The Flamingo Hotel Escape Room

Five Families escape room guide · Las Vegas Strip · December 26, 1946

Bugsy Siegel's casino is $6 million over budget and losing money on opening night. The Flamingo is one of the Five Families escape rooms: a 3D recreation of a real scene from mob history that you walk around as your own mobster, searching for evidence and cracking a four-digit padlock before the clock runs out. This guide covers the real story behind the room, what you'll find inside, and how to get out.

The real story

The opening was a flop. The casino lost about $275,000 in its first two weeks, and the house is not supposed to lose.

Hollywood stars were expected in force. Storms over Southern California grounded some of the flights from Los Angeles.

The Flamingo cost about $6 million, far over budget. Siegel's partners in New York suspected he was skimming the building money.

Jimmy Durante headlined the opening, with Xavier Cugat and his orchestra, singer Rose Marie and dancer Tommy Wonder. George Jessel was master of ceremonies.

Bugsy Siegel was murdered on June 20, 1947 at Virginia Hill's home in Beverly Hills. The Flamingo was profitable by the time he died.

The murder of Bugsy Siegel was never officially solved. No one was ever charged.

Setting the scene

The opening was a disaster. The heating system failed. The kitchen wasn't finished. Half the celebrity guests didn't show. And the casino lost money on opening night — the house lost money, which doesn't happen.

Bugsy Siegel is upstairs right now, on the phone to New York, trying to explain a $6 million overrun to men who are not known for patience.

You've been sent to find the ledger. The real one, not the one the accountants have seen. Start on the casino floor, slip through the showroom while Cugat's band packs up, and get backstage. The stage door out to the lot is padlocked. Find the ledger, crack the lock and get out before the New York men do.

Before you get inside, you make your own way there. Drive Highway 91 at dusk, past desert scrub, joshua trees and motel neon, to the Flamingo's pink tower and palms. A green arrow shows you the door.

Three rooms in one

The Flamingo isn't one room, it's three, and you only see the next one once you've earned it. Each has three things to search. Search everything in the room you're in and a door unlocks, a glowing arrow shows you the way through, and the next part of the scene opens up. The clock keeps running the whole time: 5 minutes for all three.

The padlock code is spread across all three, so you can't escape from the casino floor. Move fast in the first room: the last room is where people run out of time.

What you'll find in each room

There are 9 things to search in the Flamingo, three in each room. 4 of them hide a digit of the padlock code, 2 are dead ends put there to waste your time, and the rest fill in the story. The bar tab, the plumber's invoice and the opening programme stay locked until you've found 3 clues. The broken slot machine, the dressing room door and the stage door stay locked until you've found 6 clues.

First room: The casino floor

Second room: The showroom

Third room: Backstage

The Flamingo escape room walkthrough

1. Take in the room. Drag to look around and walk with the stick or arrow keys. Question marks show everything you can search.
2. Clear each room. Search all three things in the casino floor and the way through to the showroom unlocks. Clear that and you're into Backstage. Follow the glowing arrow to the next door.
3. Find the four digits. Each piece of evidence that matters gives you one digit, and tells you which position it goes in. Stuck? The hints below point you to the right room, not the answer.
4. Ignore the red herrings. Some items look important and aren't. Don't spend the clock on them.
5. Open the padlock with the four digits in order, before the 5 minutes run out.
6. Make the call. You'll choose how it ends: Hand the ledger to the New York men — show you're loyal; Burn it — no ledger means no proof; Keep it — information is leverage. Each ending tells you what really happened.

Tips for escaping

• Read each piece of evidence to the end: the digit is usually in the last line.
• If the clock's getting away from you, a hint costs 25 Mob Coins and an extra minute costs 50.
• Holding a drink or a cigar from the Social Club gives you 20 extra seconds in every room.
• On a phone, turn it sideways for a wider view. Your evidence, digits and the padlock are in the pull-out case file.

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Questions

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