Reality Escape Pod - Escape Rooms & Immersive Games S9E1: MIT Mystery Hunt - James Douberley, Benevolent Dictator of Death & Mayhem
"Congratulations and Condolences" is the default phrase when a team of puzzlers has just won the vaunted MIT Mystery Hunt. This is because according to tradition, the winning team must write next year's Mystery Hunt. This daunting task was recently undertaken by Death and Mayhem, the team that wrote the 2025 MIT Mystery Hunt titled "The Case of the Shadow Diamond." At the helm of this illustrious team is James Douberley, affectionately dubbed the Benevolent Dictator.
James led his team of over 160 people to create David's favorite MIT Mystery Hunt to date, blending puzzles with immersive theater in a way that Mystery Hunts had never done before. Some features of this year's hunt included an escape room, The Radio, and The Gala, which functioned as both the team headquarters, but also a place for players to experience a fun interaction.
This year's Mystery Hunt had 5,000 people enrolled, with around 171 puzzles. James joins us on REPOD to unwrap the mystery behind how his team designed and built this year's Mystery Hunt. I especially loved hearing about the unique escape room they built, which involved one player actually going to the escape room, while the rest of their team back at HQ clued the active player on what to do, but with a very limited word bank. Cue hilarity. If you're interested in puzzle hunts and large scale immersive events, don't miss this episode, and make sure to check out David's favorite (relatively accessible) puzzle linked below.
Winner's Coin from the 2025 MIT Mystery Hunt
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Production Credits
Hosted by David Spira & Peih-Gee Law
Produced by Theresa Piazza
Supported by Lisa Spira
Edited by Steve Ewing
Music by Ryan Elder
Logo by Janine Pracht