REPOD S3E9 – The Mailbag Episode

In Season 3, episode 9 of REPOD, David and Peih-Gee are joined by David’s wife and REPOD producer Lisa Spira, along with Steve Ewing, the REPOD editor. We take questions and comments from listeners who have called in with voicemails or sent us emails. We had some really thought provoking questions, some lovely compliments about listeners’ favorite episodes, and of course, some hilarious prank calls.

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We also got to play some hilarious games designed by Steve and Peih-Gee, themed on our past guests. We absolutely loved hearing from our listeners and had a blast going through our mailbag. I hope you have as much fun listening as we did recording it.

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Thank You to Our Sponsors

We are immensely grateful to our sponsors this season, Morty App and Virtual Escape Games. We truly appreciate your support of our mission to promote and improve the immersive gaming community.

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).

Virtual Escape Games

Virtual Escape Games specializes in virtual team-building adventures for teams anywhere around the globe, 24/7. And now introducing brand-new non-hosted games for 1-6 players.

Discount Code for REPOD listeners:

  • REA20 for 20% off a non-hosted game for 1-6 players
  • TB20 for 20% off a team-building adventure for any size team!

Topics Discussed in this Episode

  • David talks about the snail mail letter he received from Alex and Sandor from Logic Locks in Amsterdam that inspired our mailbag episode. [1:45]
  • Brett Kuehner, from That Guy With the Puzzles, left a voicemail telling us he likes how we give our guests room to speak. [3:58]
  • Next, we got pranked with a voicemail that is not dissimilar to the types of emails that Lisa gets regularly in the REA inbox, where REA is mistaken for an escape room company. [5:40]
  • Haley and Cameron Cooper, creators of Strange Bird Immersive in Houston, left us a voicemail talking about some of their favorite episodes (Nick Moran) and favorite topics like “structure is content.” They also talk about the new structure of our Spoiler’s Club episodes. [7:52]
  • We get a voicemail from Mitchell, an escape room enthusiast and previous owner. He expresses frustration about gamemasters that aren’t fully attentive or that don’t give good hints. [16:25]
  • Nathaniel Segal, a Los Angeles based magician who appeared on Penn and Teller’s “Fool Us,” calls in with a question about managing the scheduling of REA’s blog content. [21:52] 
  • Ben Rosner wrote in telling us his favorite episode is Jon Braver talking about Delusion, and asks us to talk about our wishlist escape rooms. [24:52]
  • Some of our top wishlisted games include:
  • We talk a little bit about what the TERPECAs are. [27:00]
  • Riley Stock, from the Board Game Community Show, calls in and asks about our favorite themes for escape rooms. David wants more dreamscapes, Peih-Gee wants comedic horror, Steve wants more funny games, and Lisa loves magic-themed rooms. [28:37]
  • Christina, co-author of Life is an Escape Room, calls in to talk about how escape rooms can be great for personal development, but can be quite an expensive hobby. [33:37] 
  • Peih-Gee talks about how much time, manpower, and resources goes into a quality escape room experience, and David mentions the need for more diverse price stratification. [35:17]
  • Tommy Honton, a podcast guest from Season 3, episode 7, calls in to tell us how much he appreciates the variety of guests we have on the show. [37:40]
  • Peih-Gee and David play Steve’s game Name That Guest. Steve plays clips from past guests backwards, and the contestants need to figure out which guest it is. [39:21]
  • Scott Olson writes in and asks us to talk about how and when our approach to playing escape rooms changed from winning in a competitive time to playing for the enjoyment of the experience. [56:46]
  • Michael Anderson, from ARGNet, calls in and asks us what non-escape room experience we would recommend to enthusiasts to broaden their horizons. [1:01:26]
  • We get another very funny parody prank call from Bill. [1:04:14]
  • We got a voicemail asking us to discuss some of the political issues surrounding themes and stories in escape rooms. [1:05:37]
  • We play a word game created by Peih-Gee, testing knowledge of escape room terms and past guests. [1:09:44]
  • Jared and Zack from The Puzzling Company Podcast call in to ask about incorporating traditional board game mechanics into escape rooms. They also ask Peih-Gee what she thinks of David’s chances as a Survivor castaway. [1:17:50]
  • Simon Edwards from the UK calls in with a question about examples of mimetic and diegetic designs in escape rooms. [1:19:35]
  • Chris Dixon writes in asking about separating creators from their games, and asks about the problem of playings games created by people with known patterns of toxic behavor. [1:23:53]
  • Auggie, who designs the ARG played at RECON, calls in to gush about the editing of REPOD. [1:28:54]
Reality Escape Pod mission patch logo depicts a spaceship puncturing through the walls of reality.

Resources Mentioned in this Episode

About David & Lisa Spira

man in black cap, glasses and goatee smiling, with a blond woman smiling, wearing sunglasses and hair pulled back.

Lisa and David Spira founded Room Escape Artist in 2014. There they publish daily well-researched, rational, and reasonably humorous escape room reviews, design tips, player tips, and industry commentary.

Their professional expertise includes User Experience and Speech Writing (David) and Language Technology and Data Analytics (Lisa). They have experience managing projects, teams, and products in different areas of technology.

They are best known for:

  • Golden Lock Award
  • Annual Escape Room Industry Report
  • Comprehensive Escape Room Directory
  • Escape Immerse Explore Tours
  • RECON: The Reality Escape Convention
  • The Reality Escape Pod, a podcast exploring immersive gaming
  • Speaking Engagements & Media Appearances

Lisa and David have been featured as industry experts in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and on a CBS Sunday Morning segment. They are the escape room industry’s most prolific leaders.

About Peih-Gee Law

asian woman in a safari jacket and hat with a pink scarf and pink flower in her hair, smiling and holding a machete

Peih-Gee 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. She calls Survivor “the greatest immersive game in the world.”

Peih-Gee is co-host of the Reality Escape Pod, a podcast exploring immersive gaming, escape rooms and interactive theatre. Peih-Gee is also a contributor to Room Escape Artist as a Hivemind writer, reviewing virtual escape rooms. Loves: narrative-driven games with lots of player interactions, wordplay. Hates: Math puzzles and poor functionality that distracts from immersion.

When not talking about or playing escape rooms, she runs a fine jewelry business and enjoys jigsaw puzzles, watercolor painting, and playing board games.

About Steve Ewing

black and white photo of man smiling holding a microphone and headphones

Steve is passionate about all things audio-visual. A childhood “King’s Quest” compulsion became a zeal for escape rooms. A high school NPR habit evolved into a podcast addiction. And in his most fortunate turn of fate, a lifelong love for PBS science shows became a career filming and editing short documentaries for National Geographic-Lindblad Expeditions.

Highlights include: petting wild grey whales in Baja California, coming eye-to-eye with Galápagos giant tortoises, and rough-housing with young orangutans in Borneo.

He is thrilled to lend his talents as an editor and occasional guest on the Reality Escape Pod.

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Escape This Podcast

Escape This Podcast is a show that’s a mix between tabletop roleplaying and escape room puzzles.

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No Proscenium Podcast

Your guide to the ever-evolving world of immersive art & entertainment

Support REPOD

Thanks for listening!

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The money that we make from these helps us to grow the site and continue to add more value to the community that we love so much.

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