Room Escape Artist

“Y2K was the apocalypse that never happened.”

Remember Y2K? The end-of-the-world that came and went without a hitch? Guest Tommy Honton joins us again to explore what really went down in this episode of PG’s Playhouse. Our game today is called New Beginnings, where we take the names of old fads and transform them into something new by changing the first letter. David then walks us through a short history of Y2K, the fear mongering about a global shutdown and how the prevention plans went off without a hitch (mostly). Tommy also brought a game testing our knowledge of Greek metric prefixes.

Time Stamps

• 00:44 Game: New Beginnings
• 09:49 Tommy Honton on Teaching Escape Room Design
• 12:10 Discussion: Y2K
• 17:18 Tommy’s Greek Metric Prefix Game
• 21:27 Credits

Guest: Tommy Honton

Tommy Honton is a Los Angeles-based designer who creates immersive experiences blending storytelling, game mechanics, and innovation across escape rooms, theme parks, theater, museums, and video games. Honton co-created the award-winning escape room Stash House and co-founded the interactive Museum of Selfies in 2017.

His work spans intimate experiences to large-scale events reaching up to 300,000 participants, including contributions to Expo 2020 in Dubai and creative direction for YouTube’s “ESCAPE2021,” a global streaming event that reached over one million viewers. Honton has collaborated with major entertainment and technology companies, including The Walt Disney Company, Google, Meta, Amazon, Hasbro, Universal Studios, Lionsgate, and Warner Brothers. Recent projects include co-designing the Money Heist experience for Netflix and Fever and contributing to the critically acclaimed Game Changer episode Escape the Green Room for the online network Dropout, where he also served as a contributing writer for Seasons 6 and 7.

An active lecturer, Honton speaks at conferences and universities worldwide and has been teaching at ArtCenter College of Design since 2023.

More Podcasts from Peih-Gee & David

If you enjoy PG’s Playhouse, check out Reality Escape Pod (REPOD), where your hosts David Spira & Peih-Gee Law explore immersive gaming from all angles, alongside guests with incredible experience in this realm.

And by supporting Room Escape Artist on Patreon, you’ll get access to the REPOD Bonus After Show ($5 per month and up) and the Spoilers Club ($15 per month and up) where we chat in depth with creators about iconic escape rooms… spoilers and all!

Production Credits

• Hosted by Peih-Gee Law & David Spira
• Puzzles by Peih-Gee Law
• Produced by Theresa Piazza
• Supported by Lisa Spira
• Edited by Peih-Gee Law
• Music by Matt Farthing
• Logo by Theresa Wagner