Your hosts David Spira & Peih-Gee Law explore immersive gaming from all angles. Our guests have made awesome stuff: ARGs, puzzle hunts, tabletop games, and of course, escape rooms. Our aim is to bring together different segments of the gaming world and share ideas between them.
Episodes
Monday Apr 24, 2023
Monday Apr 24, 2023
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 central to escape room design, and an important dial to consider for any type of experience.
We also dive into the art world and discuss the unfortunate stereotypes surrounding “starving artists” and “selling out.” We touch upon how artists can better understand their economic value and impact.
Farm-to-Spaceship’s community-driven model for creative placemaking provides a unique service at the intersection of business, art, and community. Linda and Brian truly understand the “power of play” and how play can create social cohesion. This episode feels like a Masterclass in crafting meaningful experiences for the customers and community. I hope you find it as inspiring as we did.
Full with Show Notes Timestamps
Episode Sponsors
Thank you to our sponsors:
Morty
Morty is a free app for discovering, planning, tracking, and reviewing your escape rooms and other immersive social outings.
Special Badge for REPOD listeners:
You can learn more at MortyApp.com/REPOD to sign up and get a special badge for our listeners (works for existing users also).
Resova
Resova is your all-inclusive software for bookings, made specifically for escape rooms, offering robust booking management, waiver management, integrated point of sales systems, and follow-up emails. Resova is the ultimate online reservation software designed to elevate the guest experience, increase game master efficiencies, drive sales, and improve operations.
Special Offer for REPOD Listeners:
Sign up with our link at Get.resova.com/rea and receive up to $100 with a Google Ads gift card.
Reality Escape Convention - RECON
Escape room conventions should be as fun, collaborative, and immersive as the games we celebrate.
RECON is our very own escape room and immersive gaming convention. Whether you’re an owner, creator, player, or you’re escape room curious, you are invited learn, connect, and play with our wonderful community.
RECON Remote 23 will take place August 19 – 20, 2023, online.
RECON 24 will be in person.
Get your RECON 23 ticket at now.
Music Credits
Our music was created by Ryan Elder.
Production Credits
REPOD is produced by Lisa Spira and edited by Steve Ewing of Stand Inside Media.
Monday Apr 17, 2023
Monday Apr 17, 2023
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, bars, and side quests, there’s something for everyone, and with four different seasons each year, this experience is designed to encourage repeat visits.
One of the things that really stood out to me about Nick’s approach is his dedication to creating fully-fledged characters with real backgrounds and motivations, rather than just functional actors who drive the story forward. He also talks candidly about some of the challenges he faces, especially with his Kickstarter campaign for Spectre and Vox. Finally, Nick gives a little teaser on the status of his iconic escape room Time Run, and whether it will make a triumphant return.
Full with Show Notes Timestamps & Photos
Episode Sponsors
Thank you to our sponsors:
Morty
Morty is a free app for discovering, planning, tracking, and reviewing your escape rooms and other immersive social outings.
Special Badge for REPOD listeners:
You can learn more at MortyApp.com/REPOD to sign up and get a special badge for our listeners (works for existing users also).
Resova
Resova is your all-inclusive software for bookings, made specifically for escape rooms, offering robust booking management, waiver management, integrated point of sales systems, and follow-up emails. Resova is the ultimate online reservation software designed to elevate the guest experience, increase game master efficiencies, drive sales, and improve operations.
Special Offer for REPOD Listeners:
Sign up with our link at Get.resova.com/rea and receive up to $100 with a Google Ads gift card.
Reality Escape Convention - RECON
Escape room conventions should be as fun, collaborative, and immersive as the games we celebrate.
RECON is our very own escape room and immersive gaming convention. Whether you’re an owner, creator, player, or you’re escape room curious, you are invited learn, connect, and play with our wonderful community.
RECON Remote 23 will take place August 19 – 20, 2023, online.
RECON 24 will be in person.
Get your RECON 23 ticket at now.
Music Credits
Our music was created by Ryan Elder.
Production Credits
REPOD is produced by Lisa Spira and edited by Steve Ewing of Stand Inside Media.
Monday Apr 03, 2023
Monday Apr 03, 2023
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 background in psychology and having taught both experience design and gamification, he takes a unique, holistic approach to game design that draws on different disciplines to create experiences that are meaningful for players.
REPOD Patreon supporters get access to these informative companion bonus episodes, featuring fun conversations with incredible escape room and experience designers like Alexander.
If you’re not a Patreon supporter yet, what are you waiting for? This special episode is just one of the many perks you’ll get by joining our little community. So come on, join the fam and let’s get nerdy about games together!
Episode Sponsors
Thank you to our sponsors:
- Morty - A free app for discovering, planning, tracking, and reviewing your escape rooms and other immersive social outings.
RECON: Reality Escape Convention
Our escape room and immersive gaming convention, will be an incredible event for creators and consumers of the games we love. In 2023 it will be hosted virtually.
Music Credits
Our music was created by Ryan Elder.
Production Credits
REPOD is produced by Lisa Spira and edited by Steve Ewing of Stand Inside Media.
Monday Mar 20, 2023
Monday Mar 20, 2023
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. David also talks about Diplomacy, a board game that he considers one of the most elegant ever designed, and its impact on personal relationships. They explore managing personal feelings when playing social manipulation and deduction games, including Survivor and poker. They discuss David's moderation of a panel on games at PAX Unplugged, and they touch on non-game related interests, such as David's fascination with the video essay format and growing up with "nerdy interests."
David and Riley have such a great rapport, and with their mutual interests, it's easy to see why they had such great chemistry on this show.
Episode Sponsors
Thank you to our sponsors:
- Morty - A free app for discovering, planning, tracking, and reviewing your escape rooms and other immersive social outings.
Reality Escape Convention - RECON
Our escape room and immersive gaming convention, will be an incredible event for creators and consumers of the games we love. In 2023 it will be hosted virtually.
Music Credits
Our music was created by Ryan Elder.
Production Credits
REPOD is produced by Lisa Spira and edited by Steve Ewing of Stand Inside Media.
Tuesday Mar 07, 2023
Tuesday Mar 07, 2023
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, he chose a few side stories in hopes of intriguing new listeners to check out our past episodes.
These stories include cooking pizzas in an escape room, buying and transporting a giant 80-foot pirate ship from Florida to an ecsape room in Montreal, uncovering massive financial fraud from business partners, intermissions and bathrooms in 3-hour escape rooms, and even running an escape room in the middle of a war with air alarms blaring.
This is a great episode to start with if you aren't already a listener. And if you are, hopefully you'll enjoying revisiting some of these key moments.
Thank you for listening, and stay tuned for Season 5 of REPOD, booting up again in April 2023.
PS. Did you notice our new theme music?
Episode Sponsors
Thank you to our sponsors:
- Morty - A free app for discovering, planning, tracking, and reviewing your escape rooms and other immersive social outings.
Reality Escape Convention - RECON
Our escape room and immersive gaming convention, will be an incredible event for creators and consumers of the games we love. In 2023 it will be hosted virtually.
Music Credits
Our music was created by Ryan Elder.
Production Credits
REPOD is produced by Lisa Spira and edited by Steve Ewing of Stand Inside Media.
Monday Dec 19, 2022
Monday Dec 19, 2022
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 secret superpower. We also noticed some creators shying away from the term “puzzle,” and we spend some time exploring what makes for a puzzle.
One of the things I appreciated most about this season were all the guests who were willing to come on the podcast and candidly share stories of their struggles as escape room business owners. Hopefully this will go a long way towards eradicating that pesky imposter syndrome we keep seeing.
Thank you so much for listening, and I hope you enjoy the game at the end of the episode. I make David play “Guess that Podcast” where he must guess the podcast episode using only emoji clues. This podcast has really helped us both grow, not only as podcasters, but also as players and humans. We are humbled by the love and support of all our patrons and listeners.
Show Notes
Episode Sponsors
Thank you to our sponsors:
- Morty - A free app for discovering, planning, tracking, and reviewing your escape rooms and other immersive social outings.
- Escape Tales - Escape Tales is an acclaimed series of tabletop escape room games— each featuring a unique blend of mind-bending puzzles masterfully woven into thought-provoking, robust narratives. Use code “roomescapeartist” for 25% off all Escape Tales products and Books of Rituals on Board & Dice.
-
Buzzshot - ‘Customer Satisfaction Software’ for your escape room business. Streamline your marketing and grow your escape room business with pre- and post-game features including robust waiver management, branded team photos, and integrated review management. Use code REPOD2022 in the dropdown list when booking a demo for 20% off your first three months.
Reality Escape Convention - RECON
Our escape room and immersive gaming convention, will be an incredible event for creators and consumers of the games we love. We hope to see you in Boston. Learn More about RECON.
Production Credits
Hosted by David Spira & Peih-Gee Law
Produced by Lisa Spira
Edited by Steve Ewing of Stand Inside Media
Music by Ryan Elder
Logo by Janine Pracht
Monday Dec 12, 2022
Monday Dec 12, 2022
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 creating his games because he constantly wants to outdo himself. He is also very candid when it comes to struggles with the business.
Lukas was a delight to chat with. His passion for the industry is infectious, and I really appreciated how frank he was about his personal confidence struggles. I loved hearing about his approach to designing escape rooms and how they manage adaptive difficulty. This conversation feels like the kind you have over a beer after a satisfying day of amazing escape rooms.
Episode Sponsors
Thank you to our sponsors:
- Morty - A free app for discovering, planning, tracking, and reviewing your escape rooms and other immersive social outings.
- Escape Tales - Escape Tales is an acclaimed series of tabletop escape room games— each featuring a unique blend of mind-bending puzzles masterfully woven into thought-provoking, robust narratives. Use code “roomescapeartist” for 25% off all Escape Tales products and Books of Rituals on Board & Dice.
-
Buzzshot - ‘Customer Satisfaction Software’ for your escape room business. Streamline your marketing and grow your escape room business with pre- and post-game features including robust waiver management, branded team photos, and integrated review management. Use code REPOD2022 in the dropdown list when booking a demo for 20% off your first three months.
Reality Escape Convention - RECON
Our escape room and immersive gaming convention, will be an incredible event for creators and consumers of the games we love. We hope to see you in Boston. Learn More about RECON.
Production Credits
Hosted by David Spira & Peih-Gee Law
Produced by Lisa Spira
Edited by Steve Ewing of Stand Inside Media
Music by Ryan Elder
Logo by Janine Pracht
Monday Dec 05, 2022
Monday Dec 05, 2022
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 since 1995. That is way longer than escape rooms have existed, and it was ingenious in the way it approached what they call "reality gaming." David Spigner recounts how he helped propel it from rooms decorated only with flat, 2D paintings into interactive multidimensional sets with movie-like narrative and feel. He candidly shares his global ambitions as well as the hurdles of trying to explain the appeal of Boda Borg to financial lending communities.
David Spigner is an excellent storyteller, and we were enthralled with his tale of discovering and shaping Boda Borg. Spigner is an unusual guest in that his approach to the immersive gaming world comes from a very business-oriented, strategic mindset with aspirations towards massive global expansion. And yet, in chatting with him, it was clear that he intuitively understands the appeal of physically immersive gaming. This was a fascinating conversation that you shouldn't miss.
Episode Sponsors
Thank you to our sponsors:
- Morty - A free app for discovering, planning, tracking, and reviewing your escape rooms and other immersive social outings.
- Escape Tales - Escape Tales is an acclaimed series of tabletop escape room games— each featuring a unique blend of mind-bending puzzles masterfully woven into thought-provoking, robust narratives. Use code “roomescapeartist” for 25% off all Escape Tales products and Books of Rituals on Board & Dice.
-
Buzzshot - ‘Customer Satisfaction Software’ for your escape room business. Streamline your marketing and grow your escape room business with pre- and post-game features including robust waiver management, branded team photos, and integrated review management. Use code REPOD2022 in the dropdown list when booking a demo for 20% off your first three months.
Reality Escape Convention - RECON
Our escape room and immersive gaming convention, will be an incredible event for creators and consumers of the games we love. We hope to see you in Boston. Learn More about RECON.
Production Credits
Hosted by David Spira & Peih-Gee Law
Produced by Lisa Spira
Edited by Steve Ewing of Stand Inside Media
Music by Ryan Elder
Logo by Janine Pracht
Monday Nov 28, 2022
Monday Nov 28, 2022
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 a high point in quarantine-era virtual escape rooms.
Then war happened. On February 24, 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. This episode is a bit of a departure for us, but we wanted to share Tasha's story. We begin with discussion of Project Avatar and escape rooms, but in the second half of this episode, we dive into how the invasion has turned Tasha's life upside-down. It's a heavy episode. It's not graphic and there are no explicit depictions of death or violence, but Tasha candidly shares stories of the upheaval in her life and business. There is an emotional story of the war's impact on her daughter that brought both David and Peih-Gee to tears.
The stories that you're going to hear are tragic and hilarious and kind of off-the-wall. Tasha is resilient, creative, and captivating. We think that this is a really important story to tell.
We are donating all of REPOD's income from this episode to Direct Relief, earmarked for the crisis in Ukraine. If this episode touches you, scroll to the end of the show notes and click the button to donate.
Episode Sponsors
Thank you to our sponsors:
- Morty - A free app for discovering, planning, tracking, and reviewing your escape rooms and other immersive social outings.
- Escape Tales - Escape Tales is an acclaimed series of tabletop escape room games— each featuring a unique blend of mind-bending puzzles masterfully woven into thought-provoking, robust narratives. Use code “roomescapeartist” for 25% off all Escape Tales products and Books of Rituals on Board & Dice.
-
Buzzshot - ‘Customer Satisfaction Software’ for your escape room business. Streamline your marketing and grow your escape room business with pre- and post-game features including robust waiver management, branded team photos, and integrated review management. Use code REPOD2022 in the dropdown list when booking a demo for 20% off your first three months.
Reality Escape Convention - RECON
Our escape room and immersive gaming convention, will be an incredible event for creators and consumers of the games we love. We hope to see you in Boston. Learn More about RECON.
Production Credits
Hosted by David Spira & Peih-Gee Law
Produced by Lisa Spira
Edited by Steve Ewing of Stand Inside Media
Music by Ryan Elder
Logo by Janine Pracht
Monday Nov 21, 2022
Monday Nov 21, 2022
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 and an escape room enthusiast's heart. The emphasis on hospitality lies at the heart of The Escape Game experience. Their mission statement is Every Single Guest, and Mark shares insights on how he incorporates their mission into every location and experience.
With their commitment to warm and welcoming customer service, well-maintained, clean lobbies and games, and an eye towards rapid expansion, The Escape Game reflects American values. Mark emphasized their in-house leadership training program, and in chatting with him, it was clear that his strong vision and leadership is reflected through his company.
Episode Sponsors
Thank you to our sponsors:
- Morty - A free app for discovering, planning, tracking, and reviewing your escape rooms and other immersive social outings.
- Escape Tales - Escape Tales is an acclaimed series of tabletop escape room games— each featuring a unique blend of mind-bending puzzles masterfully woven into thought-provoking, robust narratives. Use code “roomescapeartist” for 25% off all Escape Tales products and Books of Rituals on Board & Dice.
-
Buzzshot - ‘Customer Satisfaction Software’ for your escape room business. Streamline your marketing and grow your escape room business with pre- and post-game features including robust waiver management, branded team photos, and integrated review management. Use code REPOD2022 in the dropdown list when booking a demo for 20% off your first three months.
Reality Escape Convention - RECON
Our escape room and immersive gaming convention, will be an incredible event for creators and consumers of the games we love. We hope to see you in Boston. Learn More about RECON.
Production Credits
Hosted by David Spira & Peih-Gee Law
Produced by Lisa Spira
Edited by Steve Ewing of Stand Inside Media
Music by Ryan Elder
Logo by Janine Pracht