Room Escape Artist

“Games don’t need to fit neatly into a category to be meaningful.”

Games come in all shapes and sizes. Some happen around a table, some have you opening locks in a room, and others invite you to step into a completely different world and become someone else. But what connects all these experiences? The joy of playing together.

Quintin “Quinns” Smith has spent much of his career exploring “play” in all its many forms. Quinns co-founded the board game review site Shut Up & Sit Down. He’s a presenter for People Make Games, a YouTube video game journalism channel. More recently, he created Quinn’s Quest, a YouTube channel exploring the world of tabletop role playing games. He joins us on REPOD to talk about all the connective tissue between these games.

I especially enjoyed hearing him talk about the connections between board games, jubensha, table top role playing games, Nordic LARP, escape rooms, and large scale immersive experiences. As he says in the episode, “ You don’t work in immersive, you work in play. We’re at the beginning of convergence in the industry.” In our conversation, we covered a wide range of topics, including the difficulties of reviewing experiences like escape rooms and jubensha and what Quinns loves about LARP. He even gives advice for designers hoping to get their work in front of journalists.

This episode is a conversation between journalists who have taken deep dives into immersive gaming. The throughline we kept returning to is the idea that games don’t need to fit neatly into a category to feel meaningful. From intimate tabletop roleplaying games between a few close friends, to massive week-long LARPs, it all goes back to the simple joy of connecting with your fellow humans through play.

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

• 02:54 Site Specific Play
• 05:08 The State of Immersives
• 08:01 Origins of Shut Up & Sit Down
• 15:49 Critique and Craft
• 20:48 Sponsor Break: Buzzshot – Escape Room Booking & Marketing Software
• 28:34 Pitching Games to Media
• 31:08 Choosing Reviews and Spoilers
• 34:17 Marketing without Spoilers
• 35:02 Sponsor Break: Ubisoft – Harness the Power of VR Escape Games
• 37:40 Quinns Quest Retro Rebrands
• 38:51 D&D Monopoly Problem
• 40:41 Impossible Landscapes Pitch
• 42:20 Why Short Campaigns Win
• 46:37 Heart: The City Beneath
• 49:11 Sponsor Break: Immersif – Business Mentoring & Performance Intelligence Reports
• 52:10 Handling Exposé Blowback
• 56:07 Wasteland Weekend vs Neotropolis
• 58:07 Patreon without Burnout
• 01:03:16 Parasocial Bonus Content
• 01:04:59 Watch the Skies Twist
• 01:07:56 What Comes Next
• 01:10:31 Credits
• 01:13:47 Nordic LARP Romance Fail

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

• Quinn’s Quest YouTube
• People Make Games YouTube
  • Wasteland Weekend
  • Jubensha
  • Escape Room
• Quinn’s Review of Heart: The City Beneath RPG
  • Purchase Heart on Amazon
• Watch the Skies Megagame
  • David’s piece: Watch the Skies NYC Rookie Day – China’s Foreign Minister’s Review
  • Lisa’s piece: Watch the Skies NYC Rookie Day – Additional Thoughts from China’s Chief Scientist

About Quintin “Quinns” Smith

Quinns has been writing about games and play for over 20 years, only ever reaching further and further into the lunatic fringe. His recent work has involved him covering emotional extreme sports, government wargaming, sex and storytelling. These days you can find him on People Make Games and his new channel, Quinns Quest.

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