38 - Interview with Room Designer Rob Leveille

As you know, we are pretty picky when it comes to puzzle design. Errol especially. So when we find a game with challenging puzzles that make sense, we want to talk about.

In our 38th episode, we get the opportunity to talk to Rob Leveille, who designed the rooms at The Crux Niagara. And the parody song was written and performed by Rob himself! Huzzah!

And if you are interested in asking us questions for Transworld, please, use our Questions Spreadsheet!

Posted on April 21, 2017 .

36 Up the Game - Netherland's Escape Room Conference

In our 36th episode, Manpans and Errol interview Alexander Gierholz, the program director for Up the Game, the first Escape Room Conference in the world! The conference itself will be held in a prison dome in Breda, Netherlands, and is coming up May 9th, 2017.

You will also notice some familiar faces in the speaker roster, like Scott Nicholson, Room Escape Artist, and Ken Ferguson!

Also, shout out to Darren Miller who suggested this episode's parody. It was too high for Errol to sing but he's willing to embarrass himself for you.

Posted on March 29, 2017 .

35 - The Escape Room Industry with Nate Martin

Hello! In our 35th episode, we had a great time chatting with Nate Martin of Puzzle Break! We talk about his escape facility, Escape the Rubicon (his escape room on the Royal Caribbean cruise ship), and the escape room industry in general!

For our parody, Codegreen (whom I call leader) was excited to write a Moana parody! So she sent us the lyrics and got Si Miu to sing it! Huzzah! You can find them and their reviews on Escapers 4G.

And here are the lyrics for our parody song! ^_^

I've been staring at the words on the paper
Long as I can remember, never really knowing why
I wish , I could be a good escapist
But I know I'm not the greatest, no matter how hard I try

Every step I make, every Braille I crack
Every code I break, every clue leads back
How am I so slow, why do I not know
How to get the key

See the line of this code it's so hard and needs solving
Oh I don't know, my brain has froze
And I think I will fail for this room is beyond me
I'm not a pro, and I know my team's escape rate's kinda low

I know, we are working on these puzzles
they are happy with these puzzles
Everything is well designed
I know they are working on these puzzles
what's my role with these puzzles?
I dunno if we'll escape in time

I should solve not hide, I can see what's wrong
I'm not satisfied to just play along
But the voice inside says I take too long
What is wrong with me?

Shine the light on the wall I can see, it's tiny
No that's not right, use the black light
Here we go, there's a glow and it's pointing behind me
And now we'll know

Do you hear that chime, are we out of time?

See the line on the wall can you read it out to me
Just let me know, try the combo
But the words, I can see, they are written in Chinese
The final code, we were too slow...

Posted on March 22, 2017 .

34 - Pop Up Escape Rooms with Melissa Eapen

In our 34th episode, we talk to Melissa Eapen of Improbable Escapes about Pop up escape rooms!

We also discuss Ontario's Escape Room 2017 Unconference, where she helped organize the workshops along with Jake Walling of Escape Maze and Christine Hibbard of Looking Glass Adventures.  

You can check out a quick write up of the unconference in the Brantford Expositor. There, you'll find a picture of Scott Nicholson, Manda, Errol, and David Korhonen. 

And finally, the parody for this episode was written by Rob Leveille! He manages the Crux in Niagara! Thanks so much Rob and great job!

Posted on March 16, 2017 .

33 Room Escape Show Niagara

In our 33rd episode, the divas get a chance to talk to Jen Braverman and Rich Bianco who are running Escape To the North, a room escape conference!

In fact, if you go to their seminar page, you will find us! The Divas are doing a live podcast recording! Huzzah!

We did not write that bio...

We did not write that bio...

If you want more information, you are free to email Jen herself at jen@haashow.com

And Errol wants everyone to know the song was hard to sing.

Posted on March 7, 2017 .

32 - Singapore Escape Rooms with Janice Heng

In their 32nd episode, the divas get a chance to talk to Janice Heng who runs the Singaporean escape room blog Escaping SG.

Errol also wrote an escape room love song, because he believes there aren't enough of them. He recruited Noelle Sorrell who has been singing since she came out of the womb. She works as the Ops Manager at Hidden Trail in Windsor, Ontario.

Posted on February 28, 2017 .

31 - Puzzle Design with Dan Katz

This week we interview puzzle designer and enthusiast Dan Katz! This is probably our longest podcast yet. Blame Errol.

Dan Katz has written puzzlehunt puzzles for the MIT Mystery Hunt, the Gen Con Puzzle Hunt, and BAPHL. His puzzles have also appeared in Wired, MAA Focus, and Games World of Puzzles. His most notorious gift to the puzzling community is the follow-the-deranged-directions puzzle format known as the Duck Konundrum, for which he sincerely apologizes.

Check out Dan's new puzzle blog at puzzlvaria.wordpress.com

For the curious, see the most excellent Xbox puzzle on youtube.

And the parody song was written and performed by Dan Katz himself!

Posted on February 21, 2017 .

2016 Year in Review

We take a look back at our favourite and least favourite rooms of 2016! Thanks so much for listening, everyone! We're very excited for 2017!

Posted on January 5, 2017 .

Let's Play Escape the Room: Secret of Dr. Gravely's Retreat

Mike and Ruby aren't here in our 26th episode, however, we did have Margeaux join us! She's a brand new enthusiast and purchased Thinkfun's "Escape the Room: Secret of Dr. Gravely's Retreat!" which was designed by Nicholas Cravotta and Rebecca Bleau. 

Of course, we had to do a Let's Play, so again the obligatory warning:

WARNING: SPOILERS ABOUND! Do not listen to this podcast if you have not played the game!

Oh! The parody was written and sung by our very own Manpans! Huzzah!

Posted on November 25, 2016 .

Club Drosselmeyer - Escape Room meets Immersive Theater and Swing Dance!

It's episode 25, and we've taken a break from our normal format because we wanted to get this podcast up as soon as we could!

Manda and Errol interview Kellian Adams Pletcher and Carly Dwyer-Naik who are two of the organizers of Club Drosselmeyer: an escape room crossed with interactive theater in the Boston area!

They currently have a crowdfunding campaign going on and there are only a few days left! I encourage to check out the page, donate a few funds and listen to this amazing pair who have taken on a fantastic undertaking!

Posted on November 18, 2016 .

Escape Room Questions Answered

In our 24th episode, Mike, Ruby and Manda answer listener submitted questions such as "What makes an enthusiast" and "What is your winning rate?"

And Eric and Annie are back with a parody song! Eric Boudreau, owner of Escape Capers in Calgary, wrote the lyrics, and it was performed by Annie Pattison. Errol is pretty excited to have youtube celebs sing the opening song! Check out Annie's youtube page to hear more of her songs!)

Posted on November 3, 2016 .

Scary Escape Rooms - Halloween Episode

It's the Halloween Episode! For the 23rd podcast, the Divas chat about scary escape rooms, costume ideas, and snack foods. Or at least, they snack while talking, which doesn't make for good podcast listening.

This time around, Mike wrote the lyrics for the parody! Huzzah!

Posted on October 21, 2016 .

In Between Newb and Enthusiast

In episode twenty two, we decide not to go to the experts! Lizette Tanner considers herself not an enthusiast, but also not a newbie. She also happens to be Errol's sister and the teasing is rampant.

Listen to her views as she describes stories about watching enthusiasts, how newbies feel about escape rooms, and ghosting.

The parody song was suggested by Chris Dickson of Ex Exit Games. He and Errol co-wrote the lyrics for "Close Every Door To Me".

 

Posted on October 6, 2016 .

Customer Service and Escape Rooms

In episode 20, we talk about customer service and our experiences, both good and bad!

Errol was away this week doing other fun stuff, like escape rooms in Calgary.  He'll be back in full force next week.  

No Errol also means, no epic parody.  Manpans, Ruby and Mike try to fill in with "the best parody to date".

Posted on September 22, 2016 .