DeepSummary
The episode features an interview with Guy Bosco, a prolific escape room designer from Tel Aviv, Israel. Guy has designed around 200 escape rooms, accounting for roughly 25% of all escape rooms that have existed in Israel. He discusses how he transitioned from being a programmer to designing escape rooms full-time after being laid off from his job.
Guy talks about his journey in the escape room industry, from starting his own escape room company with the game 'Knights of the Roundtable' to eventually collaborating with various companies in Israel to design games for them. He highlights the importance of networking and being part of the enthusiast community in his success.
The conversation also covers the unique aspects of the Israeli escape room scene, such as culinary escape rooms where players cook or bake during the game, and the prevalence of family-friendly themes based on popular fandoms like Harry Potter and Friends. Guy shares insights into the design process, catering to different audiences, and maintaining originality.
Key Episodes Takeaways
- Guy Bosco is a prolific escape room designer from Israel, having designed around 200 games, accounting for roughly 25% of the country's market.
- Networking and being part of the enthusiast community played a crucial role in Guy's success in the escape room industry.
- The Israeli escape room scene features unique aspects like culinary escape rooms where players cook or bake, and a prevalence of family-friendly themes based on popular fandoms.
- Guy emphasizes the importance of catering to different audiences, maintaining originality, and considering factors like budget and target demographic in his design process.
- There is sometimes a tense relationship between escape room creators and enthusiasts, with some creators viewing enthusiasts as a small portion of their audience and potentially disliking unsolicited feedback.
- Guy has a humble and open attitude towards feedback on his designs, attributing positives to his work and negatives to execution by others.
- Guy is passionate about promoting Israeli escape rooms and encouraging enthusiasts from around the world to visit and experience them.
- Guy's background in writing for science fiction and fantasy conventions, along with his experience in puzzle design, prepared him for a career in creating immersive escape room experiences.
Top Episodes Quotes
- “For me, usually when a room owner wants my opinion, he pays me for it, so that's easy.“ by Guy Bosco
- “It's very hard to speak about that room without spoiling things, hoping that people will come to Israel eventually to play escape rooms here and hopefully this thing as well.“ by Guy Bosco
- “Networking is amazing.“ by Guy Bosco
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Episode Information
Reality Escape Pod - Escape Rooms & Immersive Games
David Spira & Peih-Gee Law
11/15/22
In Season 4, episode 7, we head over to Israel, a relatively unexplored escape room region that has a bounty of creative, lighthearted themes. We chat with prolific escape room designer Gai Bosco of Cerebro, who has designed over 200 escape rooms, or roughly 25% of the Israeli market. Gai is not only an escape room creator, he is a mega-enthusiast and self-proclaimed nerd who got his start creating sci-fi fan fiction.
The Israeli escape room scene is teeming with family-friendly fandom themes, with escape rooms playing homage to many movies including The Lion King, Harry Potter, The Hunger Games, and TV shows like Friends and How I Met Your Mother. One of the other notable and unique Israeli escape room themes we discussed culinary escape rooms, where you gather ingredients for a recipe and that you actually bake or cook over the course of your game.
Gai is a passionate ambassador for Israeli escape rooms. His game The Sting is his love letter to escape rooms, and includes many enthusiast-insider nods and plays with the concept of escape room tropes. It was clear that Gai really loves his craft and wants to share the joy of Israeli escape rooms with the world.
Episode Sponsors
Thank you to our sponsors:
- Morty - A free app for discovering, planning, tracking, and reviewing your escape rooms and other immersive social outings.
- Escape Tales - Escape Tales is an acclaimed series of tabletop escape room games— each featuring a unique blend of mind-bending puzzles masterfully woven into thought-provoking, robust narratives. Use code “roomescapeartist” for 25% off all Escape Tales products and Books of Rituals on Board & Dice.
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Our escape room and immersive gaming convention, will be an incredible event for creators and consumers of the games we love. We hope to see you in Boston. Learn More about RECON.
Production CreditsHosted by David Spira & Peih-Gee Law
Produced by Lisa Spira
Edited by Steve Ewing of Stand Inside Media
Music by Ryan Elder
Logo by Janine Pracht