Room Escape Divas - Inverse Genius

Hello, friends. We have a somewhat sad announcement to make. This week will mark the final episode of the REDivas podcast. You may have noticed Mike, Ruby, and Errol haven't been around the last year, as their lives have gotten busy. Although I have continued in the meantime and could continue the podcast alone, my own life has been getting busier and I felt it was time to finally retire it.And so for one last episode, we've gotten the old gang back together and returned to our very chaotic origins! Errol trolls everyone, everyone clips their audio at least three times, we talk about a couple of of our favourite moments, what we are doing right now, and some of our plans for the future (I'm certainly not done with podcasts yet!)Thank you so much to everyone who has listened, whether you have been with us since the beginning or are just joining now. Thanks to all of our guests through the years for providing insight and expertise to this ever growing industry. This podcast has lead to us meeting so many amazing people and do some amazing trips and projects. And of course thanks to Inverse Genius for hosting us, supporting us, and giving us some great tips along the way. Finally, I personally want to thank Mike, Ruby, and Errol for being such fantastic cohosts and friends (I tried to thank them in the podcast, but Errol's trolling gets in the way).We will absolutely still be active in the community. Don't worry, we have no intention of giving up escape rooms and puzzles any time soon! Episodes will still be available for download. And who knows. We might do an awful escape or do a crazy trip and just feel the need to record our reactions. Until that happens, though, here are some links of where you can find everyone and some other podcasts definitely worth your time. See you around the community!Manda:Twitter handle: mandawhitneyBlog: mandawhitney.comTwitch: Manpans (Monday nights I stream mystery games)Errol- He is everyone. Shout and he will likely pop up.MikeTwitter handle: MikeYuan82Other Podcasts:Reality Escape Pod: https://roomescapeartist.com/reality-escape-pod/ Escape This Podcast: https://www.escapethispodcast.com/Infinite Escape Podcast: https://www.theinfiniteescaperoom.com/

This week I am joined once again by the esteemed Doctor Scott Nicholson to talk about his latest project with mEducation Alliance, EscapeIF! It's a storytelling game system designed to create games for low resource classrooms. See the links below to find out more and try some out in your own classrooms!EscapeIF: http://escapeif.commEducation Alliance: https://meducationalliance.org/Global Proficiency Framework: https://www.edu-links.org/resources/global-proficiency-framework-reading-and-mathematicsEscapeIF Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/escapeifUnlocking the Potential of Puzzle-based Learning book: https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/unlocking-the-potential-of-puzzle-based-learning/book271877

This week I discuss The Book of Dreams, an anthology puzzle book, headed up by Lee Ballan and including entries from an all star puzzle design team! As of this posting, you can still support their Indiegogo campaign, with all profits going to Doctors Without Borders! Don't miss your chance to get a great puzzle book and support doctors around the world!

This week we get nostalgic about text adventures with Chris Ainsley, creator of Adventuron and a guest star appearance from Errol! If you are interested in creating text adventures, check out Adventuron's site which also has info on an upcoming game jam!

This week I am joined by Mike “Auggie” Augustine to discuss the world of ciphers and many tangents on treasure hunts and ARGs! Much fun ensues.

This week I am joined by Laura E Hall! We discuss her book, Planning Your Escape, which both teaches the history of escape rooms (going alllllll the way back), and everything you need to know to become the ultimate enthusiast!We also go on this podcast's most epic tangent yet. There is mystery! There is intrigue! There is even romance!You can find info about Laura, including her book, at her website.

This week I am joined by the powerhouse that is The Wild Optimists! Ariel Rubin and Juliana Moreno Patel discuss their experience designing Time Drifters, a take home escape that can be played in separate households! Also discussed is their murder mystery series, Crimes & Capers, as well as tangents on the murder mystery genre, beta testing during COVID, and many…many 90's references.

I am joined this week by the brilliant David Spira and Peih Gee Law of Reality Escape Podcast to reflect on 2021 and go down as many tangents as possible. Hope your 2022 is full of escaping fun so far!Check out Reality Escape Pod through Room Escape Artist's site! https://roomescapeartist.com/reality-escape-pod/

For the last episode of 2021, I am joined by Chris Waters, the creator of Constructed Adventures! We talk about his epic adventure creating business, the importance of community, and just how much metaphorical duck tape it takes to create a seemingly perfect experience. If you are curious about his experiences, do check out his website at https://www.constructedadventures.com/

How can props help enhance an experience? What stories can they tell? And how awesome are animatronics? This week Haley Moore shares her passion for prop making! If you'd like to see some of the other amazing creations she has been involved in, check out her website at toenolla.com!

This week I am joined by Leanne Yong and Aaron Hooper of Next Level Escapes to discuss our non-escape room inspirations when creating designs! There are…many tangents in this one.

Apologies for the delay!This week I talk with Ruud Kool of Diorama Games! We talk about the experience of translating and redesigning his first game, The Vandermist Dossier (originally the Boekanier Dossier), and how the design process is never truly done. This game is currently on Kickstarter, so don't miss your chance to get your copy!DISCLAIMER: I was involved with some of the narrative development of this game.Visit Kickstarter to back this project.Visit Diorama Games to see their other projects!

This week Manda is joined by James Cobalt to discuss the wonders of VR and their impact on puzzle games and escape rooms. Manda might talk about Beatsaber too much.Follow James to keep up to date about his new escape room facility (yet another reason to go to RECON next year).

Manda is back and kicking off the REDiva season with the ever so talented Rita Orlov to talk about nonlinear game design and her upcoming Kickstarter for her latest project: Light in the Mist.Visit postcurious.com to keep up to date on the Kickstarter campaign and to check out some awesome content!

Manpans and Errol talk to Leah Weitholter, a fraud investigator who made an escape room inspired game to help teach forensic accounting and fraud investigation! Errol has a difficult time containing himself with this shorter podcast. Find out about her work, her podcast, and the game at https://www.workmanforensics.com/.

Sorry, it’s been a long time since the last update! Manda and Errol are joined by Lee-Fay and rant about a particular immersive adventure. Totally living up to their diva nature.

Manda, Ruby, Mike, and Errol are back together! At least while the baby sleeps. We talk about how escape rooms can help prepare for parenting, horror rooms, and all the tangents in between!

In this designer spotlight, we only have Errol because he left it until the last minute and no one else could make the time he booked! However he has a grand time chatting to Logan Giannini of The Enigma Emporium about design! They cover board games, puzzle games, escape room games, and running kickstarters!We also learn all this new stuff about Logan! It was so exciting!

Manpans and Errol talk with professional puzzle designer Matthew Stein about empathy-driven puzzles and puzzle design in general. Huzzah! This is a pretty deep talk! Matthew Stein (he/him) is a San Francisco-based puzzle designer, fiddler, composer, letterboxer, printmaker, origamist, and software engineer. With his company Enigmida, Matthew creates intricate puzzle hunts, alternate reality games, and puzzle-driven immersive experiences which aim to bring wonder to the mundane. To learn more, follow @enigmida on Instagram and subscribe to his newsletter.

Manda and Errol have a wonderful chat with Michelle and Yacine of Society of Curiosities! Listen in as they tell us about pivoting from an Escape Room business to an online mail-order puzzle game company!And there are chickens.

Manpans and Errol talk to Tommy Honton! Originally, it was going to focus on Stash House and his creations but then we started talking about art! So now that's the title!

The Divas interview Brian Corbitt, who designed Miss Jezebel of 60out Escape Rooms. Miss Jezebel is rated as one of the top three online escape rooms by the 2020 TERPECAs, for good reason, and in this video, we get behind the scenes with its creator!Also, we will endeavour to make all the videos as audio only as well, so it loads up into your podcast feed. Sorry about that!

The Divas chat with Lisa and David Spira about 2020 in escape rooms, and what's in store for Room Escape Artist in 2021!This was recorded in front of a live audience! Huzzah! And you will be able to hear some of those people near the end as we all question REA about the escape room industry. So it’s unedited and given to you raw! Also, there are minor spoilers in this podcast for Errol’s game Present Quest, so if you intend on playing it, you should do so first! One last thing, even though we mentioned video, it didn’t record as we wanted, so this podcast is audio only. Here, however, is a wonderful screenshot of REA’s webpage when you search for eggs:

Now, before you listen to our podcast, you should check out The Infinite Escape Room Podcast which we reference all through the episode! We have a wonderful time with Mike and Ben.Escape the Cat Cafe, featuring the Room Escape DivasThen, come and listen to our podcast! Mike and Ruby and their baby join us as well! Huzzah for a full complement of hosts! And Mike and Ben of TIER are brilliant! ^_^ At the moment, we do not have a youtube video ready, but one is recorded, so if you are interested, you can come back later to see them all in their glory!

In today's episode, we talk about escape games you can play on your phone with Tammy Dorn and Andrew Ow. They both work at the indie-game company Haiku Games and discuss their design philosphy when creating escape rooms for the mobile phone.

In our 126th episode, Manpans and Errol have a fun time chatting to the founder of DASH, Debbie Goldstein! Listen in to learn all the secrets of starting a puzzle hunt that occurs in multiple cities!

Manda and Errol are joined by Lee Ballan, designer of The Pyramid, and they talk about all the things they like and don’t like about online escape rooms. If we were going to do a click-baity title, we would have named this “EVERYTHING WRONG WITH ONLINE ESCAPE ROOMS", but then we would have needed to put it in list form with motion graphics, and we didn’t have time for that! :D

In our latest episode, Manpans and Errol chat to Peih-Gee Law about Survivor (which Errol knows nothing about) and escape rooms (which Errol knows too much about.) Peih-Gee Law is most well known for being a fan favourite contestant on the reality show Survivor, where she played first in Survivor China in 2007, and then again in a returning All Star season Survivor Second Chance. She calls Survivor “the greatest immersive game in the world”.In her professional life as a private jeweler, Peih-Gee has extensive experience with organizing and exhibiting at trade shows, as well as hosting, producing and facilitating large corporate events.She has also recently launched PeihGeePlays– an online community where she hosts live stream Survivor Game Nights on Twitch featuring different reality stars as well as organizes events and games for fans in the community. Peih-Gee is an ardent fan of escape rooms and immersive entertainment. She writes reviews for Room Escape Artist’s Hivemind collective and loves being an ambassador for the escape room community.Social media is @peihgee on Instagram and Twitter.

Manpans and Errol talk to Jeb Havens (jebhavensgames@gmail.com) about Room Escape Jams! Listen in to learn about creating an escape room in a day.Also, if you’d like to watch us talk, we’re also on youtube with very minimal production effort:Jeb Havens is a game & interactive designer living in Los Angeles. He has been professionally designing games and software since 2003, working for companies such as Google, Electronic Arts, and YouTube. He has worked across a wide range of platforms, including mobile phones, gaming consoles, and Facebook. And he has designed games for big brands such as Disney, Marvel, Samantha Bee, SimCity, DoorDash, Spore, and Playboy.Jeb has over 10 years of experience leading game design workshops for conferences and private companies, for groups as large as 200 participants, and he has given a variety of lectures about game design and cognitive science.Jeb is also a multi-award-winning board game designer, a professionally-published puzzle writer, an international recording artist, and an Off-Broadway playwright. He has a love of travel and other cultures, and has backpacked through 50 different countries around the world.Talked about in this episode:This Sunday, October 19th, Spooky Virtual Escape Jam Event Link:https://roomescapeartist.com/virtual-escape-jam/Escape Jam Facebook Group:https://www.facebook.com/groups/2043198462627016/Jeb Haven Games:www.jebhavensgames.comJeb Haven’s Newest Crowd-Funded Party Game:www.YouDontKnowMyLife.com

Today’s podcast is all about ARGs! The Divas talk with Michael Andersen of ARGn.com. A great intro to the world of Alternate Reality Gaming.

Huzzah! Manda and Errol interview Shannon McDowell, a researcher at the Brantford Games Network Lab, about her latest paper on Cultural Bias in Escape Rooms. Furthermore, she is collecting more data from enthusiasts now about online games! If you are reading this now and have done a lot of online escape rooms, fill out the survey!And in our latest effort to make our podcasts also visual, here is the above podcast on YouTube!

Manda and Errol talk to Theresa Piazza about the Escape Room conference Reality Escape Con.They discuss being an exhibitor and a sponsor, as well as the challenges of pivoting a conference to only being online in Discord.And if you are interested, you can also watch this online! Huzzah!

All of the Divas are present as we interview Kellian Pletcher of Green Door Labs about her latest successfully funded Kickstarter that was just made available: The American Society for the Protection of Magical Creatures. Listen in as we talk about puzzle hunts, world building, Club Drosselmeyer, and designing online puzzle games. And for the first time, we have our podcast on YouTube! We were all in different places, so we did a Zoom recording of everyone!

Manda and Errol talk to Vincent Rubino of Fox in a Box - Chicago and Maren Rosenberg of Escape Artistry about their Chicagoland Escape Room survey and reopening escape rooms in a pandemic. For more information about escape rooms and the pandemic, please refer to this informative article from Room Escape Artist, Approaches for Reopening Escape Rooms in a Pandemic.

Oh boy, that’s a long title. Manda and Errol talk to Jay Cormier and Sen-Foong Lim about the newest escape room board game, Scooby-Doo!™: Escape from the Haunted Mansion. In this episode, they talk about design decisions, challenges, and upcoming games with the Coded Chronicles™ series from The OP.

Manda and Errol get together again to talk to Nick Moran, best known for creating Time Run and the BBC’s Sherlock Escape Room The Game Is Now. There is a lot of talk about escape rooms, but probably more talk about how we have no analytics.

In this short episode, Manpans has rants! So she rants, and the rest of the Divas interrupt her. It was amazing!

Manda and Errol talk with Rita Orlov of Post Curious about her latest Kickstarter The Emerald Flame! Listen in as we chat about game design, take home games, narrative puzzle adventures, and other topics Errol tangents on.

With all the online escape rooms available, a number of lists have been created to collate them all. However, soon there were a lot of lists to keep track of. So Manda and Errol talk to Brett Kuehner about the meta list of lists he compiled. You can find the list on his website: That Guy With the Puzzles With a meta list of online escape rooms and also escape room design links. We also talk about the taxonomy developed by Dan Egnor to categorize the different types of online escape rooms.Online Escape Room TaxonomyIn-person escape room - as we know them (however you define that) Live remote escape room - tell a GM what to do, they play an escape room-like setup for you (eg. Ready Mayor One, YouEscape, Seven Dwarves)Live simulated escape room - tell a GM what to do, they pretend they're playing an escape room-like setup and tell you what would happen (eg. Escape This Podcast) Escape room-style video game - video game that emphasizes puzzles, collaboration, discovery, and other escape room like elements (eg. Tick Tock) Escape room-style tabletop game - board/card/paper game that emphasizes puzzles, collaboration, discovery, etc. (eg. Unlock!, Exit) Online puzzle hunt - puzzles hosted online, without other escape room trappings (eg. most of puzzlehuntcalendar.com) Puzzle book - puzzles in a book, without other escape room trappings (eg. Journal 29) Games Discussed in the PodcastYouEscape (live-remote escapeish with digital aspects and distributed team over Hangouts) - Review from Room Escape Artist. Rock Ave - live remote with team over Hangouts. Created Ready Mayor One.Escape.Anywhere - live remote with team over HangoutsThe Palace of Destiny - online puzzle hunttrap't - online escapeish puzzle huntPuzzled Pint - downloadable/printable puzzle hunt style puzzleTick Tock - two-player escape room-style video gameAlone Together - two-player escape room-style video gameThe Room VR - Escape room-style video gamePhone or Videoconference Immersive shows Discussed in PodcastMinistry of Mundane MysteriesQuaranteamCandlehouse Collective - Under the Bed was one projectCluebox - mechanical puzzle box

Manda and Errol meet up with Lisa and David Spira Room Escape Artist who are in self-isolation after returning from Europe.

Ruby, Manda, and Mike get together and discuss 101 Best Escape Room Puzzle Ideas as published by Now Escape in 2016. It’s four years later, how do these puzzle ideas stack up now?

Mike learns about this year’s Cryptex Hunt! Manda and Mike question Errol about what it’s like writing a novel, writing a puzzle hunt, and dealing with server issues. Yes, people this year have to read a novel.

The Divas are all here! And in this episode, we discuss different mechanics and practices that may or may not work in a room. For example, saboteur mechanics, multiple paths, and other topics. Errol’s also pretty loopy.

Huzzah! We talk to Lee-Fay Low, an Associate Professor at the University of Sydney and an avid enthusiast of escape rooms, about the 2019 Escape Room Enthusiast Survey! Listen in on her insights and what it was like putting together a survey translated into 14 different languages.

The 2019 Top Escape Rooms Project Enthusiasts’ Choice Awards was released! This year, 50 top English speaking escape rooms have been identified. In this episode, Manpans and Errol talk with Rich Bragg (co-founder of ClueKeeper and a Guiness Record holder for most escape rooms done in 24 hours), to discuss TERPECA, or the “Braggs” as we like to call them.

Wow! We discussed so many things with Lisa and David Spira of Room Escape Artist. And we have a parody song by Benito Suppa of Durham Escape Rooms! Huzzah! Something to get you into the holiday spirit.Listen in as we discuss so many things:06:20 - A new convention, the Reality Escape Convention.19: 50 - Escape rooms on TV, the Create the Escape pilot episode.24:33 - On CBS Sunday Morning TV!27:22 - Being on the media and representing the escape room world33:24 - Escape Rooms then and now 37:19 - When do you choose to give feedback?53:34 - What's your kryptonite?55:16 - Golden Lock Awards58:23 - Escape room injuries1:00:36 - 5 Years Later1:02:00 - Montreal Tour1:04:26 - Escape Enthusiast Meetups

The Divas are all here! Huzzah! And they had a lot of fun chatting to Risa Puno about her escape room art installation called The Privilege of Escape put on by Creative Time. Listen in as Risa tries really hard not to give spoilers to her game, and then tells them all. You have been warned. :D

We have Green Door Labs back! And four years later, we see how Club Drosselmeyer has grown! Listen in as Manda and Errol talk to Kellian and Brian Pletcher about their puzzle, theatrical, escape room, Nutcracker Suite, musical, dance show!

Manda and Errol are joined by Melissa Eapen of Improbable Escapes! She did a talk at the Escape Summit called “How proper marketing can result in higher sales for your escape room”, and she brings some of that wisdom to this podcast! Also, you can hear about Manda’s dating life! Huzzah!About Melissa Eapen: Melissa Eapen’s professional and personal journey is a great example of what happens when you merge the power of creativity, the love for business and the thirst for adventure into one. An established business owner, international traveler, passionate adventurer and inspired writer, Melissa is always on the lookout for ways she can continue to inspire, empower and encourage others. Melissa has won awards for marketing Improbable Escapes, and works with various travel organizations to market their destinations.

Manda and Errol met with Bill and Dani of Escape This Podcast! They are doing a tour of escape rooms in North America, and the divas were so happy to meet up with them in real life. And they sing! I’m so happy they sing!In this episode’s parody, we do the Confrontation song from Les Mis!ERROL:So Bill, we're trappedWe're tied up in these chainsBut over thereI see the answer plainBILL:Before you say another word, ErrolBefore we try answers in vain againListen to me! We should try to think things throughThis problem needs some time and discerning eyesThere is none but me who can set us freeAs I've explained, this phrase is all we needIf we can discern, the secret wordJust need to discernERROL:I just think you're mad!There's the solution plain and clearMany times I have explainedIt's all from that clue.ERROL TOGETHER WITH BILL:Many times I have explainedMany times I have explainedTry 24601I've told you what I saw!You'll see I'm right!Enter it - 24601!That's the only thing we've foundWhat is left, but nothing, now?Can't you see we're wasting timeSoon there'll be a price to payEvery chance we have to winwill be gone. We'll lose this way!You see nothing, it's unfair!We'll be stuck inside this jailI am trapped in here with youThis is why I hate split roomsBILL TOGETHER WITH ERROL:Believe of it, what you willThere is an answer, but it's not from youYou know nothing, here's advice.Why won't you help out instead?You know nothing of this wordYou would sooner see us deadBut not before I see this room is won!Quit ignoring me, I swearHow will we escape these bars?And the hours not up yet!Our game is not yet done!You know nothing, it's unfair!There's a clue but who knows whereSeems I am alone in hereIt's why I hate split rooms

Manda and Errol talk to Brett Kuehner and Justin Seventko who taught a high school class how to create and build an escape room. There should be more escape room classes in education! And also, here is the document of Escape Room Design Resources mentioned in the podcast. And we are bringing back parody songs! We’ll see how long that will hold up. This episode’s song was sung by Rachel Arpin, who also sang in the last episode!It’s a parody of Natalie Imbruglia’s song Torn. WornWell, we could see it had a nice decorbut did they know, were they awareOf game design beforeCuz all of that was just ignoredWere they aware? Did they "ask why"?Explanations felt so dryAnd what's going onFor all their locks were wornThat was such a wasteThis is how I feel. The room was kinda lameAnd the puzzles were a borenothing was maintainedThe wires weren't concealedThe rooms decayed and I can see that all the locks are wornWhat did I just play?All the locks are wornWould you have guessed there weren't enough flashlightsWe couldn't see what was thereand nothing did go rightwe really hate this game and nowI don't care, we're so stuckand it seems we missed so muchwe want to put this code inagain this lock is worn