Page 33 - AAA Every Day – AAA Hudson Valley – September/October 2019

DISCOUNTS DIGEST
Adventure Awaits:
Break the Pharaoh’s Curse
First opening in downtown Boston in 2004, Tomb is original Tomb at 5 Wits Albany in the Crossgates Mall.
a high-tech, interactive experience crafted by the minds at immersive entertainment company 5 Wits. Taking the role of archaeologists at an Egyptian dig site, players team up in groups to enter
the tomb, armed only with flashlights
and common sense to locate the
burial chamber. Once inside, however,
they discover the spirit of the restless
Pharaoh has other plans for them.
Before they’re allowed to reach the
burial chamber, Pharaoh tests each
group with games, puzzles, challenges
of skill and courage ... and maybe
even a classic booby trap or two.
First-time visitors often assume that
the experience will be something like
an escape room, but that’s not exactly
the case (in fact, Tomb predates the
earliest escape rooms by several
years.) A better analogy would be
to call it a real-life adventure game,
and that’s exactly what it was first
conceived as.
“I always wanted to be Indiana
Jones,” said Matt DuPlessie, founder
and CEO of 5 Wits. A graduate of the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
and Harvard University, DuPlessie worked for Walt Disney World before opening 5 Wits 15 years ago to bring interactive gaming off the screen and into real life. In 2016, 5 Wits opened a brand new version of its
The 12,000 square foot venue also features Deep Space, a futuristic sci-fi adventure, and Drago’s Castle, a medieval fantasy.
Photos: 5Wits
“I’m not opposed at all to digital content,” said DuPlessie, “but I think it’s become the default.” Indeed, Tomb is anything but digital: each chamber is intricately carved with hieroglyphs, guests move physical objects throughout
the space and the Pharaoh’s booming voice follows you throughout your adventure, eventually leading to his sarcophagus –and his mummy, if you perform well.
But while visitors to the multimillion dollar facility are fully immersed in the analog world of 3,000-year-old Egypt, something much more modern is taking place backstage as
a complex control system utilizes everything from computer vision to touch sensors and radio frequency to control the environment. Based on each group’s successes and failures, 5 Wits’ proprietary software
adjusts the level of challenge to match your performance and changes the Pharaoh’s attitude toward you accordingly. This means that each group’s experience is different and actually changes the ending of the experience based on the team’s level of success. Make
no mistake – your performance matters.
5 Wits Albany is a AAA Discount Partner located at Crossgates Mall. Visit AAA.com/discounts to get full offer and partner details.
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