Honest Review of #29Rooms

In case you have been living under a rock and didn’t see it all over social media, Refinery29 recently brought their #29Rooms exhibit to DC, and reviews were, um, *mixed*. I personally have a lot to say about it, so if you didn’t go or were just wondering what other people thought about it, then keep reading!

The Good:

Ok, how about we start with what they did well? First off, their social media presence leading up the event was very strong, and definitely built up a lot of hype! I personally had heard about 29 Rooms last year when it was in Brooklyn, but unfortunately did not get a chance to go, so I jumped at the opportunity to go when it came to DC!

They definitely promoted it well enough to get people through the door, even on the first day (when I went). They also planned it out with social media in mind, which is to say that they KNEW people were going to take pics to post on Instagram, and was designed for people to do so. They had both interactive “rooms” and rooms where you could touch, hold and even wear props for the pics. Some of the set ups were super dope and creative!

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The Bad

Y’all saw this part coming! I will say first off, my BIGGEST gripe is the ticket price. After fees, I had to throw down $42 to get in this bitch?!? That alone was super annoying, made only more annoying by my other complaints: horrible lighting, poorly thought out concepts on some of the interactive rooms, aggressive advertising from sponsors, etc.

The poor lighting is frankly just UNacceptable. Y’all really set up a whole art exhibit with the INTENTION of people taking photos to post on social media, and couldn’t even install proper lighting? For real??? I personally don’t like to post any photos on my feed that are dark, so I knew I was gonna be shit out of luck for content, but the whole lighting situation was just kind of ridiculous to me.

The first actual room we went in (because most of them weren’t actually rooms, but free-standing exhibits throughout the arena) was the financial awareness one or whatever. It was designed to be an “escape room” where you had to play a game in order for everyone to leave. The game was *supposed* to be fun and teach us about financial literacy, but ended up being such a joke and serving literally no purpose. Okayyy… 🙄

That room, along with a few others, were a poorly disguised attempt to advertise for some of the sponsors that help put the exhibit on. I think it came off as really forced, and was just not executed well! Another room had really cool lights and reflective glass, but the volunteers/workers tried to force us to put on the glasses that the sponsor designed the room around. Put on a pair of glasses that dozens (if not hundreds, by the last day) of people had already touched and put on their faces? Umm, no thanks 😒

The Ugly

Ok I am just being dramatic now 😂 But I would say the biggest thing for me was the cost. There was nooo reason for it to cost more than $15, MAYBE $20! Then on top of the $42 I spent just to get in, I ended up spending ANOTHER $13 on a fucking hot dog and Truly seltzer, because I was dying of hunger and thirst and there was nowhere else around the arena to get food. Maybe if I had been cool enough to get invited to the influencer showing later that same night (which looked fun! They had a DJ!) and didn’t have to pay, I would have had better things to say. But alas, that was not the case. So I said what I said! If you went, let me know what you thought of it!!