The Rift - Provo, Utah

Jared

The Rift in Provo is a really unique and creative experience. It’s essentially an augmented reality (AR) scavenger hunt where you and your group are given handheld devices to navigate through different themed adventures. These devices use an app to guide you through the game, showing you clues, puzzles, and AR visuals that you interact with to solve mysteries. The whole experience combines technology with a physical, maze-like setting, making it immersive and engaging.

We did The Haunt, which was a ghost-themed adventure where the goal was to uncover clues, solve puzzles, and piece together the mystery of the ghost haunting the space. You use the devices to scan objects, trigger events, and move the story forward. It’s a mix of solving riddles and exploring the environment, which keeps things interactive and fun.

That said, there are some issues. The devices get really hot because they’re running the app continuously, and towards the end of our session, they started slowing down significantly. Unfortunately, a few devices in our group completely stopped working, which meant some people couldn’t continue participating. This was pretty disappointing, especially for a group activity.

Another downside is that when other groups are there, it can feel chaotic. Many of the puzzles involve scanning pictures on the walls, and if multiple groups are trying to do this at the same time, it starts to feel like you’re just in each other’s way. It takes away from the immersion and makes it harder to focus on your own game.

The concept is fantastic, and the layout is really cool, but it still feels like it needs some work to iron out the technical bugs and improve the flow when multiple groups are playing. If you’re a smaller group and don’t mind dealing with a few glitches, it’s worth trying out.

I’d give it 3 stars for now, but I can see this being a five-star experience if the technical issues and group dynamics are addressed. I can’t comment on the other adventures they offer, but I’d be curious to see if those run more smoothly.

Julia Johnson

We had a great time at the Rift! My husband and I went together and it was the perfect interactive team game. There are 3 instructional videos at the beginning that teach users how to use the app and how the game is played. We understood the instructions with no problem, and the puzzles/missions were fun and not overly challenging. The setup was also really cool and the rooms were designed very well. My phone got a little slow halfway through, which made some of the activities hard because there was a lag. Understandable though because the app programming is probably pretty intense as it is, and the fact it was working as well as it was is pretty remarkable. Other than slight tech issues, it was very fun!

Paul Jones

Brought my family here. We broke up into teams of two and then we went off to capture as many dragons as we could. The maze that you run through it fun and interesting to look at. The AR works pretty well. We had a couple of small glitches, but overall it was great. The clues that were given were just enough to be challenging but not overly complex of obtuse, making the game fun to play. We spend almost 2 hours running around the maze helping save our world from the invading dragons!

Michael Rossi

We had the starving student card, so it was free for us. Overall it was fun. Or could have been More fun. Not a lot of explaining to really understand what you should be doing. There's a learning curve on your own that is pretty confusing. The tech also was glitchy. If those issues are taken care of it will be a fun event.

Rosa Baker

I planned a surprise triple date for my husband’s birthday and I’m so glad I chose The Rift. It was really fun. I loved the interior design, the graphics on the interface were beautiful, good sound quality, the riddles were very creative. We walked a lot so go get your daily steps in!
I highly recommend The Rift! It is really fun 🙂

I would say you may need a gamer by your side to quickly figure out how to catch the dragons and such but if you aren’t gamers, you can still figure it out.

Jackie Vurik

We have been eager to try the Rift for quite a while and with such great reviews, we finally gave it a shot. I went with my husband and son (10), and dropped around $60 for the experiance. My husband and I were highly disappointed. Our devices ALL had issues, 1 froze about half way though and all progress had to get restarted. The other froze about 2 riddles to the end, and the last froze after the final picture was taken. The AR is fairly cool, but it's rather finicky in on some of the things you need to find. It took us about 30 minutes to complete the challenge, likely closer to 15 to finish if everything actually worked. The clues were WAY too easy for adults, about perfect for a kid to figure out. Overall, I would NOT recommend this for a date night, but the kid did think it was pretty cool.

Aubrey Work

Super fun and unique date night! They even provide the phones for you, so you don't have to worry about having enough battery or downloading an app. My husband and I loved it!

Stephanie Saunders

I really wanted to like this, the concept is new and fun. However the instructions made zero sense. Watching the three videos didn’t explain how to play the game. We spent the first half trying to even figure out what we were supposed to do. We completed it in about 40 minutes but I still have no idea how. It was all happenstance scanning things. It needs to be simplified significantly on the interface or explained better. We almost walked out.. I don’t understand the story even after completing- I still feel just as lost finishing as I did going in. I did use the Get Out Pass, but if i paid for it I’d likely have asked for a refund. The four members in our group all equally agreed it wasn’t great. I really think it has potential - just wasn’t there yet.