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.

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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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:
  • The Dome / REA review of the Dome
  • The Room Berlin / REA reviews of The Room
  • TÚ TAMBIÉN FLOTARÁS [YOU’LL FLOAT TOO]
  • Crime Runners, Vienna
  • The Chamber, Prague
  • The StoryKeeper, Locurio, Seattle, WA
  • Servants of Sleight, The Exit Games, Clearwater, FL
• 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]

Resources Mentioned in this Episode

• Logic Locks Escape Room, Amsterdam
• That Guy With the Puzzles
• Escape Room Design Links from That Guy With The Puzzles
• Strange Bird Immersive, Houston
• TERPECA, Top Escape Rooms Project
• Life is an Escape Room book
• ARGNet, Alternate Reality Game blog
• Puzzling Company Podcast
• Errol’s article on mimesis vs diegesis in escape rooms
• YouTube video investigating creators of indie games

About David & Lisa Spira

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.

• Instagram: @roomescapeartist
• Twitter: @roomescapeart

About Peih-Gee Law

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.

• Instagram: @peihgee
• Twitter: @peihgee
• Jewelry: Lo Rador website

About Steve Ewing

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.

• Website: Stand Inside Media
• Instagram: @standinside
• Twitter: @steveblog

Other recommended podcasts

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