5 Wits
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5 Wits is a chain entertainment venue that builds interactive adventure experiences with seven locations in the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
. 5 Wits adventures are compared to and have some similarities with Escape Room Games, but are placed in a separate category and not considered escape games. It has been called the first of this type of attraction, having first opened to the public in October 2004.


Description

Each location features interactive adventures with themes such as
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea ''Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas'' (french: Vingt mille lieues sous les mers) is a classic science fiction adventure novel by French writer Jules Verne. The novel was originally serialized from March 1869 through June 1870 in Pierre-J ...
, a high tech spy mission, outer space, ancient Egypt, and medieval fantasy. In each adventure, a group of 2-12 guests are faced with puzzles and challenges they must overcome as a team as they work to progress through a series of rooms and complete their mission. There are computer controlled lighting and sound effects, optical illusions, and a wide variety of physical and mental puzzles and electromechanical effects. Guests can succeed or fail, and each adventure has multiple endings that will change based on how the group performs and what decisions the group makes. 5 Wits adventures are controlled completely by computer and do not involve a human operator, with each attraction self-resetting behind each group as it progresses.


Adventures

* Deep Space (Syracuse, West Nyack, Albany, Buffalo) - A futuristic adventure where adventure goers get teleported to an abandoned starship and they must work together to figure out what happened to the crew, but not everything is what it seems. * Drago's Castle (Syracuse, West Nyack, Albany, Buffalo, Erie, Arlington) - A medieval fantasy where adventure goers help a magical princess catch a fire-breathing dragon before it can destroy her world and theirs. * Espionage (Syracuse, Erie, Arlington) - A spy adventure where adventure goers become secret agents and must infiltrate an enemy base to stop a false flag event. * Tomb (Syracuse, West Nyack, Albany, Buffalo, Erie, Arlington) - An Indiana Jones style adventure where adventure goers must answer the riddles of a long dead pharaoh or else be trapped forever.


Origin of the Name

5 Wits is named after the five inward wits from the writings of
William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
and
Stephen Hawes Stephen Hawes (died 1523) was a popular English poet during the Tudor period who is now little known. Life He was probably born in Suffolk when the surname was common. If his own statement of his age may be trusted, he was born about 1474. He ...
. These
five wits In the time of William Shakespeare, there were commonly reckoned to be five wits and five senses. The five wits were sometimes taken to be synonymous with the five senses, but were otherwise also known and regarded as the five inward wits, ...
were common sense, imagination, estimation, fantasy, and memory, though there are also clear associations to the five senses. Each 5 Wits adventure requires the use of the five inward wits and is designed to immerse guests fully in a "5 senses themed" experience.


History

5 Wits was incorporated in 2003 by founder and presiden
Matthew DuPlessie
The original business plan for 5 Wits, first called the Puzzle Room, was written and entered into the business plan competition at
Harvard Business School Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate business school of Harvard University, a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. It is consistently ranked among the top business schools in the world and offers a large full-time MBA p ...
in early 2003. 5 Wits' first location opened in October 2004 at 186 Brookline Avenue, Boston MA, hosting TOMB, 5 Wits first adventure. In 2006, 5 Wits spun off a sister company, Box For

(originally called 5 Wits Productions) to design and build walk-through adventures for its growing business and provide services for third-party clients like museums, theaters, and theme parks. In 2007, 5 Wits opened International Spy Museum#Operation Spy, Operation Spy, an hour long walk-through adventure inside the
International Spy Museum The International Spy Museum is an independent non-profit museum which documents the tradecraft, history, and contemporary role of espionage. It holds the largest collection of international espionage artifacts on public display. The museum opened ...
. In 2010, 5 Wits moved the original TOM

adventure to Pigeon Forge, TN, selling it to a third party. The original TOMB continues to operate but is no longer owned or operated by 5 Wits. Meanwhile, a new 5 Wits location opened in August of that same year in Foxboro MA at
Patriot Place Patriot Place is an open-air shopping center owned by The Kraft Group built around Gillette Stadium, the home of the New England Patriots and New England Revolution. It is located in Foxborough, Massachusetts. The first phase opened in fall 2007, ...
hosting Espionage and 20,000 Leagues. Since then, multiple new locations have opened, primarily in New York state. 5 Wits continues to expand, with new stores currently planned.


Locations

The company's six venues are located in: *
Syracuse, New York Syracuse ( ) is a City (New York), city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, Onondaga County, New York, United States. It is the fifth-most populous city in the state of New York following New York City, Buffalo, New York, Buffa ...
, at
Destiny USA Destiny USA (stylized as destiny usa and also known by its former name Carousel Center) is a six-story, automobile-oriented super-regional shopping, dining, and entertainment complex on the shore of Onondaga Lake in the city of Syracuse, New York ...
*
West Nyack, New York West Nyack is a hamlet and census-designated place in the town of Clarkstown, Rockland County, New York, United States. It is located north of Blauvelt, east of Nanuet, southwest of Valley Cottage, southeast of Bardonia, and west of Central Nyac ...
, at
Palisades Center Palisades Center is a shopping mall in West Nyack, New York, which as of December 2022, is the twelfth-largest by gross leasable space. It was built in the industrial style. It has also been of the nation's most lucrative malls, producing $40 mil ...
. This location opened in 2016 in a space that was an IMAX theater in the mall. *
Albany, New York Albany ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of New York, also the seat and largest city of Albany County. Albany is on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River, and about north of New York City ...
, at
Crossgates Mall Crossgates Mall is an enclosed, automobile-oriented, super-regional shopping mall located in the Albany, New York suburb of Guilderland. It is the largest indoor shopping center in the Capital District, and the third largest in the State of New ...
. This location is nearly identical to the
West Nyack West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...
location. *
Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from South ...
, at
Walden Galleria Walden Galleria is a regional shopping mall located in Cheektowaga, a suburb of Buffalo, New York located east of Interstate 90 and New York State Thruway Exit 52 off Walden Avenue. The Walden Galleria comprises more than of retail space, with 170 ...
* Erie, Pennsylvania, at Millcreek Mall *
Arlington, Virginia Arlington County is a county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The county is situated in Northern Virginia on the southwestern bank of the Potomac River directly across from the District of Columbia, of which it was once a part. The county is ...
, a new location at Ballston Quarter opened February 2019


References


External links


Official Website
{{authority control Science museums in New York (state) Science museums in Massachusetts Museums in Syracuse, New York Tourist attractions in Norfolk County, Massachusetts Tourist attractions in Rockland County, New York Tourist attractions in Syracuse, New York