“Creating the escape room becomes the escape room.”

New York City is REPOD co-host David Spira’s home market. Whenever he’s recommending escape rooms to guests and visitors, his favorite go-to is MyssTic Escape Rooms in Brooklyn, NY. Two of their escape rooms have won Golden Lock awards: Ghost Light, and their newest game, The Bird. Gara Roda and Moritz Marti, the co-founders of MyssTic Rooms, join us today on REPOD to talk about the challenges of building a world class escape room in bustling New York City, especially when they are far from their home countries.

There are many reasons it’s challenging to build escape rooms in NYC. Real estate is expensive, the hurdles of navigating the city’s fire codes are many, and square footage is at a premium. An affordable place for their business meant a basement location which came with its own set of complications. A near catastrophic flood in the early days led to some pretty impressive flood mitigation. Shortly after they first opened, a tragic fire occurred in an escape room in Poland, which led to a crackdown by fire inspectors all over the world, but with especially tight restrictions in New York.

Gara and Moritz persevered, despite all the setbacks, and it was inspiring to hear them talk about how all the different constraints led to more creativity. As David points out, even though their games are small in comparison to other escape rooms, “every single nook and cranny had an abundance of detail.” These two escape room creators have endured seemingly insurmountable obstacles, and yet have recently just been honored with another Golden Lock award for their newest game, The Bird. They mention at the end of the episode that eventually they are looking to move back to Europe and are open to finding a partner or even possibly a buyer. So hit ’em up if this sounds interesting to you.

Thank You to Our Sponsors

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

Topics Discussed in this Episode

• 00:13 Sponsor Break: Cogs By Clockwork Dog, Interactive Show Controls
• 03:50 How the MyssTic Partnership Began
• 06:36 The Origin of the Name “MyssTic”
• 07:57 Establishing an Escape Room in NYC
• 15:21 Their First Game: The Montauk Project
• 17:42 Their Next Game: Ghost Light
• 21:39 Sponsor Break: Weldwood Digital Marketing Agency
• 23:51 Their Latest Game: The Bird
• 28:24 Steps They Take to Prevent Flooding
• 30:37 How they Train their Staff
• 32:38 Sponsor Break: Buzzshot, Escape Room Marketing Software
• 34:47 How Cirque du Soleil Influenced the Game Design
• 35:39 Bringing in a New Tech Perspective
• 38:24 Dividing up the Creative and Business Duties
• 42:48 Their Decision Not to Use Actors
• 45:14 Sponsor Break: Hive: The Race to Save Time Puzzle Hunt, RECON, PG’S Playhouse
• 49:08 The Future of MyssTic
• 52:13 What Comes Next?
• 54:52 Credits
• 57:40 The Guy Who Wanted to Impress His Date

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Resources Mentioned in this Episode

• REA Reviews of Myss Tic Games:
  • The Montauk Project
  • Ghost Light
  • The Bird
• Polish Escape Room Fire
• Basic Safety Evaluation in Escape Room Reviews
• Cirque Du Soleil

About Moritz Marti and Gara Roda

Instagram: @mysstic_rooms, @gararoce, @moritz_marti

Moritz Marti ensures the seamless operation of our escape rooms, consistently surpassing player expectations. His creative input has been invaluable in shaping the development of MyssTic Rooms, from designing rooms and puzzles to constructing sets. Continuously striving for enhancement, he dedicates himself to refining the player experience.

With a background in macroeconomics and project management in emerging markets, Moritz discovered his passion for theater while participating in a layman theater during his studies.

Gara Roda is a dynamic director, choreographer, and performer from Barcelona, now based in NYC. Her creative path spans Europe and the U.S., where she has contributed to an array of projects, including stage productions, music videos, runway shows, and performance pieces. A versatile artist, her work encompasses directing, choreographing, translating, and performing.

Besides being the Artistic Director of MyssTic Rooms, creating puzzles, designing and building the props and coming up with storylines, Gara is currently completing an MFA in Advanced Theatre Studies. She has honed her skills over years as an associate director and choreographer, recently making her directorial debut at the National Theatre of Catalonia with the new musical Ànima, which enjoyed a sold-out run and critical acclaim.

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