The Infinite Escape Room

Have you heard? Aliens have made first contact with us! ...And who better to decipher the message from the stars than a seasoned podcasting trio who are experts in not only puzzle solving, but also audio communication and perhaps most importantly: diplomacy. Thanks to the Super Sophisticated Alien Communication Terminal (or SSACT for short). These beings have travelled billions of lightyears to im...

His Royal Majesty is on his way to the legally distinct underground sandwich shop for his daily favourite footlong. But this week's solvers will first need to figure out exactly what that sandwich is, and how to make it. The stakes quite literally could not be higher. So join in, lettuce investigate... Puzzle Maestro: Jamie Gibbs Solvers: Jon Saunders, Mike Collins, Mairi Nolan Episode Art: Dom Jo...

Join us in this week's 'cafe-isode' at Squeaky Cream's Artisanal Fromagery and Coffee Roastery, where instead of coffee foam they serve cappuccinos with a dollop of gorgonzola. Here we'll be reflecting on a big question in the escape room industry: Is escaping "enough" anymore? Or do you have another core central mechanic? How about inserting other mechanics into rooms, such as achievements and si...

Another in-person recording from Jamie's home in the Welsh hills, with Jamie hosting and Mike and Emma (Bailey) solving. Here, the gang wander into a fantasy tavern called The Weary Wyvern. Straight out of a D&D adventure opening, the orc innkeeper has a problem. What follows is an epic adventure, all in the name of the ultimate prize: a free pint. No quest? No problem! Lets hope it's natural...

This very special episode of The Infinite Escape Room is brought to you from Jamie's house in Wales... ...Or rather, Year 10 work experience at a local hospital! A somewhat universal experience for British kids. Their surgeon mentor promptly injects himself with anaesthetic, collapses on the operating table, and leaves them locked in the surgery room with only one way out: perform a laparoscopic c...

The black box recording of our faltering stumble through some of Nottingham's finest Escape Rooms. Jamie, Mike, Mairi and Jon are here to separate the wheat from the chaff, and leave you nothing but the finest flour to bake your Escape Bread with. Or, we would've done, if things hadn't gone a teeny bit wrong. With discussions and spoiler-free reviews of our recent TIER trip to Nottingham, UK to pl...

Very nearly the quickest solve we've ever had!   In the final regular episode from our Nottingham AirBnB recording, Jon takes the helm and delivers, without notes, what he believes to be a deceptively simple yet fiendish death trap puzzle...only for Jamie to figure it out within seconds. It isn't the fastest solve we've had but it came damn close. Puzzle Maestro: Jon Saunders Solvers: Mike Collins...

Somewhere in this room there's a secret! Go get up and find it! Or as I like to call it: The one in which Jamie hosts an audio escape room set in an airBNB, whilst recording from the airBNB, in which we have to get up and find actual hidden things in the airBNB. It's airBNBception in here. Will the solvers untie the knots in Notts in time? (K)not likely! Puzzle Maestro: Jamie Gibbs Solvers: Mike C...

Join us deep within Robin's Hole, where it's time to pull up a cozy armchair and discuss this week's pubisode topic: When should escape rooms retire? We reflect on some of the recent real-life escape rooms we've played together in Nottingham and discuss the lifecycle of an escape room. How long should an escape room be open for? When should it be updated? When should it be retired? And how might a...

The solvers find themselves in a series of strange caves deep underneath Nottingham. But they quickly realise these are no ordinary spaces as they seem to shift and transform on a whim. Jamie, how big is the space? Mike, where is the door located? Jon, what are the walls made of? The size of a key or the size of a football pitch? The door is on the ceiling and of course the walls are made of purrf...

*blip blip blip beeeep* Somewhere in the labyrinthine corridors of a recording studio, the solvers find themselves back and with a bigger challenge than ever: Find the cassettes and solve the puzzles to put on the ultimate BBC Radio 4 "kitchen drama". What else could possibly save the BBC from it's ten trillion pound debt, afterall? Also Jack Foley is locked in a cupboard. This is a room which jus...

Howdy you bunch! The mead has been replenished, and we've finally remembered the password to log back into this account. Which can only mean one thing: The new season is right around the corner! Here's a little preview from Mike as to what to expect, when to expect it, and how excited we all are to be coming back. The Infinite Escape Room will return for the Patreon Feed at the end of March, and f...

In this new series, we put our professional puzzle design experience to good use and look at escape rooms in film and TV as if they were real escape rooms. In this podcast we're looking at the escape room episode of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, "The Gang Escapes". Follow Mairi, Jamie, and special guest Alex Hylands-White as they put the room through its paces and discuss what improvements th...

The Witching Hour is upon us in this Halloween special, it's time to pull up a rickety, mouldy stool at the near-empty pub, the Brush, Nose and Bone. In this episode, we're joined by a master of horror, Keith Dozois of USB Escape to discuss all things horror in escape rooms. How does horror affect puzzles? What are our best (and worst) experiences with horror? And how do you make horror good in an...

Safely returned from their doorless room, with a hairbrush in hand, the team are left with only one VHS tape, adorned with images of graves. It sends them to a London Garden Park, with a curious statue guarding the gate, it's amazing what they call Art these days... Puzzle Maestro: Jon Saunders Solvers: Jamie Gibbs, Mairi Nolan Special Guest: Keith Dozois of USB Escape Episode Art: Dom Jordan - Do...

After missing their one-flight-a-day from the Australian desert, the gang decide to shelter for the night in an abandoned shack deep in the outback. Inside they find a VHS player, and three tapes. Last week the team tried to play a VHS tape and were transported to a sinister sewer to face a laughing clown, this week they find themselves stood in a room with no windows or doors, lit only by the pal...

After missing their one-flight-a-day from the Australian desert, the gang decide to shelter for the night in an abandoned shack deep in the outback. Inside they find a VHS player, and three tapes. But this is no ordinary VHS player, as the moment the tape goes in the world shimmers in static and we find ourselves transported to... A sewer. There's distant crying coming from the darkness and a cree...

In this new series, we put our professional puzzle design experience to good use and look at escape rooms in film and TV as if they were real escape rooms. In this podcast we're looking at the escape room episode of Inside No. 9, "CTRL ALT ESCAPE". Follow Mairi, Jamie, and special guest Alex Hylands-White as they put the room through its paces and discuss what improvements they'd make to make it a...

Pull up a stool in the Northern northern northern Australian outback! At this near-empty Pub the team wrangle over the concept of difficulty in Escape Rooms, what it is, whether it is simply a feature of good or bad design, whether it is changing and, inevitably, what even counts as an Escape Room anymore at all!   As always we come to you with humble recommendations to ease you into Autumn. Jamie...

With just twenty two minutes and thirty seconds remaining before our flight from Australia Airport leaves, the team have no choice but to solve Jon's puzzle puzzle at the crossroads. Somewhere off Australia Road (which by the way, is the road in Australia, in case you were wondering), the airport awaits... But which way? "Struth Ruth, Bruce is coming babe." Puzzle Maestro: Jon Saunders Solvers: Mi...

With the team's outback getaway driver KO-ed outside the toilet, the team find themselves stranded in the outback, 45 minutes before their flight from "Australia Airport" leaves. Time is of the essence, and in this special the solvers will have a shared 45-minutes to solve across both parts of the Outback Odyssey arc. But before they can get back on the road they'll have to get through dozens and...

This is the final week of our two-week summer break, where we recharge our puzzle batteries. But we won't leave you empty handed - here's a director's cut edition of a classic episode with new editing, music, SFX and commentary. This episode initially aired a little later than normal due to some technical gremlins, which meant it didn't get a fair shake before the following week's episode came in...

This is the start of our two-week summer break, where we recharge our puzzle batteries. But we won't leave you empty handed - here's a director's cut edition of a classic episode with new editing, music, SFX and commentary. Sometimes, an episode as such an impact on us that we talk about it months or even years later. Groundfarce is one of those episodes. What started out as a simple spatial puzzl...

Does adapting escape rooms to audio make them more accessible … or more exclusive? Join Jamie, Mairi and special guests Dani and Bill from Escape This Podcast as we discuss accessibility in game design and what it means for creating escape rooms of the ears, the eyes, and all the senses. Why a hotel? Turns out Australia has an interesting drinking culture around hotels, but you'll just have to lis...

In the most long overdue cross-over since Eastenders made a Bastard episode with Neighbours (true story), we finally welcome our natural ancestors from Escape This Podcast and take them... to their own studio. But all is not well, they are locked out, Jon has beaten them to it and is about to takeover the (podcast) world. Join Mairi, Jamie, special guests Dani and Bill from Escape This Podcast and...