Room Escape Artist

“ I define play as a chance to explore a space with set boundaries.”

In the early 2010s, escape rooms were still a relatively new form of entertainment. Besides Room Escape Artist, there weren’t many other places online or in-person for players to connect. Professor Scott Nicholson played an important role in changing that.

Scott is the founder of the original global escape room community, the Escape Room Enthusiast group on Facebook. He’s the very first tabletop gaming YouTuber, and also the first academic to research escape rooms.

A healthy enthusiast community needs room for independent criticism, and Scott created a space where players could discuss games without being overwhelmed by marketing. Besides founding an online community for escape room enthusiasts, Scott also conducted academic research. In 2015 he published Peeking Behind the Locked Door: A Survey of Escape Room Facilities, which is a fascinating look at the early years of the escape room industry. Beyond documenting the scene, he is also a professor of game design at Wilfrid Laurier University in Ontario, Canada. His paper, Ask Why: Creating a Better Player Experience through Environmental Storytelling and Consistency in Escape Room Design is a treatise on escape room design drawing from a variety of gaming conventions.

Scott isn’t only famous in the escape room community. Board Games with Scott was the first YouTube channel dedicated to board games and tutorials. He’s also created a few board games including Going, Going, Gone.

I really enjoyed hearing Scott’s perspective on the early days of escape rooms and hearing him discuss game design. He was instrumental in shaping the escape room industry through both his research and community building. Scott Nicholson is truly one of the founding fathers of the escape room scene, and I hope you enjoy this look back at the history of the medium.

Thank You to Our Sponsors

We are immensely grateful to our sponsors this season: Buzzshot Bookings, Ubisoft VR Escape Games, and Immersif. We truly appreciate your support of our mission to promote and improve the immersive gaming community.

Topics Discussed in this Episode

• 01:15 Board Games with Scott Origins
• 02:35 Playful Rules and Player Agency
• 03:15 Designing Going Going Gone
• 08:45 Tabletop Scene Today
• 10:54 First Escape Room Encounter
• 14:53 Building the Escape Room Community
• 17:46 Sponsor Break: Buzzshot – Escape Room Booking & Marketing Software
• 20:43 Why We Call Them Escape Rooms
• 23:54 Moderating a Global Group
• 28:03 Early Research Findings
• 30:33 Cooperative Play and Culture Shift
• 34:44 Sponsor Break: Ubisoft – Harness the Power of VR Escape Games
• 37:47 Rapid Evolution and Teaching Design
• 39:23 Rule Breaking Game Jams
• 40:03 Ask Why Origins
• 42:01 Who Built Early Rooms
• 43:49 Video Game Logic Pitfalls
• 46:36 Story Versus Pure Puzzles
• 48:49 Sponsor Break: Immersif – Business Mentoring & Performance Intelligence Reports
• 51:26 Red Bull Mindgamers Build
• 53:10 Competition Design Lessons
• 58:28 Can Escape Rooms Be Sport?
• 01:00:34 Critical Games Explained
• 01:02:18 Games as Art and Teamwork
• 01:04:28 Hobbies and Low Resource Play
• 01:06:48 Cruise Life and Escape Games
• 01:09:24 Teaching with AI Tools
• 01:10:58 Where to Follow Scott
• 01:12:24 Closing Thanks and Credits
• 01:17:20 Budapest Ladder Story

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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

• Scott Nicholson Website
• Scott Nicholson YouTube
• Dr. Scott Nicholson Papers:
  • Peeking Behind the Locked Door: A Survey of Escape Room Facilities.
  • Ask Why: Creating a Better Player Experience through Environmental Storytelling and Consistency in Escape Room Design
• Redbull Mindgamers

About Dr. Scott Nicholson

Facebook: @professor.scott.nicholson
BlueSky: @scottnicholson.bsky.social
YouTube: @ScottNicholson
X: @snicholson
Instagram: @profscottnicholson

Dr. Scott Nicholson is a Professor of Game Design at Wilfrid Laurier University in Ontario, Canada, where students learn to create meaningful games. He published the first large-scale study of escape rooms in 2015 and was the founder of the Escape Enthusiasts Facebook group. He was the host of the first YouTube series about board games called Board Games with Scott and has designed several published board games. He was the lead author of the book Unlocking the Potential of Puzzle-Based Learning: Designing Escape Rooms and Games for the Classroom. Most recently, he developed EscapeIF, a system to allow teachers in low-resource classrooms to use storytelling games requiring only a script, a blackboard, and found objects.

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