Beyond Screens – Escape Rooms: Puzzle Hunts with Matthew Stein

This week, we have Matthew Stein on to chat about his new puzzle hunt https://www.escapetheplagues.com/, and we’ll talk about solving techniques for beginners, as well as his approach to puzzle and game design. We’ll also play through one of the puzzles.

Matthew Stein (Enigmida)
Matthew Stein is a puzzle/ARG designer, violinist, composer, origamist, letterboxer, and explorer. Formerly a software engineer, Matthew founded Enigmida in 2019 with the mission of spreading wonder to the mundane through aha-driven play. He has created puzzle experiences for Art of Play, Alinea, the University of Chicago, Google, and others. Matthew is also an avid puzzle solver; his team won the 2021 MIT Mystery Hunt and he has reviewed 80+ online puzzle games for Room Escape Artist’s Hivemind. Outside of puzzles, Matthew fiddles with klezmer trio Baymele and is a computational ethnomusicology researcher for the NEH-supported Klezmer Archive project.

https://www.instagram.com/enigmida/
https://twitter.com/enigmida

IndieCade’s Twitch show exploring work that pushes the boundaries of, or comes entirely off the screen. Genres covered will include participatory theatre, alternate reality and live action roleplaying; escape rooms; Big Games; and alternative controllers. Each hour-long episode will feature an in-depth conversation with creators of these genre-defining games.

Airing noon Pacific on Wednesdays, weekly shows will be co-hosted by organizations and creators in monthly rotation as follows:

• First Wednesday – Playable Theatre – Hosted by the Playable Theatre Project
• Second Wednesday – Escape Rooms – Presented by Room Escape Artists
• Third Wednesday – Big Games – Presented by Come Out and Play
• Fourth Wednesday – Alternative Controllers –  with Tatiana Vilela dos Santos and Alistair Aitcheson