“A very twist ending. I don’t think we were expecting it to go quite that way.”
The scent of cedar and cloves drift through the air, and all around the lights are twinkling. Boughs of holly and mistletoe decorate the rafters, and you’ve gathered friends and loved ones to celebrate.
It’s our first REPOD and PG’s Playhouse crossover Holiday Special! To celebrate, we’ve invited our Podcast Producer, Theresa Piazza, and Room Escape Artist Contributor, Andrew Reynolds to join us for games, trivia, and merriment. Today’s game is “It’s Not Elf on the Shelf”, inspired by an actual toy Snoop on the Stoop. Each answer is a celebrity paired with a rhyming location in the house.
We all share some recommendations for games, puzzles, and shows that we’ve been enjoying. Then David takes us down the rabbit hole of mistletoe trivia, which has sexier origins than any of us imagined.
I hope you enjoyed this fun PG’s Playhouse-style episode! We’re grateful for all of our loyal listeners, and we’re thrilled that you’ve stuck with us for so long. Happy holidays, everyone!
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
- 01:29 Game: It’s Not Elf on the Shelf
- 12:16 Recommendations for Games and Shows
- 12:56 Free Games on the Epic Game Store
- 13:49 Outer Wilds
- 16:49 One Up, Strange Jigsaws & Twenty Small Mazes
- 18:24 Music Channels: Musora, Drumeo & Family Jules
- 21:57 Topic: Mistletoe
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
About Theresa Piazza
Reality Escape Pod Producer & Escape Room Reviewer
Theresa has been an avid escape room (probably, over-) enthusiast since 2015. She’s played over 300 rooms, and has been known to hop flights just to escape. She enjoys puzzle hunts, collaborative board games, crosswords, jigsaw puzzles, and most other immersive entertainment. In addition to writing for REA and producing REPOD, she’s also COO at The Great Gotham Challenge.
While not puzzling, Theresa can be found outside soaking up the sunshine, SCUBA diving, birding, paddle boarding, rollerblading or listening to podcasts.
About Andrew Reynolds
Escape Room Reviewer
By day, Andrew is a history and special education teacher. By night…and weekends…and afternoons if he can swing it, he is an avid escape room player. Since playing his first room in 2017, he has expanded his range of interests to include immersive theater and just about any puzzle he can get his hands on.
He loves games that include elements of spectacle to create memorable experiences. Mechanically, in both board games and escape rooms, Andrew looks forward to cooperation. He especially enjoys when an escape room splits the team into different spaces and demands clear communication to advance.
When he’s not puzzling, he can be found talking to his cat or staring at his oven waiting for something delicious to finish baking.
Support REPOD
- Subscribe to Patreon for bonus content.
- Please rate and review our podcast!
Thanks for listening!
Support Room Escape Artist’s Mission
There are lots of ways to support Room Escape Artist, like buying from Amazon or Etsy after clicking into the links included in this post or backing us on Patreon.
The money that we make from these helps us to grow the site and continue to add more value to the community that we love so much.
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