Brain teasers and escape rooms, excellent team-building exercises, are even more fun to enjoy with friends and family. At the Palisades Mall, located roughly 30 minutes from Teaneck, the most challenging adventure, 5 Wits, puts players to the test as they navigate through a series of rooms, each with different levels of challenging puzzles. Of the three storylines that are available for selection, “Deep Space,” Dragon’s Castle” and “Tomb,” my dad, my newlywed sister Hannah, her husband Benzion and I selected “Deep Space” to attempt to conquer on our recent visit to 5 Wits.
The Palisades Mall is one of my favorite spots within driving distance at which to spend the day enjoying a variety of activities. With over a dozen options, including Dave & Buster’s, bowling, comedy shows, ice skating, rides and movies, there’s always something fun to do. You can also purchase delicious kosher food at the Kosher Korner Grab-and-Go, Cinnabon, or at one of my favorite hamburger places, Mike’s Burgers (which I’ll cover later). 5 Wits has been an activity that I’ve wanted to attempt for years, enticed by its alluring entrance inviting visitors to take on this intriguing challenge. I needed, however, the perfect excuse to go, and with my sister and brother-in-law visiting from Israel, I had finally found the perfect reason.
On a personal note, whenever I visit the Palisades Mall, I always make sure to pin the location where I park my car since the Palisades Mall doesn’t have great signage to help visitors easily locate their cars. This might just be a personal issue, and maybe others don’t find it as challenging, but almost every time I’ve visited as the driver, it takes me a few attempts to locate the car. Having the pinned location is a huge help. In reality, I probably do this based on past experience when on a date at Dave & Buster’s. While the date went well, I couldn’t remember where I had parked the car, and it took us nearly 20 minutes to find it. Needless to say, that didn’t leave a good impression, and she didn’t want to go out with me again—so guys, if you’re reading this, make sure you know how to find your parked car!
5 Wits is located on the top floor (Level 4) between Target and AMC, right next to Mike’s Burgers. It’s better to book a reservation online to ensure that you can play right away, as it’s possible that all three adventures will be fully booked. We booked “Deep Space” because it was supposedly the least claustrophobic room, according to an employee I spoke with on the phone. The employee also reassured me that the other two storylines aren’t very claustrophobic either, and players can be let out at any time if needed. “Deep Space,” however, offers the largest and brightest room, which is why we chose it.
Once we arrived at 5 Wits, we checked in at the register, where they handed us keys to a locker for our belongings. Informed that the “Deep Space” room would be ready shortly, we were free to relax in the waiting area. The area blended completely different genres, making us feel as if we were inside a crossover film. By the wall were three large doors. The leftmost door, which led to the game “Tomb,” featured an Egyptian tomb with a Pharaoh and hieroglyphics painted on it. The right door, leading to “Dragon’s Castle,” looked like the entrance to a dungeon inside a medieval castle, complete with a spiked gate blocking the way. The middle door, chrome silver in color, resembled a robotic entrance to a spaceship. The lounge had chairs and tables themed to look Egyptian, medieval and futuristic, each corresponding to the doors, with the medieval area also featuring a gargoyle-themed chess set to be used to help pass the time. The area also had merchandise for sale, such as 5 Wits t-shirts, dolls and adventurer hats like those worn by Indiana Jones and jungle explorers. After a few minutes of waiting, one of the most energetic and enthusiastic staff members I’ve ever encountered appeared, introducing himself as Bubba. He eagerly escorted us through the robotic door to begin our adventure in “Deep Space.”
To begin the sci-fi adventure, we first watched a video explaining the backstory of our mission: After sending out a distress signal, the starship Nebulous had lost contact with mission control. Despite multiple attempts, there was no way to reach the crew on board to discover what had transpired. Our mission was to enter a teleporter that would take us onto the ship, then solve the mystery of what took place and return home within the 30-minute time limit. After the briefing, we stepped into the teleportation chamber.
The teleportation room was a spectacle in itself, with lights, sounds and a gust of air that made us feel as though we were actually being transported. It was a surreal experience, and the effects were incredible, making me feel as if I were on a ride, even though we weren’t actually moving. Once teleported, the door opened, and we stepped aboard the empty Nebulous ship. The first room reminded me a lot of an escape room. There were no clear instructions, so we had to work together, pressing buttons, pulling levers and reading clues on the wall to trigger things to happen. Eventually, we activated the captain’s log, which warned us about a rogue AI. (“Clever foreshadowing, 5 Wits.”) As soon as the log ended, we were thrust into an asteroid field—red lights flashed, and the ship shook violently. Benzion, who has served in the tank units of the IDF, immediately took command of the situation, directing us to fire lasers at the asteroids, while balancing the ship using a series of knobs, successfully coordinating our maneuvers together.
Just as we thought we were in the clear, however, meteors crashed into the ship, setting off alerts that we were losing oxygen, and we could see rocks smashing against the windows. We moved to the next room, where we faced a challenging puzzle involving white rods of varying heights that needed to match a specific orange line. The puzzle was tricky because we first had to figure out the correct sequence, thereby eating up several of our 30 minutes. Benzion and I managed to solve our puzzle within the timeframe, but we didn’t have time to help my dad and Hannah solve theirs.
Suddenly, the ship’s AI system rebooted. At first, we hoped it would help us out. Our hopes were quashed, however, as the AI’s voice became demonic, determining that it needed to eliminate us. This led us into the final room, where we played several games to stop the AI from fully functioning, as it was bent on killing us and then returning to Earth to take over the planet. One game was a fast-paced light game, in which we had to tap panels on the wall whenever one lit up, and another was a Tetris-style game where we had to coordinate to control the moving blocks. After beating the games, we were able to stop the AI from fully activating and thus saved the planet. All in all, the 5 Wits experience took us around 35 minutes.
In the end, we were given our final score, indicating in which percentile we ranked, compared to other groups. Somehow, we managed to score around the 85th percentile, a score of which we were proud. (Although Bubba did quietly mention to me that he was helping us get through some of the missions in which he saw we were struggling. So, I’m taking that score with a grain of salt.) We then received 5 Wits stickers as a reward for stopping the AI and saving the planet.
To celebrate, we went right next door to Mike’s Burgers for an incredible dinner. Mike’s is easily one of the best burger restaurants I have ever been to. We ordered the Loaded Texas Fries (French fries covered with meat and pareve cheese) and popcorn chicken for the table. Hannah, my dad and I ordered burgers, while Benzion got the steak sandwich. (Warning: The sandwich is huge, so make sure to save room for it). The food was spectacular, and I especially enjoyed the Loaded Texas Fries, which packed a punch. For dessert, we had the Cinnabomb (similar to a cinnamon bun, but a bit too plain for me) and the Skillet Baked Cookie, which came with three cookies, pareve vanilla ice cream, pareve whipped cream and s’mores mini marshmallows. The Skillet Baked Cookie was divine, and the combination of chocolate chip cookies melting in my mouth with the ice cream and marshmallows made for a harmonious dance of tasty treats.
The reason I’m going into so much detail about Mike’s Burgers is that I truly believe that when you visit the Palisades Mall, you shouldn’t just do one activity. 5 Wits takes a little over 30 minutes, but if you’re already at a mall that’s packed with fun activities and tantalizing food to try, why not enjoy two or more treats at once? There’s so much to do at the Palisades Mall, and I highly recommend checking it out.
But back to 5 Wits—overall, the four of us had a great time. The experience was challenging, and we felt like we grew even closer by overcoming it together. 5 Wits is also located in Albany, Buffalo and Syracuse (where I later realized I had played the exact same game during my off day at Camp Mesorah nearly a decade ago), New York; Arlington, Virginia; and Erie, Pennsylvania. I definitely want to visit again to try the other two challenges, “Dragon’s Castle” and “Tomb.” The Syracuse, Arlington and Erie locations also offer another game called “Espionage,” which is spy-themed.
If you’ve got nerves of steel, enjoy cracking codes, and solving puzzles, make sure to test yourself at 5 Wits!
Admission: $29 a person
Hours: Noon-8 p.m.
Address: 4270 Palisades Center Dr, West Nyack, NY 10994. Level 4 of the Palisades
Mall
Phone: (845) 533-2666
Website: www.5-wits.com/west-nyack
Zachary Greenberg is a data analyst at Diversified Alternative Treatment Centers and the track coach for TABC. Zack recently visited Disney World for the 30th time! He watched the film “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery” on Netflix. To join in on Zack’s fun adventures, make sure you are following @funzacktivities on Instagram. If you have any recommendations of fun places for him to explore, please email [email protected].
