š The Secret Sauce is available for holiday bookings!
Hello, puzzle people!
Since my last newsletter in late August, Iāve been BUSY. Much of this busyness had nothing to do with puzzles: I was in a play in San Francisco! 8 times a week, for 6 weeks, I donned a spiffy 1920s suit and took the stage for 2 hours with my violin (and violaā¦ and mandolinā¦ and another violinā¦)
But things have also been chugging along in Puzzleland. I created a 5-week custom puzzle hunt for a 160-person team. Iāve been working on a few too many client projects (including some dope ARG/treasure hunt things that Iāll hopefully be able to share a bit more about soonā¦) I hired some awesome new puzzle design assistants who are helping out with all of this.
And most exciting of all, just in time for the holiday seasonā¦ I just opened bookings for two new team-building puzzle games!! šš¬ Learn more below or jump straight into the full info + bookings page ā¬ļøā¬ļøā¬ļø
Please consider booking The Secret Sauce for your team or sharing the info (steinium.com/teambuilding) with anyone in your network who might be interested. To put it bluntly: the more bookings I get for The Secret Sauce over the next couple of months, the more cool projects I'll have the budget for next year. Thanks in advance!!
The Secret Sauce is a food-themed puzzle feast, perfect for both small and large teams, with virtual and in-person versions available. Think MasterChef meets escape room, but with way more puns.
š§© Solve puzzles
š
Complete creative challenges
š©āš³ Follow recipes
š½ļø Plate the most creative dish!
Perfect for foodies, escape room fans, and competitive teams!
The Puzzle Lab is a more intimate workshop where participants get to design their own wordplay puzzles!
Every team will walk away with their own mini puzzle hunt, complete with a meta ā perfect for sharing with friends and coworkers! Zero prior puzzle experience required.
Review Roundup
Following my summer trips to Israel and Minneapolis, Iāve published SO MANY reviews on Room Escape Artist over the past few months. Below are some of my favorites (yes, I know itās more than just a few this timeā¦ but there were way too many amazing games in this batch!!)
Lost in the Shuffle: A clever set of 52 puzzles packed into a deck of playing cards. The Kickstarter has ended, but itās still possible to pick up a deck via a late pledge.
Escape Center - The Intervention: A very meta tribute to How I Met Your Mother with a hilarious story, adventurous set, and legendary puzzles. Ranked #45 in the 2020 TERPECAs.
Escape Center - Kami Temple: Some of the smoothest puzzle design Iāve seen in an escape room, in a very zen setting. Ranked #47 in the 2021 TERPECAs.
TLV 2048: An escape room-esque physical obstacle course adventure in Tel Aviv. If you took the most physical challenges from Boda Borg and dropped them into a more urban-dystopian environment, youād get TLV 2048.
Action Game - Robin Hood: I love an escape room set in a forest and a castle. Next to the Escape Center games, Robin Hood had one of the most beautiful sets in Israel, and the gameplay was utterly delightful.
Panica - Culinary Escape Rooms in Israel: My overview of the culinary escape rooms at a particularly innovative company. Yes, you prepare actual food in the rooms!
Escape Sign - The Vikings: The top actor-driven escape room in Israel. Fantastic moody interactions in a Viking village, ship (!!!), and castle.
The Maze - The Sting: The most meta of meta escape rooms. I donāt want to spoil anything about the premise, but Iād be happy to share details privately if you donāt think youāll ever get to play it yourself. Truly for enthusiasts, by enthusiasts.
The Maze - Cube: A trippy tribute to the Cube film franchise, set in a structure that seemed to be constantly changing its configuration on us.
Hype Esc - Hollywood 117: A red-carpet-worthy tribute to classic Hollywood cinema. This room pulled off so many tricks and special moments, I was constantly squealing with glee.
Hype Esc - Harry Potter and the Trinity of Destiny: A loving tribute to a certain wizarding world, filled with memorable characters, very clever use of space, and some notably nonstandard interactions.
Trapped Puzzle Rooms ā Witchcraft Alley: My favorite room in Minneapolis! Another loving tribute to a certain wizarding world, filled with magical puzzles and equally magical set transformations.
PuzzleWorks - The Dungeon: Recover the magical avocado š„ to prove your innocence. Not your average medieval dungeon escape room!
Bonus: Check out the recent Reality Escape Pod episode featuring Gai Bosco, the designer of over 200 escape rooms, including most of the top rooms in Israel. Iām not on the episode, but they do mention me a few times! ;)
Happy puzzling!
Matthew