up, I am excited to see what they’ve got in store for us next. I absolutely recommend checking out their games whether you’re an enthusiast or beginner, as there are massively clever puzzles in store for players of any experience level! You can book your big Heist here!

8.5/10 (Great)

Full Disclosure: Room 5280 comped our tickets for this room.

Room 5280 – Sherlock (Review)

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Location: Raleigh, NC

Players: 2-8 (We recommend 4-6)

Price: $28 per person

Time to Escape: 60 minutes

Even the smallest detail may be important.

Theme:

Sherlock Holmes’s archenemy Moriarty is getting ready to unleash a reign of terror on London! He has been directing an accomplice to plant explosives all around the city in order to create the most chaos and destruction possible! Holmes has deduced where Moriarty has been hiding out, but it is up to you to find out who his accomplice is and where he has hidden the bombs before London begins to erupt in flame!

First Impressions:

After Room 5280’s amazing room, The Experiment, we quickly hopped over to experience their most challenging room, Sherlock! In a lot of cases, when a room is denoted as highly challenging, this can mean there’s a lot of red herrings, leaps of logic, or artificial difficulty involved, but we were pleasantly surprised to find that this was not the case with this room!

High Points:

This room delivered an engaging and clever black light puzzle that I really enjoyed, which is a testament to how much fun it was, since I’ve been regularly quoted as having a massive distaste for lazy black light puzzles. It was intuitive, fun to solve, and relied on a fair amount of teamwork. There was also an extra black light provided, which is almost always overlooked but highly appreciated. Another particular prop that I’ve seen in other rooms that is regularly made too obtuse or just plain frustrating is used to great effect here! It felt like this game helped reintroduce how played out or frequently misused items from other escape rooms could be implemented in a clever and entertaining way. There are so many interactions in this room that just ooze simple yet genius game design, and though the technology involved is low, the tactile and mechanical nature of the room is superb.

The game flow itself positively shines, proving that a Sherlock game can actually communicate the idiom that every small detail is important, and the simple set design works towards this advantage by excising the superfluous. Connections are logically made and the knowledge that everything in the room has a purpose creates a sense of puzzling nirvana that rarely gets tapped into. Though the set itself is more complicated than that of The Experiment, it never strays beyond the elegant and streamlined design sensibilities that made that game such a pleasure to play.

Low Points:

One of the last puzzles involves an interaction that could be fairly difficult for those with poor eyesight, and even though I have 20/20 vision, it was hard to decipher at times. There wasn’t really a thematic reason I could deduce for why the puzzle was set up this way either, so it definitely wasn’t my favorite. One other puzzle required a fair leap of logic, but was the standard version only for enthusiasts, and those who come across it will probably have the meta-knowledge to succeed. However, it was easy to overthink due to the lack of direction and the nature of the puzzle itself.

Verdict:

Sherlock is yet another feather in the cap of Room 5280, delivering a clean, innovative, and engaging adventure to the Raleigh area! Whether you’re an enthusiast or a newcomer, this challenging yet highly satisfying game is sure to deliver a fantastic experience. You can help stop Moriarty’s criminal plans here!

8/10 (Great)

Full Disclosure: Room 5280 comped our tickets for this room.

Room 5280 – The Experiment (Review)

~ EscapeAdventurer ~ 3 Comments

Location: Raleigh, NC

Players: 2-8 (We recommend 4-6)

Price: $28 per person

Time to Escape: 60 minutes

Complete my work!

Theme:

Professor Chladni has been working on an experiment that he claims will change the way we think about sound for years to come. Unfortunately, the Professor has gone missing; disappearing without a trace! It is up to you to visit his lab and find out just what it was he was working on. If you can solve the clues and riddles within, you’ll be able to complete his experiment and truly revolutionize the science of sound!

First Impressions:

Room 5280 is situated in Downtown Raleigh, a hence untapped area that seems perfect for an escape room. Even better, the rooms are housed within a historic home on Glenwood Avenue! When we arrived, we were greeted warmly by the owner, who was enthusiastic and obviously very passionate about escape rooms. The set up of this business truly was excellent, all that was left was to get our mission briefing and find out how the rooms stack up!

High Points:

Experiments and labs are an extremely common trope in escape rooms, but Room 5280 manages to take what could be a tired theme including zombies or a nebulous plague, and makes it into something way cooler! Based on the experiments of the historical “Father of Acoustics” Ernst Chladni, The Experiment really blew us away with its originality! Even before our escape, we were very excited to see what such a creative and historically scientific room could offer. The set is very streamlined, and presents a clean environment for the puzzling adventure. Very little is left to ambiguity and there aren’t a bevy of random and useless props scattered about to get in the way of the game flow or the environment. When the fantastic owner Andrew let us know that everything within the room was important, he really meant it! The items in the room are cleverly hidden, even in what is a very clean space, which is a testament to how excellently designed this room is. Each puzzle step is challenging and tactile, demanding that you challenge how you think about the mysteries, and involve some excellent perception based interactions. The ending is appropriately climactic, and caps off the room’s challenge in an exciting way we hadn’t experienced before.

The whole experience encapsulates an amazingly designed, multi-level puzzle into a room that presents just those things which are important, and though that could lead to an overly simple experience elsewhere, the folks at Room 5280 have managed to use a simple and elegant set design to develop a wholly original and engaging escape adventure!

Low Points:

The set itself is definitely a plus in my book, but if you’re an enthusiast that demands Hollywood set design, you’ll be disappointed as it this experience very much focuses on the game flow and experience above all else. The story itself also tends to make less sense if you focus too strongly on it, but is a very minor nitpick when looking at the experience as a whole. I would have liked to have a bit more closure about where the Professor went and why he disappeared, but the room’s focus is more on the Experiment itself, so any additions would probably throw off the extremely tight game flow.

Verdict:

The Raleigh escape scene has really upped its game with the addition of Room 5280! The Experiment really made an impression on our team with it’s awesome game flow, original content, and solid design. I cannot wait to return for their upcoming fourth room, and absolutely recommend giving them a shot if you’re ever in the area! You can book your time completing Professor Chladni’s Experiment here!

9/10 (Excellent)

Full Disclosure: Room 5280 comped our tickets for this room.