Room Escape Artist

“Stealing from the kids was part of the game…”

“We want to design an escape room experience on a moving train”… These were the famous last words from the Room Escape Divas right before the opportunity to work on a project for a heritage train company fell right into their laps. Errol Elumir and Manda Witney join us on the Spoilers Club to give us all the unhinged details about their game Terminus. This game only ran for a few months, but it was a project with massive scope and ambition.

Errol and Manda are better known as The Room Escape Divas, an escape room podcast they hosted for many years. They both also design puzzles, escape rooms, and immersive experiences, especially large scale, multi-player ones like Terminus. This game ran for a few months in 2017, in what might still be considered the early days of escape rooms. Terminus was chock full of puzzles and custom props. It also had elements of immersive theater, with actors both performing, and also acting as types of social puzzles.

Manda and Errol share their design wisdom as well as taking a look back at lessons learned. For example, in one of the scenarios, players needed in-game money to board the train. Strapped and broke? No problem, just burgle some of the children running around with baskets full of the in-world currency they’ve been “collecting” for charity. What could go wrong? At another point in the game, an actor pulls a prop weapon and holds another actor hostage. Well, they soon found that players who’ve been imbibing adult beverages on a beautiful heritage train might take it upon themselves to “rescue” the train. Adult beverages, you might be thinking. Yes, this experience also served up dinner in the dining car.

This was one of the funniest Spoilers Club we’ve recorded to date. I really appreciated Manda and Errol’s willingness to be candid about what went wrong. This was a complex event with dinner served, for 140 guests, with multiple actors, scenes, and puzzles. Did I mention that this all took place on a moving heritage train? This experience doesn’t exist anymore, so feel free to listen and get spoiled!

To hear more from Manda and Errol, check out their episode of REPOD S11E4.

How to Listen

When you support Room Escape Artist on Patreon at $15 per month (or above), you get access to the Spoilers Club, our exclusive podcast where hosts David Spira and Peih-Gee Law chat in depth with creators about iconic escape rooms… spoilers and all!