Room Escape Artist

Years ago we entered an escape room. It smelled like glue. We didn’t think much of it.

I picked up a prop and held it as I looked to figure out what to do with it. As I went to use it, I realized that it was glued to my hand. 

It was funny. The only consequence was that I had a bit more skin in that game than expected. 

It was the first time that we visited that company, but I grew to respect the owners. They later admitted that they had done a lot of repairs on the game because we were playing it.

This was the first time that we became aware of a bit of bias that is inherent in some of our reviews: 

Escape rooms are sometimes in better shape for us than they were before we showed up.

An Inherent Bias That Isn’t Terrible

There are a lot of forms of bias that we work to reduce the effects of in our work, but this is one that we don’t mind. 

The reason is that at some companies (certainly not all), our arrival means that the game gets improved for everyone that comes after us. Locks get replaced, paint gets touched up, and props get swapped. Believe me, we know it when this happens. 

But also, we have found that the owners that do this for us tend to maintain their rooms more than most anyway. Maintenance has to be something that you value in order to be embarrassed by poor maintenance.

The REA Escape Game Renewal Program

We have jokingly referred to this as The REA Escape Game Renewal Program. 

It can get uncomfortable when the red carpet is rolled out for us, but a room that received some touch ups… that’s just a win for everyone. Us. The escape room. Their future customers. 

And honestly, whether we’re coming or not, take a quick pass through your games regularly. It’s an investment in the future of your business. Bias all of your customers with a well-maintained product.

Joking aside…

Running REA, REPOD, and RECON is a massive undertaking… and all of this is only possible because of the direct financial support of our Patreon backers.

Every month we become a more professional operation focused on serving the escape room and immersive gaming world, and it’s hard work, but it is work that the team here cares about immensely.

Thank you to our Patreon backers. We could not do it without you.

Special shout out to those who joined this month: Live Action Attractions, Dwayne Sanburn, Bert Johnson, Quark and Odo’s Escape Room Experience, Jesse Josephic, Luke and Crista Milligan, Niki Strbian, @EscapeRoomExplorer, Alisa N, Kern Konwiser, Vivian Lien, Dan Arnett, Marlee Delia, David Dowling, Justin Tait, and Noshuc.

To those of you reading who have the means, we hope you’ll consider joining this wonderful group of supporters.

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.