Have you wanted to go behind the scenes at your favorite escape rooms? With the Spoilers Club, our patron-exclusive series, we take a deep dive with the creators of iconic escape rooms for an indulgent recap plus creator commentary. This content is normally safeguarded by Patreon access to avoid accidental spoilers leaking into the pubic, but we were lucky to cover an amazing escape room that is no longer running, and we're sharing it with everyone. Time Machine from Not Another Escape Room is a...
Sep 05, 2023•55 min•Season 5Ep. 15
What does it take to compete on the reality show Survivor? What's the backstory on these contestants? Learn more about REPOD co-host Peih-Gee Law and what makes her tick in this special RHAP crossover episode. Road to Reality is a limited edition series hosted by Kellyn Bechtold ( @theKellynB ) from Survivor Ghost Island. Listen in while she interviews former Survivor contestants about their real life and how being on reality television has had a major impact on their life trajectories. Every re...
Aug 29, 2023•1 hr 55 min•Season 5Ep. 14
It’s the dog days of August, and nothing screams summer more than theme parks, fried chicken, Star Wars, and ice cream... except for episode guest Mark Larson, but you'll have to listen to the end for that story. In this special release of a patron-exclusive bonus episode from S5E11, Peih-Gee and David discuss their recent trips to Disneyland’s Galaxy’s Edge and Knott’s Berry Farm’s Ghost Town Alive. We’re joined by editor Steve Ewing and game designer Mark, who chats about his involvement with ...
Aug 14, 2023•1 hr 4 min•Season 5Ep. 13
Imagine American Ninja Warrior meets Mario Party mini-games, all set in an epic art-filled space... and you’ll have some idea of what Level99 is like. In Season 5, episode 12, we chat with Matthew DuPlessie, founder of 5 Wits, the original immersive gaming experience, and Level99, a new type of open world gaming concept. 5 Wits pre-dates escape rooms, with the first location opening in 2004. It included immersive sets and a high-tech, high-throughput model, filled with puzzles, adventure and sto...
Jul 03, 2023•1 hr 12 min•Season 5Ep. 12
In Season 5, episode 11, we chat with Mark Larson, a game and puzzle designer with an impressive track record. As David notes, Mark is the only designer to have contributed to Golden Lock award winning games in 3 different categories: tabletop, virtual, and IRL escape room. We talk to Mark about the different hats he's worn while working in the gaming industry: designing tabletop games, managing escape rooms, and designing audio escape rooms. One of his award-winning audio creations was Escape f...
Jun 26, 2023•52 min•Season 5Ep. 11
In Season 5, Episode 10 of REPOD we chat with Taylor Pfyffer and Josh Skidmore from The Exit Games. Passionate escape room enthusiasts Tay and Josh have made a name for themselves with their innovative and captivating games. Their latest creation, Pins & Needles , just won a Golden Lock Award. Both this game and their other game, Servants of Sleight , placed in the top 40 on the 2023 TERPECA list. The intentionality of their storytelling shines through in every little detail, even the immers...
Jun 19, 2023•55 min•Season 5Ep. 10
In Season 5, Episode 9, David and Peih-Gee celebrate the 50th episode of REPOD! As they reflect on the journey to 50 episodes, David says that his perspective shift comes from observing Peih-Gee’s growth as both an escape room enthusiast and podcaster, transitioning from regional enthusiast to having a more global perspective. David has been covering this industry for almost ten years. It’s startling to think about the influence that Room Escape Artist has had, which we don’t realize until guest...
Jun 12, 2023•1 hr 8 min•Season 5Ep. 9
In Season 5, episode 8, we have a lively chat with Dani Siller and Bill Sunderland of Escape This Podcast. Dani and Bill are the pioneers of the audio escape game format, which blends an escape room with tabletop roleplaying. They’ve been creating these audio escape rooms for their podcast listeners since 2017, long before the popularity of virtual escape games arose over the pandemic. Between laughs and reminiscing about ridiculous interactions in their games, Dani and Bill share their insights...
Jun 05, 2023•1 hr 13 min•Season 5Ep. 8
In Season 5, episode 7, we dive into designing for the widest audience possible with Sina Bahram, a computer scientist and accessibility consultant who is passionate about inclusive design. He shares his personal experience as a blind individual and his dedication to improving accessibility for all. Sina’s work on inclusive design methodology has been honored by many organizations, including being named one of President Obama’s Champions of Change in 2012, as well as being named one of the two i...
May 29, 2023•1 hr•Season 5Ep. 7
In season 5, episode 6 of Reality Escape Pod, we step into the DarkVerse with Gijs Geers, CEO and Head of Design at DarkPark Escape Rooms, one of our favorite escape room companies. DarkPark distinguishes itself with its consistently high production value, intriguing storytelling, and masterfully crafted scares. This quality of work persists across all their games, their branding, and their marketing. Gijs shares his thought process when designing rooms. I loved hearing about his approach to cra...
May 22, 2023•54 min•Season 5Ep. 6
In Season 5, episode 5, we chat with Joel Head from Headlock Escape Rooms. Joel and Janae Head are the creators of The Keeper & the Fungus Among Us—a Golden Lock Award-winning virtual escape room. Picture this: a puppet musical escape room adventure infused with awesome dark fantasy vibes. Imagine if The Labrynth married Rocky Horror Picture Show and they birthed a deliciously villainous mushroom. Throw in a sprinkling of humor, original music by Joel, and absurdly charming sets by Janae. Th...
May 15, 2023•45 min•Season 5Ep. 5
In season 5, episode 4, we chat with magician and comedian Harrison Greenbaum. Buckle up, because we are in for a wild ride. Harrison is a hilarious but spicy treat, so be warned that the podcast episode and some of the images below will contain vulgarity and (parodied) demonic images. (No, really. Skip this episode and show notes if you think you’ll be offended.) Harrison may be headlining Mad Apple by Cirque Du Soleil, a major Las Vegas show, and he may have appeared on many television shows l...
May 08, 2023•1 hr 13 min•Season 5Ep. 4
In Season 5, Episode 3, we chat with Leroux Botha, the executive producer who managed to revive the production of Survivor South Africa, largely through grit and sheer moxie, after it had been dead in the water. Leroux shares his journey from Survivor super-fan to content producer, to eventually creating his own version of the show. Survivor South Africa is really a fan love letter to the show. He pays homage to past challenges and prefers to keep twists and turns to a minimum. Instead, Leroux c...
May 01, 2023•52 min•Season 5Ep. 3
In Season 5, Episode 2, we chat with Linda Klein and Brian Corrigan, the co-founders of Farm-to-Spaceship, about how to make the experience economy more relevant to businesses, and in turn, more economically viable for artists. Linda and Brian introduce us to new vocabulary for understanding the experience economy. I particularly enjoyed hearing them talk about a conceptual “experience mixer” to dial up and down different aspects of experience design. We dig into the idea of “friction,” which is...
Apr 24, 2023•1 hr•Season 5Ep. 2
In Season 5, Episode 1, David and I chat with Nick Moran, the creative genius behind the large-scale, immersive open-world concept Phantom Peak. Nick takes us on a journey through his thought process of moving away from traditional escape rooms towards creating a more customized and interactive experience. Phantom Peak combines elements of immersive theater, LARP, theme parks, and escape rooms to create a unique and unforgettable experience. With different story trails, puzzles, carnival games, ...
Apr 17, 2023•1 hr 6 min•Season 5Ep. 1
Hey there, friends! We’ve got an exciting surprise for you. We’re releasing a special bonus episode that’s normally reserved exclusively for our Patreon supporters. This one’s a real treat because we’re chatting with game design philosopher and wizard Alexander Gierholz. He’s the creator of the iconic escape room, The Amsterdam Catacombs and co-founder of the global escape room conference Up The Game. If you haven’t already listened, we recommend you check out his main interview first. With a ba...
Apr 04, 2023•58 min•Season 4Ep. 15
David makes a guest appearance on The Board Game Community Show. In this crossover episode, David and Riley nerd out about all their favorite nerdy topics, including podcast production, legacy games, and managing social dynamics at game night. David and Riley share insights on producing the Reality Escape Pod and tips for improving podcast quality. They delve into different board games, including legacy games Clank: Legacy and Aeon's End: Legacy, discussing strategies and gameplay dynamics. Davi...
Mar 21, 2023•1 hr 52 min•Season 4Ep. 14
In this special episode, we look back on some key moments from Season 4 of REPOD. Season 4 was notable for several reasons—every guest was from a different country, and all our guests were from the escape room world... yes, we do consider Boda Borg to be an escape room (well, perhaps a distant cousin). Our editor, Steve Ewing, put together a selection of some of his favorite moments from Season 4. In most cases, he didn't go for the most obvious "meatiest" parts of a guest's interview. Rather, h...
Mar 07, 2023•54 min•Season 4Ep. 13
In Season 4, Episode 12, David and I reflect back on a season of podcasting with global escape room creators. I am continually impressed with all the guests who were brave enough to come on a podcast and chat with us in a language that’s not their native tongue. After recording this season, one of the most noticeable trends was the rampant imposter syndrome that affects even the most brilliant escape room designers. David and I have a long chat about what causes it, and how to embrace it as a se...
Dec 20, 2022•1 hr 8 min•Season 4Ep. 12
In Season 4, Episode 11, we chat with Lukas Rauscher of Crime Runners, Austria. His game, Going Underground, has consistently placed high on the Terpeca list since it first premiered, and has garnered rave reviews for its sense of adventure and adaptive difficulty that creates a fulfilling experience for both new players and experienced enthusiasts. Lukas is an unapologetically passionate escape room enthusiast and advocate. He freely admits to having little to no moderation when it comes to cre...
Dec 13, 2022•59 min•Season 4Ep. 11
In Season 4, Episode 10, we head to Sweden to explore Boda Borg... or at least that's where we thought we were going with this episode. As it turns out, the President/ CEO of Boda Borg is an American business strategy visionary living in Laguna Hills, California named David Spigner. There is surprisingly little information about the Boda Borg story, and we are thrilled to share the tale of how he became the owner and President of what was originally a Swedish company. Boda Borg has been around s...
Dec 06, 2022•1 hr 14 min•Season 4Ep. 10
Please consider donating to Direct Relief In Season 4, Episode 9, we share stories from Ukraine. We talk to Nataliya (Tasha) Tarkhanova of Hypno Dive, creator of the Project Avatar series of virtual escape room games. Project Avatar is an incredible virtual experience that plays like a live-action video game, where you are directing a live actor (the Avatar) through an enormous abandoned warehouse. With stylish, acrobatic moves and impressive special effects, tech and visuals, Project Avatar was...
Nov 29, 2022•1 hr 6 min•Season 4Ep. 9
In Season 4, Episode 8 of REPOD, we return home to the United States for a chat with Mark Flint, CEO of The Escape Game (TEG). With over 26 locations in 14 states, TEG is positioned to offer a shared American experience. Many of their locations have the same games as locations in other cities, all with consistently high quality rooms, accessible venues in high-profile shopping centers, beautifully decorated sets, and friendly customer service. Mark operates his company with a businessman's brain...
Nov 22, 2022•51 min•Season 4Ep. 8
In Season 4, episode 7, we head over to Israel, a relatively unexplored escape room region that has a bounty of creative, lighthearted themes. We chat with prolific escape room designer Gai Bosco of Cerebro , who has designed over 200 escape rooms, or roughly 25% of the Israeli market. Gai is not only an escape room creator, he is a mega-enthusiast and self-proclaimed nerd who got his start creating sci-fi fan fiction. The Israeli escape room scene is teeming with family-friendly fandom themes, ...
Nov 15, 2022•54 min•Season 4Ep. 7
In Season 4, episode 6, we chat with Dino Paulo, owner of escape room company Hinthunt Africa, located in Cape Town, South Africa. Dino also happens to be the winner of the reality show Survivor South Africa: Return of the Outcasts. In his first season, Survivor South Africa: Immunity Island, Dino was voted out early on. However, he established enough of a presence to return for an all-star returnee season, eventually winning the title of Sole Survivor. This turnaround from downtrodden underdog ...
Nov 08, 2022•1 hr 4 min•Season 4Ep. 6
In Season 4, episode 5 of Reality Escape Pod, we headed to Canada to chat with Jonathan Driscoll and Sacha St.Denis, owners of Escaparium escape games, Nuit de Terreur haunted attraction, L'Atelier resto-pub game cafe, and Ezkapaz immersive experiences. As you can tell from their list of businesses, Jonathan and Sacha have big ambitions. Not only do they have over 30 escape rooms under the Escaparium brand, they have recently expanded into a haunted attraction with escape room elements, a game c...
Oct 31, 2022•1 hr 3 min•Season 4Ep. 5
In Season 4, Episode 4, we head over to The Netherlands for a chat with Alexander Gierholz of Logic Locks, creator of The Amsterdam Catacombs, which has won numerous accolades including a Golden Lock Award and a TERPECA. In a country rich with globally top-rated escape rooms, The Catacombs stands out for its commitment to immersion, stunning location and incredible ending. The Netherlands has a vibrant escape room scene, due in part to Alexander's efforts with events like Up The Game, a global e...
Oct 24, 2022•45 min•Season 4Ep. 4
Next up on our global tour, in Season 4, Episode 3, David and Peih-Gee go down under with The Doctor and The Alchemist, aka, Aaron Hooper and Leanne Yong from Next Level Escape in Sydney, Australia. They gave a fantastic talk at RECON '21, Playing with Game Structure: the Macro of Mechanics . In this podcast, they go into more depth about designing unusual game mechanics like their game, The Game, a competitive escape room where players go head to head, battling for objectives, or The Show Must ...
Oct 17, 2022•58 min•Season 4Ep. 3
In Season Four of Reality Escape Pod, we’re going global! Each episode we’ll be interviewing escape room creators from a different country, and there’s no better place to start with than Athens, Greece, home to Paradox Project. Paradox Project’s escape rooms are some of the most highly regarded games in the world, with two of their rooms ranked in the top twenty best escape rooms according to TERPECA. These games also have the distinction of being some of the longest escape rooms in the world, w...
Oct 11, 2022•1 hr 2 min•Season 4Ep. 2
We're kicking off Season Four of Reality Escape Pod with a RECON Boston recap! David and Peih-Gee are joined by Lisa Spira and Theresa Wagner. RECON was an incredibly special event with brilliant talks, amazing lobby parties, and some very special escape rooms. Magic was definitely in the air. We recap the talks from industry leaders and discuss the amazing ARG (alternate reality game) created especially for RECON. David and Lisa give us insight on some of the aspects designed to help the conven...
Oct 04, 2022•1 hr 10 min•Season 4Ep. 1
