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.
Episodes
Tuesday Mar 16, 2021
Tuesday Mar 16, 2021
Episode 3 is an interview with game and puzzle designers Juliana Moreno Patel and Ariel Rubin, the Wild Optimists. This brilliant duo designed the world’s first Escape Room in a Box which is released worldwide by Mattel.
Juliana and Ariel met, founded their company, and created their first product all while pregnant, which should give you a good idea of their intense passion.
They are known for their thoughtful designs in immersive gaming and continue to push the envelope when it comes to creating new types of game design.
Production Credits
Hosted by David Spira & Peih-Gee Law
Produced by Lisa Spira
Music by Ryan Elder
Logo by Janine Pracht
4 years ago
This episode was absolutely amazing!! PG and David are such lovely hosts (as always), and I can't get enough of the creativity that Juliana and Ariel pump into their games. Hearing them talk about their design process and the other games/designers they've enjoyed in the play at home genre was intriguing. I need to go listen to the other episodes now :D