Meet The Curators

Yacine Merzouk

Yacine has been a tabletop and strategy game enthusiast and designer since high school.

This hobby culminated into a few years running an award-winning D&D blog, the publication of 2 RPG books, and a stint freelancing for Wizards of the Coast.

From there, it was a natural jump to take these storytelling skills to the escape room and game subscription box worlds.

He enjoys long walks on the beach with his dog and generally has a tendency to adopt too many pets from the Humane Society.

Michelle Rundbaken

Michelle is a master storyteller and the driver of the artistic vision for our mystery subscription box — always polishing minute details of the stories and adventures she designs for her audience.

She channels her background in psychology, education, and film to craft delightful experiences and puzzles that are challenging but never overstay their welcome.

Four years of escape room design taught her there's always room for a sprinkling of magic and delight.

Her ideal day consists of reading in bed with a steaming cup of tea. Cuddling a cat is a bonus.

Our design principles

We want to tell a story and take you on a journey.

We believe that puzzle games, subscription boxes, and escape rooms are a new storytelling medium. We strive to craft games that are more than a collection of puzzles.

Here are the game design principles that drive us:

Details matter. We are telling a story. You are a character in that story. Whenever we craft a puzzle or challenge we ask ourselves: Why? How does this make sense in the story? Why would someone leave clues behind that would allow you, the player, to swoop in and solve the puzzle?

Puzzles must make sense, whether you solve them on your own or not. Games should be challenging: that's what's fun and different about this hobby! But whenever a player decides to take a hint because a puzzle stumped them, their reaction should be "of course!" or "that makes sense!" rather than "I would never have figured this out". Fairness is what makes a puzzle enjoyable whether you solved it on your own or got help along the way.

It's real! We are taking you on a journey into our world. We do a ton of research that never makes it into the game, but our characters will be fleshed out and our story timelines will approximate real-world ones.

Delight is what we strive for. We create moments that are novel, memorable, and will make you feel smart.