“Try to find the delight in puzzles.”

Amanda and Errol have been fixtures in the escape room community for years, so of course we had to get the OG escape room podcasters on REPOD. This episode is basically a love letter to everything weird and wonderful about playing escape rooms, designing immersive games, and the incredible community we found along the way.

From 2016-2022, Errol and Manda, along with their other co-hosts Ruby and Mike, podcasted about their escape room antics. They gave valuable commentary on the early years of escape rooms, and along with Room Escape Artist, really helped shape the community that grew around this new form of immersive gaming entertainment.

Not only did Errol and Manda provide commentary on escape rooms, they also helped create some iconic games, including Heist on a Moving Train, the Cryptex Hunt puzzle hunt series, and Present Quest. They have each appeared twice as speakers for our own convention, the Reality Escape Convention. As a Certified Fraud Examiner, Manda gave a talk in fraud prevention for RECON 25. Errol’s puzzle design talk from RECON 21 remains one of the most popular from any RECON.

Errol and Manda are a joy to chat with. If you enjoyed this episode, the Bonus Aftershow we recorded with them was even more fun. Consider joining our Patreon for even more content!

We now have a special offer just for REPOD listeners! Get 70% off your first month at the Bonus Show level  ($5/month). Valid now through the end of May. Use code MOREREPOD at checkout to claim this offer.

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
• 02:40 How Manda Met Errol
• 04:11 Meeting Mike and Ruby
• 05:20 Room Escape Divas Origin
• 06:46 Why Start the Podcast
• 10:12 Errol’s Nerdy Parody Music
• 19:00 Sponsor Break: Buzzshot, Escape Room Marketing Software
• 21:36 Episodes that Shifted Views
• 22:52 Amsterdam Up The Game Story
• 27:47 Trolling Backlash
• 32:26 Industry Changes Over Time
• 34:06 Sponsor Break: Room Escape Artist Patreon – Bonus Episodes, Spoilers Club & More
• 36:44 Escape Room Divas’ Puzzle Creations
• 41:12 Heist on a Moving Train
• 43:34 Cryptex Hunt Origins
• 45:45 MUD Hunt Explained
• 50:19 Sponsor Break: PG’s Playhouse – Puzzles, Pals, and Trivia
• 52:06 Present Quest – Errol’s Video Game
• 55:25 Lightning Round Q&A
• 01:00:09 Hot Takes
• 01:04:44 What Comes Next
• 01:10:32 Credits
• 01:12:05 Prison Escape Story

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

• My Neighbor Errol
• Mandawhitney.com
• The Codex (A Secret Community of Escape Room Enthusiasts)
• Cryptex Hunt
• REA Review of Josep Fontcalda House Museum
• REA Review of The Vandermist Dossier
• REA Review of The Medusa Report

About Errol Elumir

Errol gets paid to create puzzles, but only gets involved if he thinks it’s cool.

My Neighbor Errol

About Manda Whitney

Instagram: @manpans21

Manda Whitney is a Toronto based narrative junkie and designer and is one of the former divas from the Room Escape Divas podcast. Her projects include 3 large scale immersive escape room experiences with Canadian Caper, take home escapes such as the Vandermist Dossier and Medusa Files, and narrative consulting work for multiple escape rooms. When she is not creating and consuming narrative, she is investigating all the fraud as a Certified Fraud Examiner.

Mandawhitney.com

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.