Room Escape Artist

This month’s content takes us all over North America. In the US, we’re highlighting North Carolina, Detroit, Ohio, Illinois, and South Carolina. In Canada, we’re highlighting Quebec and Ontario (both Toronto and Kingston!). Plus for the daily readers of the website, we published reviews for Florida, California, and Texas too. We just couldn’t highlight everything in today’s month overview. Enjoy your travels below or scroll straight to the bottom for some outstanding design commentary pieces.

REPOD Season 10 🚀

The 10th season of REPOD launches next week. The opening guest is someone we’ve been wanting to host on this show since day one!

You can find REPOD on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or anywhere you regularly listen to Podcasts.

Reviews

🔒 Golden Lock Winners

The Mysterious Miseries of Franklin N. Stein, Improbable Escapes (Kingston, Ontario, Canada) – The Mysterious Miseries of Franklin N. Stein had a magnificent set, so much content, and fantastic interaction design. (Review by David Spira)

Temple of Light, The Keepers of Balance (Charlotte, North Carolina) – The set was breathtaking. Temple of Light delivered in a big way. (Review by Lisa Spira)

The St-Onge Case, Immersia (Boisbriand, Québec, Canada) -With The St. Onge Case, Immersia again impresses with their command of the subtleties of storytelling within an escape room environment. (Review by David Spira)

Escape Rooms

The Mezzanine, Decode Detroit (Ann Arbor, Michigan) – The Mezzanine was an impressive game, with intelligence in puzzle design, an unusual theme, and a story that shined through. (Review by Cindi S.)

The Sorcerer’s Secret, Crypto Escape Rooms (Newmarket, Ontario, Canada) – The Sorcerer’s Secret had a complete world, excellent build, and well-immersed puzzling. (Review by Cindi S.)

Play-At-Home

Survivor: The Tribe Has Spoken, Exploding Kittens – (tabletop social deduction game) This tabletop game really captured the feel of playing the reality tv show Survivor. It’s cutthroat. (Review by David Spira)

Something Different

CXD: ARG in Cincinnati’s Findlay Market – In Findlay Market in Cincinnati, OH, sits a vending machine that starts CXD, an ARG perfect for adventurous locals and tourists alike. (Review by Matthew Stein)

Podcast

PG’s Playhouse E25: Infinity (ft. Jamie Gibbs) – We solve a word ladder that wraps back around because today’s topic is infinity:

Recommendation Guides

The Top Escape Rooms of Chicago & Champaign-Urbana – We brought 75 escape room players on Escape Immerse Explore: Time & Space Tour earlier this year and surveyed them about their favorite games in the region. Here are the survey results. (By Lisa Spira)

New: Daily Puzzle Game Recommendations Guide

Updated: Detroit and Greenville, SC (and nearby) and Montreal

Commentary

Choreographing Player Movement in Escape Rooms – In escape rooms, there’s an opportunity to consider player choreography far more directly as a designable dimension. (By Matthew Stein)

Escape Room Players Should Be Asking Why Too – The Ask Why concept can be applied by players during the game to help them understand the experience, its story, and its characters. (By Richard Burns)

Problem Solving & First Aid Travel Kit – This is our escape room essentials travel kit. It covers first aid and more. Escape rooms aren’t dangerous, but we like to be prepared. (By David Spira)

Now Available: Fire Safety Doors & Hardware for Escape Rooms with Lori Greene – This important, informational talk from last month’s RECON Remote is already available on YouTube: