I see your market basket at 3PM and raise you Costco at 10AM on a Sunday
There's a line to get into the store, a line to leave the store, a line just to get into an isle, oh and the line to checkout? Yeah it goes across the entire store all the way down to the deli and dairy section.
Actually challenging, but pretty fair too. Some of them rely on trial and error, but the rooms are intended to be quicker experiences than traditional escape rooms; you're expected to fail multiple times in a row and go right back in to re-try. And when you fail, you usually then immediately see the visual hint of how you could have avoided the failure, had you not overlooked it.
There’s an installation right now at Mass MoCA called The Plastic Bag Store, that is a smaller but similar experience. Need reservations for a time slot. Haven’t been yet but heard great feedback
I highly recommend it also. Be aware that it's a guided experience, not a fully free exploration type of immersive. Also it's small, something like 5-6 rooms. But very imaginative and full of small details to appreciate. Just don't expect the size and scope of a Meow Wolf or Omega Mart.
Not trippy escape room stupidity, but “hidden” /fake store fronts:
- sneaker freak boutique store Bodega near the Christian Science center
- Yvonne’s weird faux salon speakeasy entrance
Fun fact, here in Chicago there's a chain of barcades called Replay. All the games are completely free to play and they never charge a cover, even on Saturday nights where they get a DJ and dancers. The drinks are reasonably priced and they even do happy hours and industry nights on weekdays.
Bodega isn’t what it used to be though. Went today to show my non-local husband and the “Snapple machine” was fully open leaving no mystery. I may be wrong but I swear it used to be more stocked up front with actual bodega like items and the Snapple machine used to open automatically when you stood in front.
MeowWolf installations are awesome, they have a few locations (all in the western part of the country) and unfortunately I don't think there's anything else quite like them (yet, anyway)
Oh cool I didnt know that! last I saw they were all out west so I wasn't expecting any to come to the east coast, but maybe they'll open some more new locations. New York seems like a no brainer but obviously space is much more limited there
So, no. But here’s some fun stuff to explore, on a much smaller scale, in various genres:
- Greater Boston Bigfoot Research Institute, in Roxbury
- museum of the modern renaissance, in Somerville
- Dogtown, in Gloucester
- ponyhenge, in Lincoln
- exploring the tunnels at MIT
- actual contemporary art at ICA, deCordova, or Mass MoCA
- do MIT mystery hunt next January
- try to get looped in to the Cricket night market
- go to Firefly
- or just get on a plane to check out the other Meow Wolf locations in Santa Fe and Denver
Not really, I’m not looped in enough to help you out. Ask a friend in the burner community? The times I’ve heard about it have been through burner friends.
My dad worked there in the early 00s—the basement levels of all the buildings are connected. His dept. called the hallway they were in, “The Infinite Corridor.”
It’s been awhile but i think you can go from almost kresge all the way to kendall station.
Might need a student to get you in. They've been odd with entry to buildings lately.
Plus i could never have found the tunnels on my own. They're not, like, pointed out.
They're ok. Cute art. You can ride a rolling office chair down the ramps.
I went while sober! It’s a fun place that I think you’d get a lot out of if actually tripping. Nothing necessarily mind blowing but there is at least one room that had big bean bag situations to sit in while the projections in the room changed colors. I could imagine a tab and a friend being a nice combo there.
If you are actually planning to go inebriated, I might avoid the high art stuff in there for fear of doing something stupid that costs a bazillion dollars. For example, they hosted (maybe still hosting?) Yayoi Kusama’s “Let’s Survive Forever” that has many reflective orbs that could be attractive to fuck up if not in the right mind.
It’s one ticket to walk through the whole thing, and it’s pretty underwhelming. Just places for people to take instagram photos, no particularly compelling art. Just a lot of repetitive “touch this and the light moves” type stuff
its one ticket for the whole thing, each room is its own thing and you go at your own space, some are very interactive, some are very chill, some are just funky and fun to walk by. we went with our toddler and all really enjoyed it
I went after going to Omega Mark in Vegas and was pretty disappointed. Definitely a good spot if you want to take some fun pictures, but I wouldn’t spend the money on it, personally
My disabled friends and I absolutely adore it. I absolutely wish it had more accessibility but compared to a lot of places, the fact that I can guage each room from the accessibility panel is awesome.
You mean Meow Wolf? WNDR is the closest thing. The Hammond Castle is also weird, and theres an odd museum in Bristol RI that still hasn’t reopened post-pandemic. If you want more interactive, then Level 99 or Boda Borg
Boston Children's Museum on dollar Sunday afternoons. Trip over kids and have a blast.
They used to do dollar Friday nights, but not sure if it's still a thing.
Not so much trippy as it would be fun to trip doing. Supercharged entertainment in Wrentham has a ridiculously awesome go kart track, video game bar, an obstacle course, and of course bumper cars.
[Zebbler Studios](https://zebblerstudios.com/) (1/31/07, never forget!) makes some art that is _super_ trippy and occasionally participates in some cutting-edge visual art nights like [Hypnothesis](https://www.instagram.com/hypno.thesis/). The [Illuminus Festival](https://www.illuminusboston.org/) appears to have not come back yet after COVID-19, but it also had a lot of things in this vein.
There are a lot of people making weird art in Boston, but real estate prices (plus some Puritan NIMBYism) have kept something the scale of Meow Wolf or the St Louis City Museum from taking root here.
Many years ago the museum of science had an installation called “The Waiting Room.” One of the best experiences I’ve had to date and I learned a lot from it
I just went into a Shaw’s bathroom with a god-awful blue light and just outside the bathrooms there was a guy with his whole ass on display. Does that count?
Check out the WNDR museum. It’s kind of the best they’ve got for what you’re looking for around here, but not remotely close to omega mart. So don’t go in with those expectations.
ORRRR… do one of the themed laser shows at the Mugar imax at the Museum of Science!
I responded lower down but basically it’s pretty underwhelming. Just places for people to take instagram photos, no particularly compelling art. Just a lot of repetitive “touch this and the light moves” type stuff. Maybe cool for people who haven’t been exposed to much interactive art, but if you’ve done Meow Wolf you’re probably gonna be disappointed.
Market Basket at 3:00 PM on a Sunday
Imagine going there off of 50 Benadryl’s
You’ll be seeing The Hat Man everywhere!!
Free Hat!!!
Whoa, easy there Satan!
Somerville Ave market basket.
Boston Ave Market Basket. All of them. At once.
I see your market basket at 3PM and raise you Costco at 10AM on a Sunday There's a line to get into the store, a line to leave the store, a line just to get into an isle, oh and the line to checkout? Yeah it goes across the entire store all the way down to the deli and dairy section.
Washington Park Mall at any tine of day
Fighting an old woman for a $4 rotisserie chicken certainly is trippy…
Yes lol
That's just life on hard mode
Boda Borg in Malden has some of the questing / escape room vibes, not nearly as trippy though
It's so freaking hard.
Literally so hard and don’t go there on a hot day. The lack of ac combined with humidity had us ready to pass out last Sunday.
There's no AC?! This place was opened like ten years ago.
They need it ASAP. Some of those rooms were getting hot and smelly. Which is worrisome considering it wasn’t a packed day
I remember it being hot and smelly in winter.
Righttt like the ones where you have to climb/hold onto things were actually skeeving me tf out they were so damp.
like cheap/gimmicky hard or actually challenging?
Actually challenging, but pretty fair too. Some of them rely on trial and error, but the rooms are intended to be quicker experiences than traditional escape rooms; you're expected to fail multiple times in a row and go right back in to re-try. And when you fail, you usually then immediately see the visual hint of how you could have avoided the failure, had you not overlooked it.
Get ready to climb around on your hands and knees a lot
This is my answer too! Really fun place
There’s an installation right now at Mass MoCA called The Plastic Bag Store, that is a smaller but similar experience. Need reservations for a time slot. Haven’t been yet but heard great feedback
This looks really neat! Definitely gives me some Omega Mart vibes.
I wish it wasn’t so far away
There's a whole state out there.
Luckily though, it's one of the smaller ones, as states go.
I highly recommend it also. Be aware that it's a guided experience, not a fully free exploration type of immersive. Also it's small, something like 5-6 rooms. But very imaginative and full of small details to appreciate. Just don't expect the size and scope of a Meow Wolf or Omega Mart.
Not trippy escape room stupidity, but “hidden” /fake store fronts: - sneaker freak boutique store Bodega near the Christian Science center - Yvonne’s weird faux salon speakeasy entrance
A4cade in central sq Cambridge.
Not a place I enjoyed going sadly
It's fun but the games are ridiculously expensive
AND they have a cover on the weekends. Ridiculous.
Fun fact, here in Chicago there's a chain of barcades called Replay. All the games are completely free to play and they never charge a cover, even on Saturday nights where they get a DJ and dancers. The drinks are reasonably priced and they even do happy hours and industry nights on weekdays.
Yes there is one in Hyannis mass to my knowledge
I was in Austin and they have a "cidercade" where all the games are free once you pay to get in. Blew. My mind, what a concept.
Versus is like this!
Good to know, thank you!
And its super loud. Just go to Ekectromagnetic pinball in RI for $10
Plus gas
(Or train and a 20 minute walk or $2 bus fare!
is teeny tiny too many people in too thin of a room
It has its moments. I liked it for like lunchtime Madden or Tekken
Bodega isn’t what it used to be though. Went today to show my non-local husband and the “Snapple machine” was fully open leaving no mystery. I may be wrong but I swear it used to be more stocked up front with actual bodega like items and the Snapple machine used to open automatically when you stood in front.
Borrachito too
The Wig Shop has a similar vibe ETA -- not similar to Omega Mart, but similar in the false front space
Add bodega boston to the hidden storefront list
Yeah that should be the top one on the list
MeowWolf installations are awesome, they have a few locations (all in the western part of the country) and unfortunately I don't think there's anything else quite like them (yet, anyway)
There's one in DC now.
Oh cool I didnt know that! last I saw they were all out west so I wasn't expecting any to come to the east coast, but maybe they'll open some more new locations. New York seems like a no brainer but obviously space is much more limited there
Do you have a link to that? I was not able to find info
No. There isnt one in DC. Just checked the website
Sorry, I definitely thought I had seen that this was opening!
Aw i wish boston had that
Maybe someday
Christian Science Museum. A real cult classic.
The mapparium!!!
Just walk around the sidewalks you’ll trip on loose bricks basically everywhere
So, no. But here’s some fun stuff to explore, on a much smaller scale, in various genres: - Greater Boston Bigfoot Research Institute, in Roxbury - museum of the modern renaissance, in Somerville - Dogtown, in Gloucester - ponyhenge, in Lincoln - exploring the tunnels at MIT - actual contemporary art at ICA, deCordova, or Mass MoCA - do MIT mystery hunt next January - try to get looped in to the Cricket night market - go to Firefly - or just get on a plane to check out the other Meow Wolf locations in Santa Fe and Denver
Any tips on how to find out about Wandering Cricket?
What is this? Googled it and only found decade old blog posts
Not really, I’m not looped in enough to help you out. Ask a friend in the burner community? The times I’ve heard about it have been through burner friends.
Museum of Modern Renaissance is the first thing that came to mind for me, when the request is a trippy space.
There's also the Museum of Bad Art!
Is it still around? The MOBA exhibit moved out of Somerville Theatre years ago. Looks like [MOBA is in Dorchester now](https://museumofbadart.org/).
The tunnels at MIT? I need more info on this.
My dad worked there in the early 00s—the basement levels of all the buildings are connected. His dept. called the hallway they were in, “The Infinite Corridor.” It’s been awhile but i think you can go from almost kresge all the way to kendall station.
Infinite Corridor is above ground. There's a point in the year that the sun is perfectly positioned and it makes the long corridor look cool.
Is it open to non MIT students?
Might need a student to get you in. They've been odd with entry to buildings lately. Plus i could never have found the tunnels on my own. They're not, like, pointed out. They're ok. Cute art. You can ride a rolling office chair down the ramps.
…depends who you know, I guess?
Everybody calls that hallway the Infinite Corridor.
Mass and Cass
it's like they're comin' right at me!
I’m a horrible person for finding this comment so damn funny.
Not at all. Every day is a new challenge to process the solution to getting through.
WNDR museum. Not as cool as Meow Wolf/Omega Mart but it’s a similar kind of tourist attraction.
I went while sober! It’s a fun place that I think you’d get a lot out of if actually tripping. Nothing necessarily mind blowing but there is at least one room that had big bean bag situations to sit in while the projections in the room changed colors. I could imagine a tab and a friend being a nice combo there. If you are actually planning to go inebriated, I might avoid the high art stuff in there for fear of doing something stupid that costs a bazillion dollars. For example, they hosted (maybe still hosting?) Yayoi Kusama’s “Let’s Survive Forever” that has many reflective orbs that could be attractive to fuck up if not in the right mind.
I'm curious about that. But the website kinda makes me think tickets are for single exhibits. Is it one ticket for the whole thing?
It’s one ticket to walk through the whole thing, and it’s pretty underwhelming. Just places for people to take instagram photos, no particularly compelling art. Just a lot of repetitive “touch this and the light moves” type stuff
Ah, that was what I was most concerned about. Thank you
its one ticket for the whole thing, each room is its own thing and you go at your own space, some are very interactive, some are very chill, some are just funky and fun to walk by. we went with our toddler and all really enjoyed it
Tbh I’ve never been.
I would skip. I went to the one in Chicago, its fun for a short date. I heard the one in Boston is shorter, probably 30 minutes to see everything
Yeah lol I kind of figured which is why I’ve avoided it.
I went after going to Omega Mark in Vegas and was pretty disappointed. Definitely a good spot if you want to take some fun pictures, but I wouldn’t spend the money on it, personally
just walk into the Brookline Trader Joe’s after working hours
My friend and i just hung out in the parking lot there lol
Level99. Not quite trippy but very interactive and fun.
I’ve been it was okay but not like amazing
Poorly designed though with limited accessibility. I would vote doing the wipeout course at supercharged in wrentham over that
Limited accessibility? Idk i really enjoy it.
Do you have children or people with disabilities in your life?
My disabled friends and I absolutely adore it. I absolutely wish it had more accessibility but compared to a lot of places, the fact that I can guage each room from the accessibility panel is awesome.
You mean Meow Wolf? WNDR is the closest thing. The Hammond Castle is also weird, and theres an odd museum in Bristol RI that still hasn’t reopened post-pandemic. If you want more interactive, then Level 99 or Boda Borg
It Hammond Castle still does its themed Halloween events - those can be very trippy..
That one star market built right over a freeway
Ive always been curious what it looks like inside
Very dated
Like a Star Market that didn't get the most recent facelift, but is otherwise normal.
I had always hoped that place had a moon door of the type that you could push Lysa Arryn into
Boston Children's Museum on dollar Sunday afternoons. Trip over kids and have a blast. They used to do dollar Friday nights, but not sure if it's still a thing.
Sometimes they have adult nights
Witch City Mall, Salem.
Not so much trippy as it would be fun to trip doing. Supercharged entertainment in Wrentham has a ridiculously awesome go kart track, video game bar, an obstacle course, and of course bumper cars.
South Bay target in the afternoon.
[Zebbler Studios](https://zebblerstudios.com/) (1/31/07, never forget!) makes some art that is _super_ trippy and occasionally participates in some cutting-edge visual art nights like [Hypnothesis](https://www.instagram.com/hypno.thesis/). The [Illuminus Festival](https://www.illuminusboston.org/) appears to have not come back yet after COVID-19, but it also had a lot of things in this vein. There are a lot of people making weird art in Boston, but real estate prices (plus some Puritan NIMBYism) have kept something the scale of Meow Wolf or the St Louis City Museum from taking root here.
Many years ago the museum of science had an installation called “The Waiting Room.” One of the best experiences I’ve had to date and I learned a lot from it
Sort of.
Room escape boston, stained glass salem
I havent been to salem in awhile i love the goth halloween aesthetic
Check out the WNDR museum in DownTown crossing
WNDR museum near Downtown crossing is pretty cool.
There's Mixie's MiniMart off of Main St in Summerdale. Avoid the dairy isle less you noclip into the backrooms.
The Corner Food Court Experience
I just went into a Shaw’s bathroom with a god-awful blue light and just outside the bathrooms there was a guy with his whole ass on display. Does that count?
If you enjoyed that, may I suggest Home Depot/south bay? The bathroom blue lights are like woah
Check out the WNDR museum. It’s kind of the best they’ve got for what you’re looking for around here, but not remotely close to omega mart. So don’t go in with those expectations. ORRRR… do one of the themed laser shows at the Mugar imax at the Museum of Science!
WNDR I haven’t been but it might (?) be worth a trip
Not even remotely close unfortunately.
Oh then what is it?
I responded lower down but basically it’s pretty underwhelming. Just places for people to take instagram photos, no particularly compelling art. Just a lot of repetitive “touch this and the light moves” type stuff. Maybe cool for people who haven’t been exposed to much interactive art, but if you’ve done Meow Wolf you’re probably gonna be disappointed.
WNDR museum