“ There’s lots of places in the world you can gamify.”

Emma Rochon and Melissa Eapen were young game masters working at a local escape room company over 12 years ago. They loved this “new” genre of entertainment, and asked the owners how they could get more involved in growing the business or designing new rooms. The owners replied with “There’s no growth in [escape rooms]. Also though, if you try to make your own company, I’ll sue you”.

These famous last words spurred Improbable Escapes co-founders Emma Rochon and Melissa Eapen to quit and start their own company. While looking for locations, they mapped out all the known escape rooms in Canada at the time, and settled on the charming city of Kingston. They chose it primarily for its qualities as an escape room wasteland, because it didn’t have any notable existing escape rooms.

Today, they’ve certainly built out enough games to put Kingston, Ontario, Canada on the map of any escape room enthusiast. They have built and designed over forty different games and experiences, including escape rooms, outdoor escape rooms, large event “podium games,” and even a board game café. They also started a sister company called Visual Menace Creative that builds sets, props, and immersive activations for brands, film, television and music videos.

Emma Rochon joins us on REPOD to share her escape room journey in the industry. I was simply mind-blown by these two young women who built an escape room empire out of nothing but sheer determination and passion. I love stories where someone is told “no” and they proceed to prove nay-sayers wrong in the most epic way possible.

If you enjoyed this episode and you want to hear more from Emma, she will be speaking at this year’s Reality Escape Convention about deconstructing escape rooms, and how to literally think outside the box when it comes to designing interactive puzzle games.

Thank You to Our Sponsors

We are immensely grateful to our sponsors this season: REA Patreon Backers, PG’s Playhouse, and Buzzshot. We truly appreciate your support of our mission to promote and improve the immersive gaming community.

Topics Discussed in this Episode

• 00:00 Sponsor Break: RECON – The Reality Escape Convention
• 04:31 Origin Story and Lawsuits
• 07:53 Exploring Improbable Escapes’ Games
• 09:36 Unique Mechanics
• 12:18 Motherhood and Leadership
• 14:57 The Mysterious Miseries of Franklin N. Stein
• 19:23 Down the Rabbit Hole
• 21:24 Sponsor Break: Buzzshot, Escape Room Marketing Software
• 24:04 Outdoor Escape Rooms
• 26:43 Kingston Tourism and Expansion
• 32:28 Wonderland Board Game Cafe
• 34:48 Community and Sales Trends
• 38:19 Sponsor Break: Room Escape Artist Patreon – Bonus Episodes, Spoilers Club & More
• 40:45 Visual Menace Creative
• 46:20 Sponsor Break: PG’s Playhouse – Puzzles, Pals, and Trivia
• 47:51 Podium Games Explained
• 52:21 Designing Museum Installations
• 54:21 What Comes Next
• 59:23 Bonus Story: Unbirthday Party

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

• Improbable Escapes Website
• Visual Menace Website
• Chris Ramsay Solving an Improbable Escapes Puzzle
• Room Escape Artist Reviews
  • The Mysterious Miseries of Franklin N. Stein
  • Neverland: Heist on the High Seas
  • Seven Dwarfs: Mining Mission
  • The TriWizard Trials
  • Legend of the Mayan Temple
  • The Undersea Overthrow [Hivemind Review – Online Implementation]
  • Neverland: Heist on the High Seas [Hivemind Review- Online Implementation]
  • The Hot Chocolate Incident [Hivemind Review – Online Implementation]
  • Seven Dwarfs: Mining Mission [Hivemind Review – Online Implementation]

About Emma Rochon

Instagram: @improbableescapeshq @improbableescapeswonderland @visualmenacecreative

Emma Rochon is co-owner of Improbable Escapes in Kingston, Ontario, one of Canada’s longest-running escape game companies. Having spent over a decade creating immersive entertainment, her lead design credits extend across 40+ projects ranging from traditional escape rooms, outdoor adventures, museum installations, remote games and more.

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