Reboot

Reboot is a live online performance in which the audience participates in the action of the show by collaborating together to solve puzzles. These puzzles are interspersed with theatrical interactions with the cast, and the story is revealed through this combination of performance and puzzles.

When you purchase tickets, you will be sent a confirmation email, which will include a link to the performance. Please be sure to read that email thoroughly, as it will have several instructions for how to best experience Reboot.

Because Zoom will only accept one audio input at a time, please give space to let other audience members speak, and do not talk over the performers.

If you are having an issue with someone else’s audio or video, you may politely ask them to address the problem, but outside of this, we ask that you refrain from commenting about anyone else’s appearance or environment.

As a courtesy to your fellow players, we encourage you to connect to Reboot in a quiet, well-lit room with minimal visual or auditory distractions. It is expected that you will appear on camera throughout the performance, so please dress appropriately.

If you are sharing a physical space with another player, please use headphones and a directional microphone to minimize feedback between your systems. Or if possible, go to separate spaces.

Do not use virtual backgrounds, camera filters, or audio distortion effects. These can be highly distracting for other audience members.

There is no late admission to Reboot. We ask that you arrive 10 minutes before showtime, to make sure you’re able to get in and get settled, and troubleshoot any technical concerns.

Once the show has begun, it will be difficult to integrate new audience members into the experience. Because the audience works together as a team, everyone needs to start together.

If you get disconnected during the experience, please attempt to rejoin, and we will re-admit you as soon as we can.

Sort of! Walking Shadow has created three previous plays with puzzles, 1926 Pleasant (2006), Saboteur (2011), and Cabal (2019). But this is our first entirely digital play with puzzles.

As far as we know, we’re the only company in history to combine theater and puzzles in this way.

Yes. Expect to have your web camera on, and to frequently have your microphone on. To solve the digital puzzles, the audience will sometimes be asked direct questions, or need to talk with each other and the performers. But don’t worry, you won’t be expect to act (although you can if you want to). You’ll never be on your own, either: you’ll never have to solve a puzzle all by yourself.

The Players are part of a team of elite hackers, and you will therefore be asked to adopt a secret agent code name of your choice. But you won’t be asked to act out or perform a specific role. You can just be yourself.

Reboot is a kind of show we call a Play with Puzzles. It’s a play: it has actors who perform scenes that you’ll watch. But it also has puzzles and elements that you’ll get to interact with. In that way it’s a little like an escape room. But these puzzles are integrated into the story in a way you don’t usually get in an escape room.

You’d be surprised — you may have just the insight your team will need! But there will be other people at your performance who love figuring out the puzzles, and helping them find solutions can be lots of fun. We won’t force you to do anything. You don’t need previous experience with puzzles. You’ll never have to solve a puzzle all by yourself. You can participate more or less, depending on how you’re feeling.

The puzzles in Reboot are digital and interactive. We can’t say too much because they are integrated into the plot, and we don’t want to spoil the story! We’re not talking about crosswords, Sudoku, or jigsaws. These are original puzzles that don’t necessarily have a familiar genre. You won’t need to print anything out. You may find it useful to use pen, paper, or a search engine to help you solve them. Puzzles require the audience to work together as a team.

It’s designed to be fun, not difficult. Unlike some escape rooms, there’s no ticking clock, so you won’t run out of time before the end. The puzzles are meant to be clever, not fiendish. Everyone will “win”!

Yes. But once you know how the puzzles work, you could spoil the discovery for your fellow audience who are experiencing it for the first time. If you think you can keep from giving away the surprises, by all means!

Success is a journey, not a destination! Reboot doesn’t have winners and losers. We’re not going to time you, and we won’t be comparing one audience against another. Sure, there are puzzles to solve, but it’s more of an experience than a competition.

Each ticket sold is for an individual attendee. Each patron needs their own computer. This is for a couple reasons: 1) The show is made for a limited number of people, and each person will actively participate in conversation. If there were more than one person per screen, then there would be too many people trying to talk. 2) Solving the puzzles includes using websites. Navigating those websites is more fun if you’re doing it yourself, rather than watching someone else do it!

Sure! You can buy for multiple people, as long as you provide separate info (name, email, phone number) for each person. We want to make sure everyone understands what they’re in for! We discourage surprising your friends with tickets, in case they don’t meet the minimum technical requirements, or aren’t comfortable attending an interactive event.

You don’t need to worry about securing a private experience. If we were playing a regular escape room, we’d want to go just with our own group, but we think this show works great when you’re playing with some strangers. You CAN buy out a whole show in order to have a private experience; in this case, a minimum of 6 audience members is required for the show to work.