Introduction
Sneak Out at Five is a top-down stealth game where you try to leave the office right at quitting time without getting caught by your boss or coworkers. This page explains the controls, how each character moves, how you get spotted, how your rank is decided, and some tips for making it out at five.
How a round goes
- You start at your desk in the lower right at 4:55 PM, five minutes before quitting time
- Collect your things, your phone 📱, ID badge 💳 and bag 👜, from around the office without being seen
- When the 5:00 PM chime rings, the exit in the upper left opens up. If you get there before five, it counts as leaving early and you can't go
- Reach the exit with all three items to clear the game. Your rank depends on the time you clock out
- If someone stops you, or it hits 6:00 PM, you're “stuck working late” and the game is over
Game time runs 10 seconds for every real second. That's about 30 real seconds until 5:00 PM, and about six and a half minutes until 6:00 PM.
Controls
| Action | Phone | Computer |
|---|---|---|
| Move | Drag anywhere on the screen (watch the stick at the bottom left) | Arrow keys / WASD |
| Run | Hold the “Run” button | Hold Shift |
| Hide as papers | “Papers” button (tap to switch on and off) | Space |
| Start / play again | Tap the button | Enter |
On a phone, a short drag makes you tiptoe slowly, and a longer drag makes you walk at normal speed.
Reading the screen
- Clock (top left): the current time. Underneath it says “On the clock” or “Quitting time”, and after 5:30 PM it switches to “Overtime zone” and turns red
- Items (top right): your phone, ID badge and bag light up as you collect them
- Character in the green ring: that's you. Right after you start, “YOU” appears above your head
- Exit: the green floor in the upper-left room. Once you have everything, the “EXIT” label lights up
- Red edges around the screen: someone can see you and their meter is filling
Where your things are
- Phone: in the conference room at the lower left. Your team lead is keeping watch there
- ID badge: right in front of your boss's desk. You can't get close while he's looking up
- Bag: in the locker room at the upper left (the same room as the exit)
The most efficient route is: your desk → phone in the conference room → badge in front of the boss's desk → bag in the locker room → exit.
Characters
| Who | What they do |
|---|---|
| Greg, your manager | Sits by the window. While he's clacking away at his computer, he faces the other way and barely notices anything. When he clears his throat with an “Ahem”, he looks up about a second later and scans the whole office from side to side. While he's scanning, he can see very far |
| Kevin and Jess, your coworkers | Kevin walks back and forth along the center aisle, and Jess loops around the desks on the right. At the ends and corners they stop for a moment and glance left or right |
| Linda, your team lead | Stays seated in the conference room, slowly looking left and right. She can see farther than your coworkers |
Get stopped and you'll be handed more work: Greg wants “this deck ready by 9 a.m. tomorrow,” Kevin needs help “with that thing,” Jess wants you on “a quick call, five minutes, tops,” and Linda asks you to “take notes for this meeting.”
How you get spotted
- The yellow cone is what a person can see. Walls, desks, potted plants and the copier block their view. The conference table and the boss's desk are low, so people can see right over them
- When you're in someone's view, a “!” appears over their head and a meter starts filling. It fills faster the closer you are, and especially fast for your boss
- Get out of view before the meter fills and the “!” turns into a “?”, and they look back toward where they lost you. The meter slowly goes down
- If the meter fills up, or you bump into someone, you get stopped
Running and hiding as papers
- Run: about 1.7 times faster than walking. But your footsteps send out ripples, and anyone nearby turns toward the sound. Even your boss looks up from his computer when he hears them
- Papers: disguises you as a pile of papers. While you stand still, nobody can spot you, even inside their view. If you move, you can be seen as usual, you walk at less than half your normal speed, and you can't run. Press it again to drop the disguise
It gets harder after five
After 5:00 PM, the longer you wait, the less time your boss spends on his computer and the more often he looks up, and your coworkers walk faster too (it's at its toughest by 5:30 PM). Once the chime rings, head straight for the exit.
Ranks
| Rank | Clock-out time | Title |
|---|---|---|
| S | By 5:02 PM | Legendary five o'clock exit |
| A | By 5:05 PM | Smooth getaway |
| B | By 5:12 PM | A little late, but home safe |
| C | Later than that | Barely made it out |
Tips for leaving at five
- Ideally, gather everything during the five minutes before quitting time (about 30 real seconds) and be near the exit at 5:00 PM
- Grab the badge in front of the boss's desk while he's clacking away. When you hear “Ahem”, duck behind a desk right away
- When a coworker stops at the end of the aisle and looks sideways, that's your chance to cross
- Only run when nobody's around. Near people, walk, or turn into a pile of papers and stand still until they pass
- If a “!” appears, get behind a wall or desk before the meter fills. Once they lose you, move before they turn around
Saving and sound
Sneak Out at Five is a short game of 1–2 minutes, so it doesn't save your progress or records. If you close or reload the page, you start over at 4:55 PM.
The game has sound effects like the throat-clearing, the chime and the “!” alert. If you don't want sound, turn down your device's volume.