There’s a lot going on in escape rooms right now. Noah Nelson invited us back to the No Proscenium Podcast to cover the news for their listeners.

In the first half of the episode, we talk about the tragedy in Poland and basic safety in escape rooms.
In the second half of the episode, we encourage you to join us on a tour to some of the best escape rooms in the United States. We are so excited about our two Escape, Immerse, Explore tours this summer. We hope to see you in New Orleans or San Francisco!
The Episode
No Proscenium Episode 183: Checking in with Room Escape Artist on the Poland Fire & More
Conversation Cheat Sheet
- 00:05:29 – We talk about our nocturnal writing and email answering tendencies
- 00:07:00 – Background on the escape room fire in Poland
- 00:09:50 – Impact of non-standard inspections in Poland
- 00:10:10 – Parallels to Ghost Ship rave fire in CA – ripple effects through the industry still felt today
- 00:12:57 – Explaining new safety content standards for REA posts (2019)
- 00:15:20 – Why we landed on the safety standards we did
- 00:17:25 – Noah references a scary story about being stuck in an escape room after a power failed and the mag lock didn’t release
- 00:18:45 – Difficulty of getting the level of regulation right
- 00:19:45 – Call to action for players to help revise pre-2019 reviews to include safety standards
- 00:22:10 – The troubles of buying insurance for Escape Immerse Explore tours
- 00:24:40 – Noah asks about David’s live TV interview in response to the Poland fire
- 00:28:50 – Foreshadowing and warning signs leading up to the escape room fire in Poland
- 00:30:30 – David talks about his perception of the Poland safety mindset when he visited a year and a half ago
- 00:33:12 – Basic steps escape room owners can take to achieve a baseline level of safety
- 00:34:44 – David ruins Santa Claus for Noah 🎅
- 00:35:25 – Hard segue into Escape Immerse Explore tours!
- 00:35:51 – Details on the San Francisco tour
- 00:38:53 – Details on the New Orleans (or as Noah calls it: Nawlins) tour
- 00:44:44 – Teaser: Lore conversation, for a future podcast!
- 00:45:15 – Star Trek reference into TV-watching preferences and Honest Trailers
Thank you to Theresa Piazza for this wonderful conversation index.
Great interview. I’m glad to two of you are the voices of reason on behalf of E.R. players and owners. The media has a nasty habit of trying to create bogeymen and villains where none exist in order to sensationalize events. Truth be told, what is really needed is a rational conversation about how to prevent these types of tragedies. I for one am happy to see the E.R. industry placed under some scrutiny. As you both have stated, hopefully the shoddy operators will either be brought up to code or put out of business while those who are doing things by the book will shine. Growing pains of a still relatively young industry. Again, great job. I look forward to your next post.
Thank you! We’ll continue to push for more conversation and continue to cover safety on this blog. We really appreciate your support.