the great houdini escape room: game design review
My last post was dedicated to identifying some of the most common design blunders in crafting escape rooms. This post follows up with a design deep dive into a well-executed escape room, The Great Houdini Escape Room by Palace Games…
common mistakes to avoid when designing escape rooms
Escape rooms are physical puzzle game environments where you get locked in a room with a group of friends and have a time limit within which you try to escape, by using clues and solving puzzles. These rooms are based…
best of palace games escape rooms: houdini, roosevelt or edison?
Over the years, I’ve been lucky enough to have played all of Palace Games’ in-person escape rooms. Located at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco, Palace Games offers the trio of The Great Houdini Escape Room, The Roosevelt…
from galaxy’s edge to galactic starcruiser: why it’s so difficult to theme star wars locations
Disney’s latest Star Wars themed location, the Galactic Starcruiser hotel, is set to open in March 2022 at Walt Disney World in Orlando. But the voyage so far has been bumpy, to say the least. In December, the official trailer…
the attraction escape room is palace games’ storytelling gem: review
Palace Games’ new escape room, The Attraction, was a long time coming. When I booked it back in early 2020, I had no idea that a pandemic would postpone our date almost two years. But nonetheless, masked and equipped with…
disney star wars: galactic starcruiser hotel’s biggest design challenges
Marketed as “a 2-night, immersive adventure”, Disney’s Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser hotel is set to open in Spring 2022. This project, first announced way back in summer 20171, will welcome guests on board a spaceship called the Halcyon. There, guests…
disney genie plus app and the game design of fastpass
FastPass has been an integral part of my experience visiting the Disney theme parks. Introduced in 1999, the system was initially designed as a virtual queue. At popular rides, FastPass kiosks printed a limited number of tickets for time slots…
super nintendo world and the interactive theme park pipe dream
On 4 February, 2021, Super Nintendo World will be the first theme park to open during a pandemic. Okay, so it isn’t a standalone theme park, but a section of Universal Studios Japan. It is significant, however, because it’s first…
storytelling of disney’s pirates of the caribbean ride… and the redhead (part 2)
In every Disney ride, there is a strong thread of storytelling running through the entire experience. After all, Disney is a company built on story, stemming from its roots in the film and animation industries. Its theme parks are best…
