Workshops
How to Design an Escape Room
The Substation, 2016


In November 2016, I taught escape room design for The Substation’s School of Uncommon Knowledge, a wonderful workshop series that ran on a barter system — the price of admission to my workshop was one pre-loved book.
The goal of the workshop was to teach participants a basic framework of escape room design, before guiding them through designing their own escape rooms on the spot — see my slides here.
I wasn’t sure how many people in Singapore were interested in such an esoteric subject, so I was pleasantly surprised when more than 20 participants showed up — on a Tuesday night, at that! Some were artists and designers, but the vast majority were teachers looking to use puzzles in the classroom. I had a wonderful time creating puzzles together with the participants.



Praise for the workshop
- Class exceeded my expectations! Speaker was engaging and interacted well with everyone. Gave tips and guides so we can read more and design our own escape rooms. Thumbs up! – Erina N.F.
- I really appreciate how consistently engaging it was, as it wasn’t just a lecture but also had activities for us to design our own escape room in real time. – Dianne A.
- This workshop gave me some ideas on designing gaming experiences that could possibly be applied to educational settings. – Louis T.