Room Escape Artist

“I think new players are an important audience to capture.”

If everyone played Wizard’s Treasure as their first escape game, there would probably be a lot more escape room enthusiasts in the world. As a beginner-friendly, family-friendly room, this game did everything right. It is charming and whimsical, with gorgeous sets, humorous characters, and puzzles that are fun for grown ups, but logical enough for kids to figure out.

Designer Grant Luecke joined us on our most recent Spoilers Club to talk about Wizard’s Treasure at 60 Out Hollywood. This game started out as an idea to resurrect an old game by the same name as a time- and cost-saving measure. As it turned out, however, most of the previous props were broken and useless without the master server control box. In quick order, Grant realized it would be easier to build a new game from scratch.

Besides Grant’s obvious passion and enthusiasm for the craft of building escape rooms, the other thing that struck me was his candid honesty. He was brutally honest when it came to assessing his own strengths and weaknesses. That’s when he lucked into finding a build partner with over 15 years of experience as a scenic designer at Disneyland. Together, they built a game that looks and feels sturdy, intentional, and is a whole lot of fun.

Grant is an up and coming designer, and Wizard’s Treasure is his first game. It was really interesting to hear him talk about why he made certain design decisions and how he built certain props. In this episode he went into detail about his design inspirations, including video games and D&D. I found this conversation really inspiring, and I can’t wait to see how his next game turns out.

How to Listen

When you support Room Escape Artist on Patreon at $15 per month (or above), you get access to the Spoilers Club, our exclusive podcast where hosts David Spira and Peih-Gee Law chat in depth with creators about iconic escape rooms… spoilers and all!