“Quietly ambitious and a bit unhinged.”
Somewhere in the Midwest, a talented young couple is quietly building an escape room empire. Their company, 60 to Escape, has over 12 different escape rooms across 3 locations, a puzzle-filled mini-golf experience, and a haunt so extensive and scenic that it was used as the set for a horror movie called Haunt Season on Amazon Prime.
Stephen Kristof literally has entertainment in his blood. His parents owned a family entertainment center, and he grew up bouncing around mini-golf, go carts, and fixing the arcade machines. Growing up, Stephen always wanted to work at a haunt, but he was too young. So at the ripe young age of thirteen, he presented his parents with business plan for opening up his own haunt, and his first venture was born.
In the course of running the haunt, they brought in a talented young SFX makeup artist named Stevie Calabrese (now Stevie Kristof). During haunt season, she manages four other artists as they get eighty performers into costumes and makeup in under two hours.
Stephen and Stevie met, fell in love, and became “The Steves.” They now run their immersive entertainment ventures together, crafting and creating much of it themselves, along with their team of talented folks. If either of them look familiar, you may have seen them on a reality show. Stephen was a contestant on Season 1 of Holey Moley, a zany mini-golf reality competition show, and Stevie was a contestant on Season 9 of Face Off, a special effects makeup reality competition show.
I really enjoyed hearing them talk about their commitment to the customer experience, and their dedication to production value and creativity. Their company 60 to Escape was part of the Escape Immerse Explore tour in the Chicago area in 2025.
Thank You to Our Sponsors
We are immensely grateful to our sponsors this season: REA Patreon Backers, PG’s Playhouse, Buzzshot, and COGS. We truly appreciate your support of our mission to promote and improve the immersive gaming community.
Support Room Escape Artist on Patreon
Love escape rooms as much as we do? At Room Escape Artist, we’ve been analyzing, reviewing, and exploring the world of immersive games since 2014. We help players find the best experiences, and push the industry forward with well-researched, rational, and reasonably humorous escape room and immersive gaming content and events.
By becoming a Patreon supporter, you’re not just backing a blog — you’re fueling a mission to make the escape room and immersive gaming community stronger, more thoughtful, and more connected. You can also access exclusive Patreon content such as the Bonus Aftershow, Spoilers Club, and get early access to escape room Tour tickets and REA articles.
Your Patreon support goes toward our mission: paying our contributors, funding our infrastructure, and supporting deep research and industry advocacy.
PG’s Playhouse Podcast
If you love wordplay, puzzles, and trivia, this is the podcast for you! PG’s Playhouse recreates a fun game night with friends, all in a short, 30-minute format. Of course, what’s game night without making new friends? We bring on different guests for the different episodes!
Each episode features a puzzle packed with wordplay and trivia, a short chat with the guest, and a segment exploring an interesting topic. I hope you’ll take a listen and play along with us at PG’s Playhouse.
Buzzshot
Buzzshot is Escape Room Software, Powering Business Growth, Player Marketing, and improving the Customer Experience. They offer an assortment of pre and post game features including robust waiver management, branded team photos, and streamlined review management for Yelp, TripAdvisor, Google Reviews, and Morty. Buzzshot now has integration with the other REPOD sponsors: Morty and COGS.
Special Offer for REPOD Listeners:
REPOD listeners get an extended 21-day free trial plus 20% off your first 3 months, with no set-up fees or hidden charges. Visit buzzshot.com/repod to learn more about this exclusive offer.
COGS
COGS by Clockwork Dog is an easy to use software/ hardware platform for running interactive events, including escape rooms, and other immersive experiences. They have plug & play hardware that seamlessly integrates with their software so you can create a show with lighting and sound cues without having to write a single line of code. Map all kinds of inputs to outputs by building up simple logic steps which determine what you want to happen and when.
Special Offer for REPOD Listeners:
REPOD listeners can get the COGS Starter Set for only $130 + free shipping to the USA. This bundle is usually valued at $257. You can learn more and purchase your Starter Set at cogs.show. Use code REPOD at checkout.
Topics Discussed in this Episode
- 00:00 Sponsor Break: Buzzshot, Escape Room Marketing Software
- 03:36 Escape Rooms in Shopping Malls
- 09:22 60 to Escape’s Marquee Games
- 13:05 How Stevie Builds Out the Vision
- 17:06 Designing Duke’s Farm
- 22:05 Sponsor Break: Room Escape Artist Patreon – Bonus Episodes, Spoilers Club & More
- 24:22 The Maker Tools in Stevie’s Toolbox
- 27:03 Cheesie’s Pizza Party
- 34:15 Building and Managing a Passionate Team
- 38:31 Sponsor Break: PG’s Playhouse – Puzzles, Pals, and Trivia
- 44:27 The Haunted House Journey
- 50:13 Sponsor Break: Cogs By Clockwork Dog, Interactive Show Controls
- 51:50 Launching a Themed Mini Golf Venue: Putt Portal
- 54:49 Balancing Multiple Ventures
- 56:51 Next Steps
- 58:51 Face Off Reality Show
- 01:03:32 Holey Moley Show
- 01:05:37 What Comes Next
- 01:08:46 Credits
Leave a Voicemail
Got a question or thought for the podcast? You can submit a voice recording by calling the Room Escape Artist not-so-hotline that always goes straight to voicemail (551-227-7273).
Resources Mentioned in this Episode
- 60 to Escape Website
- Realm of Terror Website
- Kristof’s Entertainment Center Website
- Stevie’s Special Effects Makeup Website
- Watch Haunt Season on Amazon Prime
- REA Reviews
About Stevie and Stephen Kristof
Instagram: @asseenonstevie
Stephen Kristof, is the founder, lead designer and director of Realm of Terror in Round Lake Beach, along with 60 to Escape with locations in Gurnee and Schaumburg in Illinois, and Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He’s also created Putt Portal Mystery Golf, which fuses puzzles with immersive mini golf.
An instructor at the Kosart Atelier, Stevie Kristof (née Calabrese) works to further her professional abilities while teaching others her trade. Her accomplishments span mediums from projects with renowned horror photographer Joshua Hoffine to makeup applications for commercials and web series. Currently, she serves as the Lead Makeup and Creature Designer for one of the top haunted attractions in the country, The Realm of Terror.
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