Palace games has been deemed the best escape room in the country. Based in the immersive tech capital, San Francisco they push to blur the lines between reality and fiction in their brilliantly engineered rooms. Adding to the environment, they are actually built into the San Fran palace of fine arts. We are joined by Allie Jorde, Operations Director, and Elizabeth ‘ElizaBot’ Sonder, Production manager and design engineer. We chat about what escape rooms give those who participate and why engineers make great escape room designers. Finally, we get a taste of the elements inside Palace Games’ 4th room, which is set to open later in 2019Make it immersive:Allie: JumanjiElizabeth: Philip K dickieon / blade runnerSelected links: Palace gamesNew Jumanji vs. Old JumanjiPhilip K DickieonDo androids dream of electric sheep?Still life with woodpecker (correction: tom robbins)Palace of fine artsPan Pacific international expositionEdison Room The Hero’s JourneyThe void and magicWolves in the wallsEscape room communitiesRoom escape artists Show Notes:Introductions [1:38]Fictional worlds for livin in [2:12]Why is Palace games special? [5:05]The why behind palace games [8:23]Inspiring makers & getting girls and women into science [9:00]Immersive jobs are the best! [10:27]Value of play [12:00]Picking locks in strangers houses [13:59]Challenge your thinking and kids in escape rooms [15:23]Make it immersive!! [16:42]The building process & the 4th room [17:19]Inspiration for the new room [18:35]Blade Runner world [22:00]Jumanji [25:02]Escape room lingo: funnel [26:36]Explaining Palace games to newbies [33:34]Excited for VR in escape rooms [37:00]Escape to play, play to escape [40:30]Context for experience [41:52]Opening the new room [45:40]