“Comedy and whimsy feel like the foundational principles of Doldrick’s.”

In Season 6, episode 12, we chat with Mike Dold and Rick George, two of the co-owners of Doldrick’s Escape Room in Orlando, Fl. Their games are fan favorites amongst enthusiasts, in particular because of their blend of humor, whimsy, beautiful sets, and fun gameplay. Every single REA review of the Doldrick’s escape rooms talks about how funny they were, with Theresa Wagner writing that Spoopy’s Ghoulish Graveyard “had [her] laughing so hard [she] was in tears.”

In fact, their newest game, Crazy Train: The Ballad Of Skeemin’ Plotz inspired Lisa to write a review entirely in rhyme that David calls “her finest work” as an escape room reviewer. At this point, you’re probably thinking “these are crazy names for escape rooms” and I’d have to agree. My favorite is “Red Sled Redemption: Hollie Jolly Holiday Hubcap Repair,” which is an escape room title of epically insane proportions, but absolutely fits the Doldrick’s brand of madcap comedy.

Besides talking to us about their inspirations for their games, my favorite part is when Rick opens up about the difficulties of running an escape room while raising a young family. I really appreciated his willingness to be vulnerable, and I think it’s valuable for other escape room owners to know that everyone has the same struggles.

Thank You to Our Sponsors

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

Topics Discussed in this Episode

• 00:04 Sponsor Break: COGS by Clockwork Dog
• 01:48 Guest Introduction: Mike Dold and Rick George of Doldrick’s Escape Room
• 03:29 The Origin of the Name “Doldrick’s”
• 04:51 The Crazy Titles of Doldrick’s Escape Rooms
• 09:23 The Meaning of “Spoopy”

• 11:06 The Use of Crazy Characters
• 12:45 Doldrick’s Origin Story
• 18:13 Sponsor Break: Morty
• 20:02 The Making of Crazy Train
• 24:54 Sponsor Break: Buzzshot
• 29:32 The Comedy and Whimsy of Doldrick’s
• 30:55 The Importance of Humor in Doldrick’s Games
• 31:56 Designing Red Sled Redemption: A Single Room Escape Game
• 35:03 The Impact of Location on Game Design
• 36:09 The Growth of Escape Rooms in Central Florida
• 39:31 Balancing Work and Family Life as an Escape Room Owner
• 46:48 The Value Proposition of Escape Rooms
• 50:39 The Finer Points of Jackhammer Operation
• 52:56 The Future of Doldrick’s: Consultation and New Game Ideas
• 59:00 Bonus Story: Did We Win?

Leave us a voicemail

Got a question or thought for the podcast? You can submit a voice recording by calling the Room Escape Artist not-so-hotline that always goes straight to voicemail (551-227-7273).

Resources Mentioned in this Episode

• Doldrick’s Escape Room Website
• REA Reviews
  • Super Bomb Squad
  • Captain Spoopy Bones
  • Red Sled Redemption
  • Spoopy’s Ghoulish Graveyard Gameshow
  • Crazy Train
• REA Tours
• Disney Imagination Campus

About Rick George and Mike Dold

Social handles: @doldricks

Rick George

A native Floridian, Rick is a musician, husband, and father of 2. His passion for theming and design began a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, as he loved to arrange elaborate scenes and sets with his Star Wars toys. With a background in entertainment, music, and production, he’s always looking for something big and exciting. Notable background experience includes corporate and private recording studio work, show systems and control at theme parks, live venue mixing, music performance and instruction, post production design and development, and project management. Rick was ProTools certified for music in 2009. He was also a joint recipient of the Crystal Music Reel Award in 2011 by the Florida Motion Picture and Television Association for best Sound Mix for a cartoon show in which he composed the music. In his (limited) free time, Rick is with his kids playing video games, lego, and building things together. He enjoys themed experiences and loves being fully enveloped in his work and play. In turn, Rick relishes in creating experiences that excite and transport the audience.

Rick George and Mike Dold met in a recording studio in 2010, and from there spent time in AV and production. In 2012, Rick met his wife, Norissa, while working as a scareactor at Halloween Horror Nights. After working together recording and presenting youth programs at Disney, Rick and Mike set off to build something new together. After playing an escape room in 2016, they were instantly hooked. It wasn’t long until designs for their own venue and games began to take shape. Along with Norissa, the three have been running Doldrick’s Escape Room since opening in 2018.

Mike Dold

Mike Dold grew up in the Midwest in Kansas City, Missouri. From an early age, he had a fascination with puzzles and toys, playing The Legend of Zelda on the NES is one of his earliest childhood memories. It has always been his favorite game series. Even during preschool, when it came time to play, every single day Mike would get the big bucket of Legos out of the toy closet and use them to build the maps and dungeons from Zelda. Every. Single. Day. Most of his family would tell you that his favorite book as a kid, Puzzle Island, was the beginning of his road to owning and operating an escape room today. The joy of solving puzzles, looking at maps, and using his imagination to play definitely plays a big part in what he tries to recreate when designing games for Doldrick’s Escape Room. To Mike, the core of every Doldrick’s game is to make the guest feel like a kid who is playing imaginary. Giving them a tactile way of being immersed while having fun playing a game.

Mike moved to Florida in 2006 for school to get a degree in Recording Arts. His professional path has always been involved with technology and audio/ visual. Working at Apple for many years and teaching customers how to use creative applications built a very powerful skill set of being proficient with technology while also being able to provide great customer service. At the same time, Mike was a freelance audio engineer, working at several recording studios around Central Florida. He also worked in the AV industry all around Orlando, working with all the audio and visual equipment, honing another very vital skill set when it comes to building and operating an indoor attraction such as an escape game.

Mike played his first escape room in 2016 and instantly knew that this was it, this is what he was meant to create and do. It was a no-brainer for him to get his best friend, Rick George, on board with the crazy idea and they immediately jumped in and got the ball rolling. Rick told Mike that he would have to be in charge of puzzle design, and Mike being the person who loves puzzles, was very happy to be. Mike also self-taught himself every possible thing he could about woodworking and carpentry, to be able to build any idea that he and Rick dreamt up. Between the two of them, every aspect of the games, from concept to final implementation, comes from them. This is a big part of why every detail in their games is tightly integrated. They are both very hands-on with the entire creative process. Mike did a lot of the graphics, the website, and even the company logo itself. Everything in the company, along with Rick’s wife Norissa, is done by them. And while Doldrick’s has been up and running for several years now, this is only the beginning of something they hope to be very special in the entertainment industry.

Support REPOD

• Subscribe to Patreon for bonus content.
• Please rate and review our podcast!

Thanks for listening!

Support Room Escape Artist’s Mission

There are lots of ways to support Room Escape Artist, like buying from Amazon or Etsy after clicking into the links included in this post or backing us on Patreon.

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.