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    Games

    Reality Escape Pod – Escape Rooms & Immersive Games

    A Room Escape Artist Production

    In a world gone digital, doing things in person is strangely revolutionary. 

    Reality Escape Pod is an interview podcast diving deep with people who make the world’s best immersive games and experiences: ARGs, puzzle hunts, tabletop games, theme parks, and of course, escape rooms. Our aim is to bring together different segments of the gaming world to share ideas between them.

    Hosts David Spira & Peih-Gee Law explore immersive gaming from all angles with a unique blend of curiosity, joy, and a deep appreciation of craft. Each episode explores the guest’s philosophy, design approach, and humanity.

    About the hosts:

    David Spira is an experience designer, co-founder of RoomEscapeArtist.com and Reality Escape Convention. He is the escape room industry’s most prolific leader. In 2014 he applied his professional skills as a digital experience designer to the burgeoning industry of escape rooms, and more than a decade later he has built a community for its creators and consumers.

    Peih-Gee Law is most well known for being a fan favorite contestant on the reality show Survivor, where she played first in Survivor China in 2007, and again in a returning All-Star season Survivor Second Chance. In 2025, she launched PG’s Playhouse, a fun podcast with brainteasers, puzzles, and trivia. She is also on the official story team for Neotropolis, an annual 5 day immersive cyberpunk festival, where she creates narrative driven gameplay and experiences for thousands of attendees.

    Advertise

    Copyright: © Copyright 2021 Room Escape Artist

    • Apple Podcasts
    • Google Play
    • Spotify

    Latest Episodes:
    How The Hex Room makes you feel like you're in a movie Dec 08, 2025
    Show notes

    The Hex Room was an early iconic escape room with a unique mechanic. In fact, it is so unique, that to our best knowledge, no other escape room has attempted a similar game structure.

    Creators Luke and Madison Rhoades join us to talk about the history of The Hex Room. They opened this game in 2016, shortly after playing their first escape room, back in the very early years of escape rooms. I found it especially interesting learning about how this game was a response to the trend of public bookings at the time.

    When you support Room Escape Artist on Patreon at $15 per month (or above), you get access to the Spoilers Club, our exclusive podcast where hosts David Spira and Peih-Gee Law chat in depth with creators about iconic escape rooms... spoilers and all!

    https://www.patreon.com/roomescapeartist


    S10E9 - Legendary Disney Imagineer: Doris Hardoon Dec 01, 2025
    Show notes "Guests have become more sophisticated and our product needs to follow suit."

    Disney Theme Parks have always been at the top when it comes to large scale, interactive entertainment attractions. Doris Hardoon is a legendary Imagineer, and we don't use that term lightly. Her creative vision has graced every Disney Castle Park on the planet, from EPCOT to Disneyland and Disneyland Paris to Disney's Animal Kingdom, Disney Cruise Line, and beyond.

    Doris took a break from Disney to run her own design firm working on museums and other interactive design, but she returned to Disney as the executive creative director and producer for Shanghai Disney Resort. Her career at Disney theme parks and entertainment design has spanned over four decades. She joins us on REPOD to share her design philosophy and some life advice for aspiring designers. She's had a very interesting path in her career, starting with working as a model and becoming a well-known folk singer in Hong Kong in the 1960s and 70s.

    I especially enjoyed hearing her talk about working on the global theme parks and how “It’s important to culturally understand who you're creating the happiest places on earth for.” She talks about how to design spaces that appeal to the local audience while still maintaining an authentic Disney experience.

    She's now turned much of her time to mentoring the next generation of entertainment designers. In this episode, Doris shares some reflections and advice on how to build the right team to support your creative vision. She also talks about how to manage corporate politics, especially when it comes to large creative companies like Walt Disney Imagineering. Doris Hardoon is a true legend, and I hope you find this episode as inspiring as I did.

    Full Show Notes

    Episode Sponsors

    We are immensely grateful to our sponsors this season: REA Patreon Backers, PG's Playhouse, Buzzshot, and COGS. We truly appreciate your support of our mission to promote and improve the immersive gaming community.

    Support Us On Patreon Today

    Love escape rooms as much as we do? At Room Escape Artist, we’ve been analyzing, reviewing, and exploring the world of immersive games since 2014. We help players find the best experiences, and push the industry forward with well-researched, rational, and reasonably humorous escape room and immersive gaming content and events.

    By becoming a Patreon supporter, you're not just backing a blog — you're fueling a mission to make the escape room and immersive gaming community stronger, more thoughtful, and more connected.

    Access exclusive Patreon content such as:

    • The Bonus Aftershow
    • The Spoilers Club
    • Early access to escape room Tour tickets and REA articles.

    Your Patreon support goes toward our mission: paying our contributors, funding our infrastructure, and supporting deep research and industry advocacy.

    PG's Playhouse

    If you love wordplay, puzzles, and trivia, this is the podcast for you! PG's Playhouse recreates a fun game night, all in a short, 30-minute format. Of course, what’s game night without making new friends? We bring on different guests for the different episodes.

    Each episode features a puzzle packed with wordplay and trivia, a short chat with the guest, and a segment exploring an interesting topic. I hope you’ll take a listen and play along with us at PG’s Playhouse.

    Buzzshot

    Buzzshot is Escape Room Software, Powering Business Growth, Player Marketing, and improving the Customer Experience. They offer an assortment of pre and post game features including robust waiver management, branded team photos, and streamlined review management for Yelp, TripAdvisor, Google Reviews, and Morty. Buzzshot now has integration with the other REPOD sponsors: Morty and COGS.

    Special Offer for REPOD Listeners:

    REPOD listeners get an extended 21-day free trial plus 20% off your first 3 months, with no set-up fees or hidden charges. Visit buzzshot.com/repod to learn more about this exclusive offer.

    COGS

    COGS by Clockwork Dog is an easy to use software/ hardware platform for running interactive events, including escape rooms, and other immersive experiences. They have plug & play hardware that seamlessly integrates with their software so you can create a show with lighting and sound cues without having to write a single line of code. Map all kinds of inputs to outputs by building up simple logic steps which determine what you want to happen and when.

    Special Offer for REPOD Listeners:

    REPOD listeners can get the COGS Starter Set for only $130 + free shipping to the USA. This bundle is usually valued at $257. You can learn more and purchase your Starter Set at cogs.show. Use code REPOD at checkout.

    Production Credits

    Hosted by David Spira & Peih-Gee Law

    Produced by Theresa Piazza

    Supported by Lisa Spira

    Edited by Steve Ewing

    Music by Ryan Elder

    Logo by Janine Pracht


    S10E8 - The PuzzleTales of PostCurious with Rita Orlov & Lauren Bello Nov 24, 2025
    Show notes "Screenwriting is like a puzzle that the writers are putting together."

    When a television screenwriter who loves puzzles and immersive experiences turns her attention to creating a boxed puzzle game, the result is beguiling and thoroughly engrossing. The Morrison Game Factory has a deeply intimate and emotional story that pulled at my heartstrings while still engaging my puzzle brain.

    Screenwriter Lauren Bello created The Morrison Game Factory as puzzle challenge during the pandemic. It would have remained a small one-off game played only by her friends until Rita Orlov of PostCurious played it. She fell in love with the game, and worked with Lauren to produce the game under the PostCurious brand.

    We originally interviewed Rita of PostCurious on REPOD S2E7 when her award winning game Light in the Mist had just come out. Since then, PostCurious has continually produced hit after hit, including the charming puzzle-focused Ministry of Lost Things series, along with longer epics like Emerald Echoes and Threads of Fate which is a remake of the first game that Rita became known for.

    PostCurious games are impeccably produced. All the games have authentic-feeling props, heavyweight paper, and a beautiful artistic flair. The puzzles are intriguing, and range from light and playful to complex and layered. The storylines are always interesting and tie into the gameplay.

    Rita Orlov and Lauren Bello talk about their collaboration. We also spend some time dissecting all the new PostCurious games to hit the market since we last had Rita on Reality Escape Pod. I really enjoyed learning about Lauren's writing process, especially when she described it as a series of waveforms, layering the different plots, storylines, and vibe that she's trying to achieve. If you enjoyed this episode, make sure to check out The Morrison Game Factory and PostCurious' newest game on Kickstarter, Ministry of Lost Things - Case 2: Finders Keypers.

    Full Show Notes

    Episode Sponsors

    We are immensely grateful to our sponsors this season: REA Patreon Backers, PG's Playhouse, Buzzshot, and COGS. We truly appreciate your support of our mission to promote and improve the immersive gaming community.

    Support Us On Patreon Today

    Love escape rooms as much as we do? At Room Escape Artist, we’ve been analyzing, reviewing, and exploring the world of immersive games since 2014. We help players find the best experiences, and push the industry forward with well-researched, rational, and reasonably humorous escape room and immersive gaming content and events.

    By becoming a Patreon supporter, you're not just backing a blog — you're fueling a mission to make the escape room and immersive gaming community stronger, more thoughtful, and more connected.

    Access exclusive Patreon content such as:

    • The Bonus Aftershow
    • The Spoilers Club
    • Early access to escape room Tour tickets and REA articles.

    Your Patreon support goes toward our mission: paying our contributors, funding our infrastructure, and supporting deep research and industry advocacy.

    PG's Playhouse

    If you love wordplay, puzzles, and trivia, this is the podcast for you! PG's Playhouse recreates a fun game night, all in a short, 30-minute format. Of course, what’s game night without making new friends? We bring on different guests for the different episodes.

    Each episode features a puzzle packed with wordplay and trivia, a short chat with the guest, and a segment exploring an interesting topic. I hope you’ll take a listen and play along with us at PG’s Playhouse.

    Buzzshot

    Buzzshot is Escape Room Software, Powering Business Growth, Player Marketing, and improving the Customer Experience. They offer an assortment of pre and post game features including robust waiver management, branded team photos, and streamlined review management for Yelp, TripAdvisor, Google Reviews, and Morty. Buzzshot now has integration with the other REPOD sponsors: Morty and COGS.

    Special Offer for REPOD Listeners:

    REPOD listeners get an extended 21-day free trial plus 20% off your first 3 months, with no set-up fees or hidden charges. Visit buzzshot.com/repod to learn more about this exclusive offer.

    COGS

    COGS by Clockwork Dog is an easy to use software/ hardware platform for running interactive events, including escape rooms, and other immersive experiences. They have plug & play hardware that seamlessly integrates with their software so you can create a show with lighting and sound cues without having to write a single line of code. Map all kinds of inputs to outputs by building up simple logic steps which determine what you want to happen and when.

    Special Offer for REPOD Listeners:

    REPOD listeners can get the COGS Starter Set for only $130 + free shipping to the USA. This bundle is usually valued at $257. You can learn more and purchase your Starter Set at cogs.show. Use code REPOD at checkout.

    Production Credits

    Hosted by David Spira & Peih-Gee Law

    Produced by Theresa Piazza

    Supported by Lisa Spira

    Edited by Steve Ewing

    Music by Ryan Elder

    Logo by Janine Pracht


    S10E7 - The Best Escape Room in the World: Jonathan Driscoll and Sacha St. Denis of Escaparium Nov 17, 2025
    Show notes " We're evolving the [escape room] experience towards something that's more theatrical, with puzzling, gaming, and immersive art all together."

    Magnifico is currently (as of November 2025) the top escape room in the world, as voted on by experienced escape room enthusiasts. For 2.5 hours, we were transported to another world where magic is real and anything is possible. This game was a culmination of Escaparium's signature style: epically sized and meticulously built sets with large-scale puzzles that involve the whole team, and meaningful stories told through both gameplay and theatrical moments featuring live actors.

    Jonathan Driscoll and Sacha St. Denis are the owners and driving force behind Escaparium, in Laval, Canada (just outside of Montreal). Since their previous appearance on REPOD, they've cemented their spot as one of the top companies in world. Last year, in 2024, they captured the #1 and #3 spots on the TERPECA rankings, with their games Magnifico and Forgotten Cathedral, respectively. Wardrobe for Sale ranked at #14, and Lost Island of the Voodoo Queen ranked at #37 in the world.

    It's clearly not a fluke. Escaparium is consistently creating world-class games, year after year, and when they're not busy opening new games, they're renovating and remodeling old experiences. Rain Corp. has been given a make-over into Ctrl Alt Reboot. They are also overhauling their lobby once again, creating an immersive bar experience featuring a crashed space ship.

    Jonathan and Sacha joined us to talk about their new games, what's driving them, and where they're getting inspiration. My biggest takeaway from this conversation was that they are very involved in the escape room community and industry. They are constantly traveling and playing games. They attend every convention. For them, it's always about the details. If even one small detail inspires their next idea, Jonathan says it's gold. That's the mindset they instill in their whole team as well.

    Full Show Notes

    Episode Sponsors

    We are immensely grateful to our sponsors this season: REA Patreon Backers, PG's Playhouse, Buzzshot, and COGS. We truly appreciate your support of our mission to promote and improve the immersive gaming community.

    Support Us On Patreon Today

    Love escape rooms as much as we do? At Room Escape Artist, we’ve been analyzing, reviewing, and exploring the world of immersive games since 2014. We help players find the best experiences, and push the industry forward with well-researched, rational, and reasonably humorous escape room and immersive gaming content and events.

    By becoming a Patreon supporter, you're not just backing a blog — you're fueling a mission to make the escape room and immersive gaming community stronger, more thoughtful, and more connected.

    Access exclusive Patreon content such as:

    • The Bonus Aftershow
    • The Spoilers Club
    • Early access to escape room Tour tickets and REA articles.

    Your Patreon support goes toward our mission: paying our contributors, funding our infrastructure, and supporting deep research and industry advocacy.

    PG's Playhouse

    If you love wordplay, puzzles, and trivia, this is the podcast for you! PG's Playhouse recreates a fun game night, all in a short, 30-minute format. Of course, what’s game night without making new friends? We bring on different guests for the different episodes.

    Each episode features a puzzle packed with wordplay and trivia, a short chat with the guest, and a segment exploring an interesting topic. I hope you’ll take a listen and play along with us at PG’s Playhouse.

    Buzzshot

    Buzzshot is Escape Room Software, Powering Business Growth, Player Marketing, and improving the Customer Experience. They offer an assortment of pre and post game features including robust waiver management, branded team photos, and streamlined review management for Yelp, TripAdvisor, Google Reviews, and Morty. Buzzshot now has integration with the other REPOD sponsors: Morty and COGS.

    Special Offer for REPOD Listeners:

    REPOD listeners get an extended 21-day free trial plus 20% off your first 3 months, with no set-up fees or hidden charges. Visit buzzshot.com/repod to learn more about this exclusive offer.

    COGS

    COGS by Clockwork Dog is an easy to use software/ hardware platform for running interactive events, including escape rooms, and other immersive experiences. They have plug & play hardware that seamlessly integrates with their software so you can create a show with lighting and sound cues without having to write a single line of code. Map all kinds of inputs to outputs by building up simple logic steps which determine what you want to happen and when.

    Special Offer for REPOD Listeners:

    REPOD listeners can get the COGS Starter Set for only $130 + free shipping to the USA. This bundle is usually valued at $257. You can learn more and purchase your Starter Set at cogs.show. Use code REPOD at checkout.

    Production Credits

    Hosted by David Spira & Peih-Gee Law

    Produced by Theresa Piazza

    Supported by Lisa Spira

    Edited by Steve Ewing

    Music by Ryan Elder

    Logo by Janine Pracht


    S10E6 - Play as Learning: Breakout EDU with Adam Bellow Nov 10, 2025
    Show notes "Bringing the escape room to the classroom."

    I might be just a teeny bit obsessed with disguising learning as play, and being tricked into learning. There is a joy to figuring things out for yourself, and iterating on past knowledge to further your skills. Besides the fun of solving puzzles, there is also a real sense of collaboration and the payoff from combining observation skills with critical thinking.

    Enter educator Adam Bellow. He saw the potential in escape rooms to hone the soft skills of team-building, communication, and problem solving. So he created his company, Breakout EDU, to bring escape rooms to the classroom. This comes in the form of a kit that includes multiple locks, cipher wheels, and black lights, and other props.

    Then on the Breakout EDU platform, teachers can choose from thousands of games, resetting the Breakout EDU kit to fit the game format.

    Adam joins us on Reality Escape Pod to talk about creating escape rooms for kids, especially in an academic setting. The Breakout EDU games all adhere to an academic curriculum, and also incorporate their "4 Cs" - communication, collaboration, critical thinking, and creativity. I really enjoyed learning about the "4 C" cards that students use to explore different concepts after the game. These cards ask follow-up questions like "How would this game work if you didn't play verbally?"

    Even as an adult, playing escape rooms has helped me learn to be a better team player. I'm glad that school kids today have this opportunity too. To learn more, visit the Breakout EDU website or check out the resources below.

    Full Show Notes

    Episode Sponsors

    We are immensely grateful to our sponsors this season: REA Patreon Backers, PG's Playhouse, Buzzshot, and COGS. We truly appreciate your support of our mission to promote and improve the immersive gaming community.

    Support Us On Patreon Today

    Love escape rooms as much as we do? At Room Escape Artist, we’ve been analyzing, reviewing, and exploring the world of immersive games since 2014. We help players find the best experiences, and push the industry forward with well-researched, rational, and reasonably humorous escape room and immersive gaming content and events.

    By becoming a Patreon supporter, you're not just backing a blog — you're fueling a mission to make the escape room and immersive gaming community stronger, more thoughtful, and more connected.

    Access exclusive Patreon content such as:

    • The Bonus Aftershow
    • The Spoilers Club
    • Early access to escape room Tour tickets and REA articles.

    Your Patreon support goes toward our mission: paying our contributors, funding our infrastructure, and supporting deep research and industry advocacy.

    PG's Playhouse

    If you love wordplay, puzzles, and trivia, this is the podcast for you! PG's Playhouse recreates a fun game night, all in a short, 30-minute format. Of course, what’s game night without making new friends? We bring on different guests for the different episodes.

    Each episode features a puzzle packed with wordplay and trivia, a short chat with the guest, and a segment exploring an interesting topic. I hope you’ll take a listen and play along with us at PG’s Playhouse.

    Buzzshot

    Buzzshot is Escape Room Software, Powering Business Growth, Player Marketing, and improving the Customer Experience. They offer an assortment of pre and post game features including robust waiver management, branded team photos, and streamlined review management for Yelp, TripAdvisor, Google Reviews, and Morty. Buzzshot now has integration with the other REPOD sponsors: Morty and COGS.

    Special Offer for REPOD Listeners:

    REPOD listeners get an extended 21-day free trial plus 20% off your first 3 months, with no set-up fees or hidden charges. Visit buzzshot.com/repod to learn more about this exclusive offer.

    COGS

    COGS by Clockwork Dog is an easy to use software/ hardware platform for running interactive events, including escape rooms, and other immersive experiences. They have plug & play hardware that seamlessly integrates with their software so you can create a show with lighting and sound cues without having to write a single line of code. Map all kinds of inputs to outputs by building up simple logic steps which determine what you want to happen and when.

    Special Offer for REPOD Listeners:

    REPOD listeners can get the COGS Starter Set for only $130 + free shipping to the USA. This bundle is usually valued at $257. You can learn more and purchase your Starter Set at cogs.show. Use code REPOD at checkout.

    Production Credits

    Hosted by David Spira & Peih-Gee Law

    Produced by Theresa Piazza

    Supported by Lisa Spira

    Edited by Steve Ewing

    Music by Ryan Elder

    Logo by Janine Pracht


    S10E5 - Ambitious and Unhinged: Stephen & Stevie Kristof of 60 to Escape Nov 03, 2025
    Show notes "Quietly ambitious and a bit unhinged."

    Somewhere in the Midwest, a talented young couple is quietly building an escape room empire. Their company, 60 to Escape, has over 12 different escape rooms across 3 locations, a puzzle-filled mini-golf experience, and a haunt so extensive and scenic that it was used as the set for a horror movie called Haunt Season on Amazon Prime.

    Stephen Kristof literally has entertainment in his blood. His parents owned a family entertainment center, and he grew up bouncing around mini-golf, go carts, and fixing the arcade machines. Growing up, Stephen always wanted to work at a haunt, but he was too young. So at the ripe young age of thirteen, he presented his parents with business plan for opening up his own haunt, and his first venture was born.

    In the course of running the haunt, they brought in a talented young SFX makeup artist named Stevie Calabrese (now Stevie Kristof). During haunt season, she manages four other artists as they get eighty performers into costumes and makeup in under two hours.

    Stephen and Stevie met, fell in love, and became "The Steves." They now run their immersive entertainment ventures together, crafting and creating much of it themselves, along with their team of talented folks. If either of them look familiar, you may have seen them on a reality show. Stephen was a contestant on Season 1 of Holey Moley, a zany mini-golf reality competition show, and Stevie was a contestant on Season 9 of Face Off, a special effects makeup reality competition show.

    I really enjoyed hearing them talk about their commitment to the customer experience, and their dedication to production value and creativity. Their company 60 to Escape was part of the Escape Immerse Explore tour in the Chicago area in 2025.

    Full Show Notes

    Episode Sponsors

    We are immensely grateful to our sponsors this season: REA Patreon Backers, PG's Playhouse, Buzzshot, and COGS. We truly appreciate your support of our mission to promote and improve the immersive gaming community.

    Support Us On Patreon Today

    Love escape rooms as much as we do? At Room Escape Artist, we’ve been analyzing, reviewing, and exploring the world of immersive games since 2014. We help players find the best experiences, and push the industry forward with well-researched, rational, and reasonably humorous escape room and immersive gaming content and events.

    By becoming a Patreon supporter, you're not just backing a blog — you're fueling a mission to make the escape room and immersive gaming community stronger, more thoughtful, and more connected.

    Access exclusive Patreon content such as:

    • The Bonus Aftershow
    • The Spoilers Club
    • Early access to escape room Tour tickets and REA articles.

    Your Patreon support goes toward our mission: paying our contributors, funding our infrastructure, and supporting deep research and industry advocacy.

    PG's Playhouse

    If you love wordplay, puzzles, and trivia, this is the podcast for you! PG's Playhouse recreates a fun game night, all in a short, 30-minute format. Of course, what’s game night without making new friends? We bring on different guests for the different episodes.

    Each episode features a puzzle packed with wordplay and trivia, a short chat with the guest, and a segment exploring an interesting topic. I hope you’ll take a listen and play along with us at PG’s Playhouse.

    Buzzshot

    Buzzshot is Escape Room Software, Powering Business Growth, Player Marketing, and improving the Customer Experience. They offer an assortment of pre and post game features including robust waiver management, branded team photos, and streamlined review management for Yelp, TripAdvisor, Google Reviews, and Morty. Buzzshot now has integration with the other REPOD sponsors: Morty and COGS.

    Special Offer for REPOD Listeners:

    REPOD listeners get an extended 21-day free trial plus 20% off your first 3 months, with no set-up fees or hidden charges. Visit buzzshot.com/repod to learn more about this exclusive offer.

    COGS

    COGS by Clockwork Dog is an easy to use software/ hardware platform for running interactive events, including escape rooms, and other immersive experiences. They have plug & play hardware that seamlessly integrates with their software so you can create a show with lighting and sound cues without having to write a single line of code. Map all kinds of inputs to outputs by building up simple logic steps which determine what you want to happen and when.

    Special Offer for REPOD Listeners:

    REPOD listeners can get the COGS Starter Set for only $130 + free shipping to the USA. This bundle is usually valued at $257. You can learn more and purchase your Starter Set at cogs.show. Use code REPOD at checkout.

    Production Credits

    Hosted by David Spira & Peih-Gee Law

    Produced by Theresa Piazza

    Supported by Lisa Spira

    Edited by Steve Ewing

    Music by Ryan Elder

    Logo by Janine Pracht


    S10E4 - The Worlds Largest Trivia Contest with Jim "The Oz" Oliva Oct 27, 2025
    Show notes "  Think of it as a wild Midwestern version of the MIT mystery hunt  for a slightly different crowd where people drink quite a bit more."

    For three whole days, over 10,000 trivia challengers descend on the tiny town of Stevens Point, Wisconsin, for The World's Largest Trivia Contest. The contest runs on the local college radio station at the University of Wisconsin- Stevens Point for 54 hours straight, asking eight questions per hour. Teams have only the length of two radio songs to call in their answer. Yup, that's right. You call into the radio, old school style. It's a madcap frenzy of teams frantically searching through bins of catalogued items spanning from cereal boxes to DVD covers, or racking their brains to remember an obscure cartoon reference.

    For 43 years Jim “Oz” Oliva was ringmaster of this trivia circus. He wrote most of the questions and organized the contest. Jim revels in finding the most obscure bits of trivia to throw at his players. In response, teams have amassed entire rooms filled with snack packaging, atlases, and the booklets from CDs, among other items. With the advent of the internet, Jim had to change how he formatted the questions to stay ahead of searchable keywords. You can hear the glee in Jim’s voice when he talks about all the techniques he devised to outmaneuver trivia players. He even had to hold onto all of the garbage from the question writing room otherwise players have been known to go through the trash, attempting to gain an edge over the competition.

    Jim is blunt, funny, and mischievous. I really enjoyed hearing all his stories from his many years of running this crazy trivia contest and learning about the wild culture surrounding it.

    In our Bonus Aftershow, REA contributers Heather Burns and Theresa Piazza join us to share their perspective on the trivia contest. Heather has been involved in the trivia contest for over 20 years, and Theresa joined Heather for the first time last year. It was wild to hear all about how they prepare for three crazy days of trivia with a revolving door of team members marshalling to rifle through bins of material and sleeping in shifts. I hope you enjoy this episode about The World’s Largest Trivia Contest.

    Full Show Notes

    Episode Sponsors

    We are immensely grateful to our sponsors this season: REA Patreon Backers, PG's Playhouse, Buzzshot, and COGS. We truly appreciate your support of our mission to promote and improve the immersive gaming community.

    Support Us On Patreon Today

    Love escape rooms as much as we do? At Room Escape Artist, we’ve been analyzing, reviewing, and exploring the world of immersive games since 2014. We help players find the best experiences, and push the industry forward with well-researched, rational, and reasonably humorous escape room and immersive gaming content and events.

    By becoming a Patreon supporter, you're not just backing a blog — you're fueling a mission to make the escape room and immersive gaming community stronger, more thoughtful, and more connected.

    Access exclusive Patreon content such as:

    • The Bonus Aftershow
    • The Spoilers Club
    • Early access to escape room Tour tickets and REA articles.

    Your Patreon support goes toward our mission: paying our contributors, funding our infrastructure, and supporting deep research and industry advocacy.

    PG's Playhouse

    If you love wordplay, puzzles, and trivia, this is the podcast for you! PG's Playhouse recreates a fun game night, all in a short, 30-minute format. Of course, what’s game night without making new friends? We bring on different guests for the different episodes.

    Each episode features a puzzle packed with wordplay and trivia, a short chat with the guest, and a segment exploring an interesting topic. I hope you’ll take a listen and play along with us at PG’s Playhouse.

    Buzzshot

    Buzzshot is Escape Room Software, Powering Business Growth, Player Marketing, and improving the Customer Experience. They offer an assortment of pre and post game features including robust waiver management, branded team photos, and streamlined review management for Yelp, TripAdvisor, Google Reviews, and Morty. Buzzshot now has integration with the other REPOD sponsors: Morty and COGS.

    Special Offer for REPOD Listeners:

    REPOD listeners get an extended 21-day free trial plus 20% off your first 3 months, with no set-up fees or hidden charges. Visit buzzshot.com/repod to learn more about this exclusive offer.

    COGS

    COGS by Clockwork Dog is an easy to use software/ hardware platform for running interactive events, including escape rooms, and other immersive experiences. They have plug & play hardware that seamlessly integrates with their software so you can create a show with lighting and sound cues without having to write a single line of code. Map all kinds of inputs to outputs by building up simple logic steps which determine what you want to happen and when.

    Special Offer for REPOD Listeners:

    REPOD listeners can get the COGS Starter Set for only $130 + free shipping to the USA. This bundle is usually valued at $257. You can learn more and purchase your Starter Set at cogs.show. Use code REPOD at checkout.

    Production Credits

    Hosted by David Spira & Peih-Gee Law

    Produced by Theresa Piazza

    Supported by Lisa Spira

    Edited by Steve Ewing

    Music by Ryan Elder

    Logo by Janine Pracht


    S10E3 - Will & Kim Rutherford, Escape Artist Greenville Oct 20, 2025
    Show notes "With a performer, players can make their own stories."

    Will and Kim Rutherford met at a summer pool party while in college. Kim recruited Will to help her win a floaty race across the pool. Alas, they lost. " I thought the floaty race was for fun and apparently it was for, I don't know, life bragging rights or something," says Will.

    Since then, the couple have gone on to many other creative adventures, including creating home haunts. Will even proposed to Kim on Halloween while they were both still in their costumes.

    So when Will and Kim played their first escape room, they immediately thought it could be like a permanent home haunt experience that they didn’t have to tear down and put up every year. They jumped in with both feet, and although they made a lot of mistakes along the way, Escape Artist Greenville was born.

    Today they have the second highest ranked escape room in the USA (Castle Fluffendor). They’ve also created a three-hour experience that combines three of their top escape rooms into one narratively cohesive saga called The Chimera Corp Saga. REA reviewer Matthew Stein calls it “a masterpiece of episodic storytelling.”

    Will and Kim join us on REPOD to talk about the thought process behind their compelling games. I especially appreciated hearing about how they’re escape room enthusiasts themselves, and regularly travel the world playing games and seeking inspiration. They tell us, “we are trying to go to the most diverse, immersive experiences that we can and seek out things that actually are a little outside of our comfort zone.”

    The Rutherfords have also recently joined the team at Keepers of Balance and helped them launch their first project, the epic Temple of Light, which recently won a Golden Lock award. Will and Kim have a boundless enthusiasm for the escape room industry, and I hope you find this conversation as inspiring as I did.

    Full Show Notes

    Episode Sponsors

    We are immensely grateful to our sponsors this season: REA Patreon Backers, PG's Playhouse, Buzzshot, and COGS. We truly appreciate your support of our mission to promote and improve the immersive gaming community.

    Support Us On Patreon Today

    Love escape rooms as much as we do? At Room Escape Artist, we’ve been analyzing, reviewing, and exploring the world of immersive games since 2014. We help players find the best experiences, and push the industry forward with well-researched, rational, and reasonably humorous escape room and immersive gaming content and events.

    By becoming a Patreon supporter, you're not just backing a blog — you're fueling a mission to make the escape room and immersive gaming community stronger, more thoughtful, and more connected.

    Access exclusive Patreon content such as:

    • The Bonus Aftershow
    • The Spoilers Club
    • Early access to escape room Tour tickets and REA articles.

    Your Patreon support goes toward our mission: paying our contributors, funding our infrastructure, and supporting deep research and industry advocacy.

    PG's Playhouse

    If you love wordplay, puzzles, and trivia, this is the podcast for you! PG's Playhouse recreates a fun game night, all in a short, 30-minute format. Of course, what’s game night without making new friends? We bring on different guests for the different episodes.

    Each episode features a puzzle packed with wordplay and trivia, a short chat with the guest, and a segment exploring an interesting topic. I hope you’ll take a listen and play along with us at PG’s Playhouse.

    Buzzshot

    Buzzshot is Escape Room Software, Powering Business Growth, Player Marketing, and improving the Customer Experience. They offer an assortment of pre and post game features including robust waiver management, branded team photos, and streamlined review management for Yelp, TripAdvisor, Google Reviews, and Morty. Buzzshot now has integration with the other REPOD sponsors: Morty and COGS.

    Special Offer for REPOD Listeners:

    REPOD listeners get an extended 21-day free trial plus 20% off your first 3 months, with no set-up fees or hidden charges. Visit buzzshot.com/repod to learn more about this exclusive offer.

    COGS

    COGS by Clockwork Dog is an easy to use software/ hardware platform for running interactive events, including escape rooms, and other immersive experiences. They have plug & play hardware that seamlessly integrates with their software so you can create a show with lighting and sound cues without having to write a single line of code. Map all kinds of inputs to outputs by building up simple logic steps which determine what you want to happen and when.

    Special Offer for REPOD Listeners:

    REPOD listeners can get the COGS Starter Set for only $130 + free shipping to the USA. This bundle is usually valued at $257. You can learn more and purchase your Starter Set at cogs.show. Use code REPOD at checkout.

    Production Credits

    Hosted by David Spira & Peih-Gee Law

    Produced by Theresa Piazza

    Supported by Lisa Spira

    Edited by Steve Ewing

    Music by Ryan Elder

    Logo by Janine Pracht


    S10E2 - Exploring Stephen Sondheim's Deep Relationship with Puzzles (ft. Barry Joseph) Oct 13, 2025
    Show notes "The Shakespeare of our time."

    Stephen Sondheim practically reinvented musicals with his flair for theatrical storytelling through his lyrics and music. A lesser known fact is that Sondheim also played a huge role in the puzzling world.

    Before he was famous for musicals like West Side Story, Sweeney Todd, and Sundays in the Park with George, Sondheim was the first puzzle editor for New York Magazine in the 1960s. Sondheim's obsession with puzzles and games lasted his whole life. He discovered escape rooms while in his 80s, and played many of them! Sondheim famously said "art, in itself, is an attempt to bring order out of chaos," and the same could very much be said for puzzles.

    Barry Joseph joins us on REPOD to talk about his new book, Matching Minds with Sondheim, which dives into Sondheim's love of puzzles and games. The types of puzzles spanned everything from crosswords, to treasure hunts, jigsaw puzzles, and parlour games. Little known fact—Stephen Sondheim is credited with bringing British style cryptic crosswords to the USA! He also commissioned custom jigsaw puzzles as opening night gifts for the cast and crew of his Broadway shows.

    As prolific as Sondheim was with his musicals, he was equally invested in his puzzles and games. Guest Barry Joseph digs deep into all the different ways Sondheim incorporated puzzles into his creative work and daily life. If you found this topic interesting, be sure to get his book, Matching Minds with Sondheim and check out his podcast of the same name. I'd recommend starting with the two podcast episodes that featured our very own David and Lisa Spira: Escape Room Episode (ft. Lisa & David), Jigsaw Puzzles Episode (ft. David).

    Full Show Notes

    Episode Sponsors

    We are immensely grateful to our sponsors this season: REA Patreon Backers, PG's Playhouse, Buzzshot, and COGS. We truly appreciate your support of our mission to promote and improve the immersive gaming community.

    Support Us On Patreon Today

    Love escape rooms as much as we do? At Room Escape Artist, we’ve been analyzing, reviewing, and exploring the world of immersive games since 2014. We help players find the best experiences, and push the industry forward with well-researched, rational, and reasonably humorous escape room and immersive gaming content and events.

    By becoming a Patreon supporter, you're not just backing a blog — you're fueling a mission to make the escape room and immersive gaming community stronger, more thoughtful, and more connected.

    Access exclusive Patreon content such as:

    • The Bonus Aftershow
    • The Spoilers Club
    • Early access to escape room Tour tickets and REA articles.

    Your Patreon support goes toward our mission: paying our contributors, funding our infrastructure, and supporting deep research and industry advocacy.

    PG's Playhouse

    If you love wordplay, puzzles, and trivia, this is the podcast for you! PG's Playhouse recreates a fun game night, all in a short, 30-minute format. Of course, what’s game night without making new friends? We bring on different guests for the different episodes.

    Each episode features a puzzle packed with wordplay and trivia, a short chat with the guest, and a segment exploring an interesting topic. I hope you’ll take a listen and play along with us at PG’s Playhouse.

    Buzzshot

    Buzzshot is Escape Room Software, Powering Business Growth, Player Marketing, and improving the Customer Experience. They offer an assortment of pre and post game features including robust waiver management, branded team photos, and streamlined review management for Yelp, TripAdvisor, Google Reviews, and Morty. Buzzshot now has integration with the other REPOD sponsors: Morty and COGS.

    Special Offer for REPOD Listeners:

    REPOD listeners get an extended 21-day free trial plus 20% off your first 3 months, with no set-up fees or hidden charges. Visit buzzshot.com/repod to learn more about this exclusive offer.

    COGS

    COGS by Clockwork Dog is an easy to use software/ hardware platform for running interactive events, including escape rooms, and other immersive experiences. They have plug & play hardware that seamlessly integrates with their software so you can create a show with lighting and sound cues without having to write a single line of code. Map all kinds of inputs to outputs by building up simple logic steps which determine what you want to happen and when.

    Special Offer for REPOD Listeners:

    REPOD listeners can get the COGS Starter Set for only $130 + free shipping to the USA. This bundle is usually valued at $257. You can learn more and purchase your Starter Set at cogs.show. Use code REPOD at checkout.

    Production Credits

    Hosted by David Spira & Peih-Gee Law

    Produced by Theresa Piazza

    Supported by Lisa Spira

    Edited by Steve Ewing

    Music by Ryan Elder

    Logo by Janine Pracht


    S10E1 - Will Shortz, The Puzzle Master Oct 06, 2025
    Show notes "Will Shortz has probably done more to elevate public consciousness of puzzles than any other individual in history."

    For decades, the name Will Shortz has been synonymous with puzzles. Will Shortz is the crossword editor of The New York Times, the puzzle master on NPR’s Weekend Edition Sunday, and the only person in the world with a college degree in “enigmatology,” the study of puzzles.

    inspired my most famous quote from the show—"Well Jeff, I'm good at Sudoku!" (You should check out the accompanying Bonus Aftershow on Patreon for the full story.) He has inspired David and me in our creative endeavors, like our new podcast PG's Playhouse, and he has inspired many of our past guests too. We talk about how crosswords have evolved to reflect pop culture, the impact of mini puzzles, and why wordplay connects people in ways you might not expect.

    Will Shortz was an absolute delight to interview, and as you can imagine, he was chock full of stories. I especially enjoyed hearing about how he landed a job at Games Magazine. Will also shares his philosophy on creating puzzles:

     What I think I'm very good at is creating clues that are going to entertain people. I always think of the audience. I always think of who's going to be solving. I like to push people to their limit. I want people to break through in the end and to be able to solve the puzzle because that's where they get the satisfaction. That's my goal.

     His closing thoughts to us were "I want to make the world a little better for being here." Will Shortz has certainly done so for all of us who love puzzles.

    Full Show Notes

    Episode Sponsors

    We are immensely grateful to our sponsors this season: REA Patreon Backers, PG's Playhouse, Buzzshot, and COGS. We truly appreciate your support of our mission to promote and improve the immersive gaming community.

    Support Us On Patreon Today

    Love escape rooms as much as we do? At Room Escape Artist, we’ve been analyzing, reviewing, and exploring the world of immersive games since 2014. We help players find the best experiences, and push the industry forward with well-researched, rational, and reasonably humorous escape room and immersive gaming content and events.

    By becoming a Patreon supporter, you're not just backing a blog — you're fueling a mission to make the escape room and immersive gaming community stronger, more thoughtful, and more connected.

    Access exclusive Patreon content such as:

    • The Bonus Aftershow
    • The Spoilers Club
    • Early access to escape room Tour tickets and REA articles.

    Your Patreon support goes toward our mission: paying our contributors, funding our infrastructure, and supporting deep research and industry advocacy.

    PG's Playhouse

    If you love wordplay, puzzles, and trivia, this is the podcast for you! PG's Playhouse recreates a fun game night, all in a short, 30-minute format. Of course, what’s game night without making new friends? We bring on different guests for the different episodes.

    Each episode features a puzzle packed with wordplay and trivia, a short chat with the guest, and a segment exploring an interesting topic. I hope you’ll take a listen and play along with us at PG’s Playhouse.

    Buzzshot

    Buzzshot is Escape Room Software, Powering Business Growth, Player Marketing, and improving the Customer Experience. They offer an assortment of pre and post game features including robust waiver management, branded team photos, and streamlined review management for Yelp, TripAdvisor, Google Reviews, and Morty. Buzzshot now has integration with the other REPOD sponsors: Morty and COGS.

    Special Offer for REPOD Listeners:

    REPOD listeners get an extended 21-day free trial plus 20% off your first 3 months, with no set-up fees or hidden charges. Visit buzzshot.com/repod to learn more about this exclusive offer.

    COGS

    COGS by Clockwork Dog is an easy to use software/ hardware platform for running interactive events, including escape rooms, and other immersive experiences. They have plug & play hardware that seamlessly integrates with their software so you can create a show with lighting and sound cues without having to write a single line of code. Map all kinds of inputs to outputs by building up simple logic steps which determine what you want to happen and when.

    Special Offer for REPOD Listeners:

    REPOD listeners can get the COGS Starter Set for only $130 + free shipping to the USA. This bundle is usually valued at $257. You can learn more and purchase your Starter Set at cogs.show. Use code REPOD at checkout.

    Production Credits

    Hosted by David Spira & Peih-Gee Law

    Produced by Theresa Piazza

    Supported by Lisa Spira

    Edited by Steve Ewing

    Music by Ryan Elder

    Logo by Janine Pracht


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